What is IOSH?

As one of the UK’s leading providers of health and safety training Phoenix offers four IOSH Courses with an impressive 99% first time pass rate*

IOSH stands for the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health and is the world's largest Chartered body for health and safety professionals. Although they are a UK-based organisation, IOSH are respected internationally with over 50,000 members across 130 countries. Over 160,000 people attend more than 15,000 IOSH courses each year across more than 70 countries.

What does IOSH do?

As well as providing qualifications, IOSH also aims to raise and maintain health and safety standards, acting as a leading voice for the profession. Activities include promoting a code of conduct, as well as campaigning on safety and health issues that affect millions of lives globally. IOSH is committed to ensuring that workplaces and working practices are safe, healthy, and sustainable worldwide.

What is IOSH training?

IOSH training educates on workplace health and safety to improve risk management. It provides essential education, focusing on legal requirements and workplace safety practices, aiming to improve safety awareness and professional competence.

Which IOSH course should I take?

Our four IOSH courses are tailored to suit employees at different levels of an organisation.

IOSH Working Safely is a one-day, entry-level safety course, suitable for all employees. The course can be studied via the Virtual classroom, e-Learning, or in-house on your organisation's premises. The course provides a basic understanding of the health and safety issues employees require to do their day-to-day jobs safely, giving them the skills to create a safe working environment.

IOSH Managing Safely is the most popular IOSH course, designed for employees at management level. It provides the in-depth understanding of health and safety issues required by employees with supervisory responsibilities. Phoenix offer e-Learning, classroom, virtual classroom and in-house training options for the 3-day course.

We also offer the IOSH Managing Safely Refresher course. This enables candidates who already have the Managing Safely qualification to update their knowledge and awareness. We are often asked “how long does an IOSH qualification last?”, and the answer is that they never expire. However, regulations, standards and practices are continually changing, so most professionals understand the importance of occasional updates. IOSH recommend refreshing the Managing Safely qualification every three years.

IOSH Leading Safely is a 5-hour, in-house course, designed for senior managers and directors. It provides them with a strategic overview of health and safety policy from a leadership perspective, and how it feeds into their corporate responsibilities. The Leading Safely course is tailored to your organisation, helping leaders to consider safety when making important strategic decisions.

Why choose an IOSH course?

IOSH has been providing health and safety courses and qualifications since its formation in 1945. In that time, it has developed a distinctive and well-rounded approach to training. Although they differ in many ways, all the IOSH courses we provide share some common features:

Each IOSH course provides essential insights for candidates, with both written and practical assessments.
Every IOSH course is designed based on best practice across a variety of industries, considering safety theory and effective procedure so that the risk of injury and accident is reduced.
IOSH courses also offer practical tools that enable individuals and organisations to create safer, healthier working environments – helping employers to minimise sickness absence, improve productivity, and deliver a variety of positive business benefits.

What does IOSH Training involve?

Designed to meet international safety standards by IOSH, their courses all provide a core understanding of health and safety, tailored to the level of worker depending on the course.

The delivery of the training will depend on the learning style you select. Classroom courses take place in one of our specially selected venues from across the UK. Like virtual classroom courses, they're led by our expert trainers, however, in virtual courses lessons take place via zoom, not in an in-person classroom. In-house courses are tutor-led too, though they are carried out on your premises, eliminating the need for your employees to travel. Finally, e-Learning courses are taken at your own pace using Phoenix's e-Learning platform, where you'll have complete access to the online course and materials.

What are the benefits of taking an IOSH course?

Taking an IOSH course gives you the opportunity to learn specialised safety knowledge and skills applicable to a variety of industries and professions. Applying what you learn will help you to create or contribute to a safer work environment with reduced accident and incident rates. As an individual employee, taking an IOSH course is also a great way of demonstrating your commitment to health and safety, as well as your own professional development.

How does IOSH membership work?

Gaining an IOSH qualification does not automatically make you a member, but it does make you eligible to join. Becoming an IOSH member can make you more attractive to employers, so it is well worth considering if you have ambitions in the health and safety sector or an interest in its developments.

As your career progresses, you can move up the IOSH membership ladder, which has six levels:

Student membership gives you access to a mentor who can provide you with advice and support, as well as access to their network of Health and Safety specialists and associated events. To join as a student you pay just £15 for the duration of your studies.
Affiliate Membership, open to everyone and anyone with an in interest or active role in the health and safety industry. All individuals except students start at this membership, transferring to the membership that suits their status after registration.
Technical Membership (TechIOSH), mainly for employees who work full or part-time in a health and safety role, and are participating in a continuous professional development (CPD) programme. It is open to anyone with an accredited level 3 health and safety qualification, provided they've completed at least one year of relevant work experience.
Certified Membership (CertIOSH), open to those who have completed an IOSH-accredited degree-level qualification, in addition to two years of relevant industry experience. You can also reach this membership level through the experiential route.
Chartered Membership (CMIOSH), considered the health and safety profession’s gold standard. Certified members who complete a development plan, or those with five to 10 years of relevant experience can advanced to this level.
Chartered Fellow (CFIOSH), recognised as the pinnacle of the health and safety profession. This membership is open to those who have been chartered members for at least 5 years and have 5 years of senior health and safety leadership experience.

Learn more about How to achieve IOSH membership and why it is so valuable.

Ready to book an IOSH course?

Along with IOSH, we are very keen to nurture the next generation of health and safety professionals at Phoenix. For full details and costs, visit our IOSH courses page. If you have any questions or need advice about getting onto the IOSH membership ladder, feel free to contact our expert team at any time on 0345 500 8811.

*First-time pass rate taken from our IOSH Managing Safely results from the past 12 months.