Occupational Health & Safety Practice Level 5

The Level 5 N/SVQ in Occupational Health and Safety is a work-based qualification, designed for candidates who are in senior or strategic positions as health and safety managers/officers/advisors and similar roles within the work environment.

Recommended entry to qualification

The candidates are required to hold the Level 4 N/SVQ qualifications in Occupational Health and Safety Practice, or equivalent. The nature of the learning required for the qualification is such that candidates will also need basic literacy and numeracy skills. Candidates will need to be able to organise written information clearly and coherently. Centres will need to make an initial assessment of each candidate and decide on the most appropriate level of qualification.

Occupational Health and Safety Practice Standards - Structure of the N/SVQ

The Level 5 N/SVQ in Occupational Health and Safety Practice is a twelve unit qualification. You must achieve all of the mandatory units (501-509) plus 3 units from the option group.

Unit no Standards	Unit title	City & Guilds <>Unit no
Mandatory units
G3	Evaluate and develop own practice	501
3.1	Evaluate own practice	501.1
3.2	Identify self-development needs	501.2
H1	Develop and review the organisation’s health and safety strategy	502
H1.1	Identify external factors which have an impact on health and safety	502.1
H1.2	Ensure that risks are controlled safely and effectively	502.2
H1.3	Implement the change process
H2	Promote a positive health and safety culture	503
H2.1	Gain commitment to a positive health and safety culture	503.1
H2.2	Develop and implement links with appropriate people and groups on health and safety matters	503.2
H3	Develop and implement the health and safety policy	504
H3.1	Define the statutory and practical health and safety requirements	504.1
H3.2	Develop the health and safety policy	504.2
H3.3	Implement the health and safety policy	504.3
P11	Develop a strategy and plan for people resourcing change management	505
P11.1	Review and develop a strategy for responding to changes in people resourcing	505.1
P11.2	Review and develop a plan for responding to changes in people resourcing	505.2
P11.3	Take responsibility for implementing the people resourcing plan	505.3
P11.4	Evaluate the effectiveness of the people resourcing change strategy	505.4
H15	Influence and keep pace with improvements in health and safety practice	506
H15.1	Identify new developments in health and safety	506.1
H15.2	Influence professional colleagues on health and safety matters	506.2
L2	Identify organisational learning and development needs	507
L2.1	Review how capable the whole organisation is of meeting its development needs	507.1
L2.2	Develop a learning and development programme for the organisation	507.2
B3	Manage the use of financial resources (MSC)	508
B3.1	Make recommendations for expenditure	508.1
B3.2	Control expenditure against budgets	508.2
B5	Secure financial resources for your organization (MSC)	509
B5.1	Review the generation and allocation of financial resources	509.1
B5.2	Evaluate proposals for expenditure	509.2
B5.3	Obtain financial resources for your organisation’s activities	509.3
	501 – 509 are mandatory units plus any three from the following:-
	Contribute to the development of learning within the organisation.	510
	Manage the performance of teams and individuals.	511
	Develop and implement effective communication systems for health and safety information.	512
	Develop and implement systems and procedures to minimise environmental impact of the organisation	513
	Manage activities to meet requirements.	514
	Contribute to improvements at work.	515
	Design learning programmes	516
	Manage the contribution of other people to the learning process	517
	Design, deliver and evaluate changes to organisational structure.	518
	Contribute to the design, delivery and evaluation of work procedures.	519

Who will be involved in my NVQ?

Assessment for your NVQ is carried out at our centre which has been approved by City & Guilds. Your centre may visit your place of work, or ask you to post or e-mail submissions to the centre.

The people involved in your assessment are as follows:

The candidate

That’s you! You are the most important person of all because without you, NVQs would not exist.
Later in this guide we will explain how you can identify and collect evidence.
We will also explain what is meant by assessment and how you can prepare for being assessed in your daily work.

The assessor

Will help you plan and organise your evidence & is responsible for making the decision about your evidence and judging when you are competent.

The internal verifier

• is responsible for maintaining the quality of assessment within the centre by checking and validating assessment decisions made by assessors
• will have experience in your area of work and must be technically competent

The external verifier

• is appointed by City & Guilds to ensure that all assessments undertaken in your centre are fair, valid, consistent and that your centre meets the required national standard
• will make regular visits to your centre to observe assessments and examine portfolios of evidence
• makes regular reports to City & Guilds confirming what happens with assessment practice in your centre.