NEBOSH IGC 2026 Syllabus Update: New GIC1 Unit Explained

This new NEBOSH IGC, Unit GIC1 version of the syllabus has been slightly changed with rewording, moving the contents from elsewhere within the syllabus and by adding new and by removing the some of the contents.

Contain total elements in GIC1 = 4 Elements

• Element 1: Why we should manage workplace health and safety
• Element 2: How health and safety management systems work and what they look like
• Element 3: Managing risk – understanding people and processes
• Element 4: Health and safety monitoring and measuring

Element 1: Why we should manage workplace health and safety

1.1 Morals and money

• Moral and societal expectations of good standards of health and safety
  • The right to a safe and healthy working environment (ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work)
• The financial cost of incidents (insured and uninsured costs, direct and indirect costs).

1.2 Regulating health and safety

• What enforcement agencies do and what happens if you don’t comply
• The part played by international standards (like ISO 45001)
• The International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) Convention C155 and Recommendation R164:
  • Employers’ responsibilities (C155 Article 16 and R164 recommendation 10)
  • Workers’ responsibilities and rights (C155 Article 19 and R164 recommendation 16)
• Where you can find information on national standards.

1.3 Who does what in organisations

• Roles of directors/managers/supervisors
• How top management can demonstrate commitment by:
  • Making resources available to design, implement and maintain the occupational health and safety management system
  • Defining roles and responsibilities
  • Appointing senior managers with specific responsibility for health and safety
  • Appointing competent people (internal and external, including specialists) to help the organisation meet its health and safety obligations
  • Reviewing health and safety performance
• Responsibilities of organisations who share a workplace to work together on health and safety issues (C155 Article 17, R164 Recommendation 11)
• How clients and contractors should work together:
  • The duties they owe each other (‘Safety and health in construction’, ILO Code of Practice - Chapter 2)
  • Effective planning and co-ordination of contracted work
  • Pre-selection and management of contractors.

Element 2: How health and safety management systems work and what they look like

2.1 Key components of health and safety management systems

• The structure of a health and safety management system: the ‘Plan, Do, Check, Act’ model (see ISO 45001 and ILO-OSH2001)
• The benefits and limitations of having formal/certified and informal health and safety management system.

2.2 Key components of a health and safety policy

• The occupational health and safety policy (see clause 5.2 ISO 45001):
  • Role
  • Typical content
  • Proportionate to the needs of the organisation
  • Sets overall objectives and quantifiable targets (specific, measurable, achievable, reasonable, timebound – SMART principles)
• Responsibilities – all workers at all levels of an organisation have responsibility for health and safety
• Practical arrangements for making it work:
  • The importance of stating the organisation’s arrangements for planning and organising, controlling hazards, consultation, communication, monitoring compliance, assessing effectiveness
• Keeping it current: when you might need to review, including passage of time, technological, organisational or legal changes, and results of monitoring.

Element 3: Managing risk – understanding people and processes

3.1 Health and safety culture

• Meaning of the term ‘health and safety culture’
• Relationship between health and safety culture and health and safety performance
• Indicators of an organisation’s health and safety culture:
  • Incidents, absenteeism, sickness rates, worker turnover, level of compliance with health and safety rules and procedures, complaints about working conditions
• Influence of peers on health and safety culture.

3.2 Improving health and safety culture

• The impact of the following on health and safety culture:
  • Gaining commitment of management
  • Leadership involvement in health and safety and appropriate use of disciplinary procedures
  • Competent workers (including the role of training)
  • Good communication within the organisation:
    • Benefits and limitations of different methods of communication (verbal, written and graphic)
    • Use and effectiveness of different types of internal communication
    • Co-operation and consultation with the workforce and contractors, including:
      • Benefits of worker participation (including worker feedback)
      • The role of health and safety committees.

3.3 How human factors influence behaviour positively or negatively

• Organisational factors, including: culture, leadership, resources, work patterns, communications
• Job factors, including: task, workload, environment, display and controls, procedures
• Individual factors, including: competence, skills, personality, attitude and risk perception
• Link between individual, job and organisational factors.

3.4 Assessing risk

• Meaning of hazard, risk, risk profiling and risk assessment
• Risk profiling: What is involved? Who should be involved? The risk profiling process
• Purpose of risk assessment and the ‘suitable and sufficient’ standard it needs to reach
• A general approach to risk assessment:
  • Identify hazards:
    • Sources and form of harm; sources of information to consult; use of task analysis, legislation, manufacturers’ information, incident data, guidance
    • Identify people at risk, including workers, contractors, visitors and public
  • Assess the risks (taking account of what you already do) and decide if you need to do more:
    • Likelihood of harm and probable severity
    • Possible acute and chronic health effects
    • Risk rating
  • Control the risks:
    • Principles to consider when controlling risk (section 3.10.1 ILO-OSH 2001 – ‘Guidelines on occupational safety and health management systems’)
    • Practical application of the principles – applying the general hierarchy of control (clause 8.1.2 of ISO 45001)
    • Application based on prioritisation of risk
    • Use of guidance; sources and examples of legislation
    • Applying controls to specified hazards
    • Residual risk; acceptable/tolerable risk levels
    • Distinction between priorities and timescales
  • Record findings
  • Review the controls
• Application of risk assessment for specific types of risk and special cases:
  • Examples of when and why they are required, including fire, display screen equipment, manual handling, hazardous substances, noise
  • Why specific risk assessment methods are used for certain risks – to enable proper, systematic consideration of all relevant issues that contribute to the risk
  • Special case applications to young people, expectant and nursing mothers; also consideration of disabled workers and lone workers.

3.5 Management of change

• Typical types of change faced in the workplace and the possible impact of such change, including: construction works, change of process, change of equipment, change in working practices (cross-reference 5.4)
• Managing the impact of change:
  • Communication and co-operation
  • Risk assessment
  • Appointment of competent people
  • Segregation of work areas
  • Amendment of emergency procedures
  • Welfare provision
• Review of change (during and after).

3.6 Safe systems of work for general work activities

• Why workers should be involved when developing safe systems of work
• Why procedures should be recorded/written down
• The differences between technical, procedural and behavioural controls
• Developing a safe system of work:
  • Analysing tasks, identifying hazards and assessing risks
  • Introducing controls and formulating procedures
  • Instruction and training in how to use the system
• Monitoring the system.

3.7 Permit-to-work systems

• Meaning of a permit-to-work system
• Why permit-to-work systems are used
• How permit-to-work systems work and are used
• When to use a permit-to-work system, including: hot work, work on non-live (isolated) electrical systems, machinery maintenance, confined spaces, work at height.

3.8 Emergency procedures

• Why emergency procedures need to be developed
• What to include in an emergency procedure
• Why people need training in emergency procedures
• Why emergency procedures need to be tested
• What to consider when deciding on first aid needs in a workplace:
  • Shift patterns
  • Location of site
  • Activities carried out
  • Number of workers
  • Location relative to hospitals/emergency services.

Element 4: Health and safety monitoring and measuring

4.1 Investigating and reporting incidents

• The different levels of investigations: minimal, low, medium and high (see HSG245)
• Basic incident investigation steps:
  • Step one: gathering the information
  • Step two: analysing the information
  • Step three: identifying risk control measures
  • Step four: the action plan and its implementation
• How occupational incidents and diseases are recorded and notified by the organisation (Recording and notification of occupational accidents and diseases, ILO Code of Practice – chapters 4–7)

4.2 Active and reactive monitoring

• The differences between active and reactive monitoring
• Active monitoring methods (including health and safety inspections, sampling and tours) and their usefulness:
  • Differences between the methods; frequency; competence and objectivity of people doing them; use of checklists; allocation of responsibilities and priorities for action
• Reactive monitoring measures (including ill health, incident data, and incident investigations) and their usefulness
• Why lessons need to be learnt from beneficial and adverse events
• The difference between leading and lagging indicators.

4.3 Health and safety auditing

• Definition of the term ‘audit’ (clause 3.32, ISO 45001)
• Why health and safety management systems should be audited, including:
  • Negative: identifying failing of a management system
  • Positive: organisational learning and assurance
• Difference between audits and inspections
• Types of audit: product/services, process, system
• Advantages and disadvantages of external and internal audits
• The audit stages:
  • Notification of the audit and timetable for auditing
  • Pre-audit preparations, including competent audit team, time and resources required
  • Information gathering
  • Information analysis
  • Completion of audit report.

4.3 Health and safety auditing

• Why health and safety performance should be reviewed
• What the review should consider:
  • Level of compliance with relevant legal and organisational requirements
  • Incident data, corrective and preventive actions
  • Summarised results of inspections, tours and sampling
  • Absences and sickness
  • Quality assurance reports
  • Audit results
  • Monitoring data/records/reports
  • External communications and complaints
  • Results of participation and consultation
  • Whether objectives have been met
  • Actions from previous management reviews
  • Legal/good practice developments
  • Assessing opportunities for improvement and the need for change
• Reporting on health and safety performance
• Feeding review outputs into action and development plans as part of continuous improvement.

Why the GIC1 Update Matters

The NEBOSH IGC – GIC1 New Syllabus 2026 is not just a cosmetic update. It represents:

• Stronger alignment with international standards
• Greater emphasis on human rights and leadership accountability
• Improved assessment design reflecting workplace realities
• Enhanced clarity and consistency in safety term