1. Taking the Nebosh IGC in
Occupational Health and
Safety from an ESL
Perspective
ROWAN E WAGNER
LANGUAGE SERVICES DIRECT

2. Overview

Focus

General Tips

Exam Terminology

Outlining Strategies

Language Use

Questions

3. Focus

The purpose of this workshop is to provide some practical
test taking advice for the general Nebosh International
General Certificate in Occupational Health and Safety
by people who use English in their workplace as a
second language.

The examples used are illustrations on the process of
answering questions and do not constitute real exam
answers.

Disclaimer: The presenter nor the organization are linked
in any manner to Nebosh. The materials presented
represents good practices and not official answers to
Nebosh exam material.

4. General Tips

READ the question completely BEFORE answering the
question (including the number of marks assigned) – this
is the most common error in test taking which causes
either a loss of points for an answer not directly relating
to the question or an answer that doesn’t not address all
parts of the question.

Write as clearly as possible – marks cannot be given to
answers that can’t be read clearly. Start a new answer
on a fresh copy sheet.

5. General Tips continued

Bring a watch or small clock so you can be aware of the
time. The goal in this exam is to try to answer all the
questions in order to get the most marks, so you must
pace yourself

the less the marks given for a question, the less the detail
and the less the time that should be spent and visa versa
for questions with a large number assigned.

6. Exam Terminology

In order to answer a question correctly, it is important to
understand what the question is asking you to do.

Here are six standard academic exam terms found in
the exam.
- Define
- Describe
- Explain
- Give (example, reason, etc…)
- Outline
- State

7. Exam Terminology Exercise

Task 1 - match the definitions on the left with the terms
given on the right.

Task 2 - write out a complete question using the defined
exam term at the beginning of the question.

8. Answer Organising Strategies

In order to be able to use your time efficiently within the time
constraints of the period given for the exam, having a good strategy
to organise you answer is import.

By understanding and breaking down the proposed answer into a
structure you can quickly organise your thoughts and response.

There are normally three type of strategies for the most common
required response
- listing
- short or simple answer
- detailed or complex answer

9. Answer Organising Strategies
Listing Examples
List the types of certified
experts to cover the risks in
an organisation. (4 marks)
List workplace hazards from
most common to least
common (3 marks)
(order not important)
(order important)
A.
A safety professional
1.
Physical
B.
An occupational hygienist
2.
Biological and chemical
C.
An occupational physician
3.
Psychosocial
D.
A work or organisation specialist

10. Answer Organising Strategies
Short Answer Example
Describe hazard and risk. (4 marks)
I. A hazard is something that has the inherent ability to
cause harm. It can be animal , mineral or nonmaterial (ex.
Poisonous plant, radium, or psychological or physical
threating behavior). And is often quantitative in nature;
ranging from slightly to highly hazardous.
II. Whereas a risk is the possibility of exposure to a hazard,
and is often measured as the severity of hazards multiplied
by the probability of exposure.

Note the good use of complete sentences, use of
paragraphing and transition word (this will be further
elaborating in the section dealing with language use).

11. Answer Organising Strategies
Detailed Answer Example

Safety Sam has just taken on a new position at Hazard House
Industries (HHI). What explanations could he use to the top
management to increase the resources for improving safety at HHI?
(18 marks)
I.
Introduction: There are normally three reasons…..
II.
Body – economic reason + contextual example
III.
Body – social reason + contextual example
IV.
Body – moral reason + contextual example
V.
Conclusion – brief summary of material presented in the body

12. Language Use
Along with clarity of writing goes clarity of language use. To
ensure that you receive the most marks possible by making
your answers understandable try to:

Use correct grammar structure in writing your sentences,

Use the accepted industrial terminology

Use complete sentences where ever possible

Write out terms rather than use acronyms

Use paragraphing and transitions on more detailed
answers

13. Language Use Exercises
Tasks 1-3

Task1 – answer the questions using the grammar prompts
provided in the brackets.

Task 2 – match the acronyms to their proper word phrase
that would be used in an occupational health and
safety context

Task 3 - write in the underlined blank provided, the
appropriate transition from the terms found in the box
above

14. Language Use Exercises
Tasks 4

Task 4 – you have 20 minutes to provide a 120-150 word
answer to the question provided. Remember to use
complete sentences, spell out acronyms and use the
appropriate grammar and transitions.

15. Questions

16. Bibliography

Blake, G. and Bly, R. (1993) The Elements of Technical
Writing

Nebosh (2013) Syllabus summary – International General
Certificate in Occupational Health and Safety

Sokolik, M. (2013) Principles of Written English

Thomson, A. and Martinet, A. (1986) A Practical English
Grammar 4th Ed.