IOSH Working Safely

IOSH Working Safely is a one-day safety and health awareness course from IOSH, the Chartered body for occupational safety and health professionals. It is written for employees at any level in any sector — manufacturing, construction, retail, healthcare, logistics, offices — and needs no previous safety training. Managers and supervisors take the sister course, IOSH Managing Safely.

On the day, by a multi-format question paper and a multi-choice hazard-spotting exercise — there is no separate exam to book. Successful delegates receive an IOSH Working Safely certificate that can be verified online with IOSH. Your training provider draws the paper from IOSH's bank of assessment papers and marks it against IOSH's marking scheme.

Five modules: introducing working safely (why it matters and your own responsibilities); defining hazards and risks; identifying common hazards (from slips and manual handling to fire, electricity, hazardous substances, vehicles, machinery, noise, vibration, aggression and stress); improving safety performance (safe systems, PPE, reporting, inspections and health checks); and protecting the environment.

IOSH's course page does not give the certificate an expiry date — it says successful delegates receive an IOSH Working Safely certificate that can be verified online. Employers and clients can set their own refresher interval, so check what yours requires.

No. Working Safely is a general safety-awareness course. A CSCS card needs the CITB Health, Safety and Environment test, and first aid needs a separate first-aid qualification — PassNova has free practice for both. Working Safely is often used as the safety induction that sits alongside them.

IOSH Working Safely is the one-day safety and health course for employees at any level, in any sector, with no previous safety training. Warehouse and logistics staff: IOSH: Working Safely is for employees in manufacturing, construction, retail, healthcare, logistics, offices or any other sector. Factory and production operatives: Covers the everyday hazards the course teaches people to spot: machinery, noise, vehicles, manual handling and hazardous substances. Care and support workers: The course covers aggression and violence, stress, manual handling and hazardous substances alongside the hazards of every workplace. Construction labourers and site operatives: Many contractors ask new starters for a recognised safety awareness certificate; IOSH Working Safely is the employee-level course.

Yes — IOSH Working Safely practice on PassNova is 100% free. There's no paywall and no sign-up needed to start. A free account is optional and only saves your progress and badges.

No. You can start practising IOSH Working Safely instantly with no account, no email and no card. 104 courses are fully free; every Premium question bank has a free 15-question taster.

PassNova has 110 exam-style IOSH Working Safely questions and 4 timed 25-question practice tests, each with a clear explanation, plus topic-by-topic study mode.

IOSH Working Safely is a one-day safety and health course for employees at any level, in any sector, with no previous safety training, delivered only by IOSH-approved training providers in person, online or hybrid. Checked on iosh.com in September 2026: the course has five modules — Introducing working safely; Defining hazards and risks; Identifying common hazards; Improving safety performance; Protecting the environment — and is assessed on the day by a multi-format question paper and a multi-choice hazard-spotting exercise (per IOSH's Working Safely brochure), with no separate exam to book. Successful delegates receive an IOSH Working Safely certificate that can be verified online with IOSH; cost varies by provider. IOSH does not publish the workbook or the assessment, so PassNova's questions are written from the HSE guidance the course draws on (INDG leaflets and hse.gov.uk pages on slips and trips, work at height, manual handling, DSE, electricity, COSHH, asbestos, workplace transport, machinery, noise, vibration, violence, stress, lone working, RIDDOR, first aid and PPE) and GOV.UK fire-safety and waste guidance, at the employee level the course teaches. Figures that matter: noise action values 80 and 85 dB(A) with an 87 dB(A) limit; hand-arm vibration action and limit values of 2.5 and 5 m/s² A(8); there is no legal maximum weight for manual handling; work at height is work in any place where, without precautions, a person could fall a distance liable to cause personal injury. For the manager-level course, see PassNova's IOSH Managing Safely bank.