The National Examination
Board in Occupational Safety
and Health (NEBOSH)
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Version: 1.1
Specification date: April 2021
Publication date: August 2022
Registered Charity Number: 1010444
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Guidance and information for learners
and Learning Partners
NEBOSH Environmental Management
Certifcate
Unit EMC2: Assessing Environmental Aspects and Impacts
Part 1 Guidance for learners
Introduction 4
Parts of assessment 5
Location 10
Assessment time and tutor guidance 10
Assessment template and submitting Unit EMC2 for marking 11
Results 11
Resubmission if you have been referred in the assessment 11
Part 2 Guidance for Learning Partners
Setting up the assessment 13
Location 13
Guidance on assessment completion 13
A Learning Partner’s staff, family or friends taking the Unit EMC2 assessment 13
Assessment submission 14
Course
Overview Contents
Part 1:
Guidance for learners
NEBOSH Environmental Management Certificate 4
Introduction
The aim of this assessment is for you to practically
apply the knowledge and understanding that you
have gained from your Environmental Management
Certificate (EMC) studies. To do this, you will need
to assess the environmental aspects and impacts in
your workplace. Before you start the assessment,
you must have completed your studies of the whole
of the EMC syllabus (elements 1 to 9).
The parts of the assessment are as follows:
The different parts of the assessment are based on
the requirements of ISO 14001:2015, which you
learned about during the course.
An assessment pack has been produced to provide
you with everything that you will need to complete
the assessment. This can be downloaded from
the NEBOSH website (www.nebosh.org.uk). This
includes a template, as well as a completed example.
We have also included approximate word counts for
each section in this guide. These word counts should
be used as a guide only and should not be seen as
an absolute minimum or maximum. We want your
aspect and impact assessment to be realistic.
Part 1
Introduction to
the organisation
and methodology
used
Part 3
Significant aspects,
key issues, and
recommended
additional measures
Part 4
Communication
and review
Part 2
Identifying
environmental
aspects, associated
impacts, and
existing controls
Part 1
Guidance for
learners
NEBOSH Environmental Management Certificate 5
Parts of assessment
You must use the headed tables in the template
to complete the description of the organisation
and the methodology used.
Start by giving a clear and concise description of your
chosen organisation (if possible, this should be the
organisation you work for). You can change the name
and location of your organisation for confidentiality
purposes, but everything else needs to be factual.
You will also need to think about the scope of the
assessment; for example, are you going to look at
the whole organisation or just a specific department/
product/process? If you work for a large organisation,
we recommend that you concentrate on a part of the
organisation or a specific activity or process. If you are
unsure, please ask your tutor for advice.
Your assessment is going to be marked by a NEBOSHappointed examiner. The examiner will need a clear
description of your organisation to allow them to judge
whether the information in your assessment is relevant
and realistic. If you provide an unclear or incomplete
description, this could affect the marking of the
assessment.
You should aim to complete this section in 200 –
250 words
You will need to include the following information as a
minimum:
• the name of the organisation;
• site location (you do not need to give the full
address, just the general location eg, New Delhi,
India);
• how many workers are employed by the
organisation;
• a general description* of the organisation, which
must include products manufactured or services
provided, the types of activities undertaken and
shift patterns worked;
• a description of the area to be included in the
assessment; and
• any other relevant information eg, who has
the day-to-day responsibility for environmental
management in your organisation, nearby
vulnerable receptors. If you feel there is nothing
else relevant, you do not need to add anything
else to your submission.
Part 1
Guidance for
learners
Part 1
Introduction to
the organisation
and methodology
used
Part 3
Significant aspects,
key issues, and
recommended
additional measures
Part 4
Communication
and review
Part 2
Identifying
environmental
aspects, associated
impacts, and
existing controls
NEBOSH Environmental Management Certificate 6
* The description of the organisation should be detailed
enough to give the examiner (who may not be familiar
with your industry) a clear image of your organisation.
For example, ‘catering facility’ is far too brief. Something
like this would be better (extract from the worked
example in the assessment pack):
…
There are five café booths across campus serving
takeaway hot drinks (teas and coffees), cold drinks
in bottles/cans, and packaged snack foods. All
booths are owned by the university and manned
by directly employed university workers. These are
located on the ground floor of University buildings
close to offices, classrooms, and lecture theatres.
One cafe is located in the library building. Most of
the café’s customers work or study at the university,
although some locations are also open to the
public. Opening times vary by location and some
are closed over the weekend.
…
You will then need to outline how you carried out the
aspect and impact assessment (methodology used).
You should aim to complete this section in 100 –
200 words.
• the internal and external sources of information
that you looked at;
• who you spoke to; and
• how existing controls were identified.
You may also include anything else that is relevant to
the completion of the aspect and impact assessment.
Part 1
Guidance for
learners
NEBOSH Environmental Management Certificate 7
You must use the template provided to record the
aspect and impact assessment.
You will now need to complete an assessment of the
environmental aspects, and associated impacts, for your
organisation. You should include at least four different
activities/products/services from your chosen area. You must
record at least ten different environmental aspects in your
assessment, with associated impact(s) for each.
Your completed assessment must show that you have
considered the different operating conditions, which are
listed in Table 1. To pass the assessment, you must
include at least two of these conditions.
Your aspect and impact assessment must state:
• the activity, product, or service
• each environmental aspect, and under what condition(s)
it is present
• the impact(s) which are associated with each aspect*
• what is already in place to control these environmental
aspects.
*As a minimum, you must include one impact for each
environmental aspect. Usually there will be more than
one potential impact for each – particularly when
considering different conditions – and you should
include all of them, in order to demonstrate your
understanding. Remember that environmental impacts
can be positive or negative, and direct, indirect, or
cumulative.
Once you have identified all of the environmental aspects
and impacts, you need to determine which ones are
significant. You should use the significance rating table in the
assessment pack to help your evaluation. Put the rating for
each aspect, and which criteria it meets, in the assessment
table.
Please see the blank table in the template to see the layout
of the assessment. To get an idea of the level of detail
required, look at the full example included in the assessment
pack.

Table 1
Part 1
Guidance for
learners
Part 1
Introduction to
the organisation
and methodology
used
Part 3
Significant aspects,
key issues, and
recommended
additional measures
Part 4
Communication
and review
Part 2
Identifying
environmental
aspects, associated
impacts, and
existing controls
NEBOSH Environmental Management Certificate 8
Choose three signifcant aspects to evaluate further.
Remember, significance varies from organisation to
organisation. Even if nothing that you have identified
seems very serious, it is the most important aspect for
your organisation to address. What have you found that
would have the biggest impact (positive or negative)?
You must write about each of these three significant
aspects, to support your recommendations for further
actions. This section should contain enough information
for decision-makers with little environmental knowledge.
You can refer to the criteria from the significance rating
table to help form the basis of your explanation. To get
an idea of the level of detail required, look at the full
example included in the assessment pack.
You should aim to complete this section in 300 – 400
words for each aspect.
Your reasoning must explain:
• What environmental receptors may be affected
(directly, indirectly, or cumulatively) by these impacts,
and how.
• Business concerns, relevant compliance obligations,
and the needs and expectations of interested parties.
• Which key environmental issues the impacts are
linked to (see table 2)*.
• The likelihood and severity of potential impacts,
taking account of current control measures.
*Impacts might relate to multiple issues, or you might
find that different impacts are linked to the same issue.
You must include at least three issues in your assessment
overall.
Part 1
Guidance for
learners
Part 1
Introduction to
the organisation
and methodology
used
Part 3
Significant aspects,
key issues, and
recommended
additional measures
Part 4
Communication
and review
Part 2
Identifying
environmental
aspects, associated
impacts, and
existing controls

Table 2 – from EMC syllabus 1.1
NEBOSH Environmental Management Certificate 9
For each of the three signifcant aspects you have
already identified, you must state what further controls
or actions you would recommend in order to reduce
associated negative impacts, or enhance associated
positive impacts. The ‘additional measure’ might be
a development of an existing control eg, increased
monitoring or change to policy.
Here you should describe:
• The intended outcome of each action;
• Approximate timeframe for actions; and
• Resource requirements.
Lastly, you should recommend:
• When / how often the aspect and impact assessment
should be reviewed.
• Who should receive your recommendations* and
how you will communicate them.
• How you will follow up on your recommendations to
check that additional measures are put in place.
*Role only needed. This might be multiple people
depending on your recommendations
You should aim to complete this section in 50 – 100
words
Part 1
Guidance for
learners
Part 1
Introduction to
the organisation
and methodology
used
Part 3
Significant aspects,
key issues, and
recommended
additional measures
Part 4
Communication
and review
Part 2
Identifying
environmental
aspects, associated
impacts, and
existing controls
NEBOSH Environmental Management Certificate 10
Location
The assessment must be carried out in your own
workplace. This means that your assessment will
be realistic and provide added value for you and
your organisation. Your workplace should be large
enough to provide a sufficient range of activities with
associated environmental aspects.
If you do not have access to a workplace please speak
to your Learning Partner. Your Learning Partner will
help you to make arrangements for the assessment to
be carried out at other suitable premises.
Before carrying out the assessment, you must speak
to the management at the premises to ensure that
you can access any information you might need, and
so that you can carry out the assessment without
endangering your own health and safety.
Assessment time and tutor guidance
The time needed to complete the assessment is not
restricted. We do, however, recommend that you
take around 3 hours to complete all four parts of
the assessment. We feel that the 3 hours will allow
you to show your understanding of the assessment
requirements and complete a good quality assessment.
Please note that the 3 hours is for guidance; you may
choose to take more or less time to complete your
assessment.
We advise that you discuss your approach with your
tutor after reading this guidance. They can give you
advice on whether you are ‘heading in the right
direction’ – for example, they may comment on
whether you have chosen a suitable workplace or
situation that will give enough scope to be able to
tackle this assessment properly. Do not submit drafts
of your work to your tutor as they are not allowed to
pre-mark or comment on specific details.
Part 1
Guidance for
learners
NEBOSH Environmental Management Certificate 11
Assessment template and submitting
Unit EMC2 for marking
We recommend that your assessment is
completed electronically. The assessment
pack contains an editable template which has
been designed to take you through all of the
assessment sections. Completing all sections
of the forms and referring to this document for
additional guidance should help to ensure that
you receive a ‘Pass’ for your assessment. It is
also recommended that you refer to the ‘sample
assessment’ so that you can see what level of
detail is required for each section. The example
can be downloaded from the resources section on
the qualification page of the NEBOSH website.
Template
When you start your assessment you must
double-click the page footer and insert your
learner number and name on the first sheet.
The page numbering will change automatically
as you increase the number of pages that you
use. Please ensure that you use a font and font
size that is easy to read eg, Arial size 10 to 12.
Submission
Your assessment (Parts 1 – 4) must be
entirely your own work. By submitting your
assessment for marking, you are declaring that
it is your own work. Falsely claiming that your
assessment is your own work is malpractice
and NEBOSH may impose severe penalties, as
set out in the NEBOSH Malpractice Policy.
Your assessment must be submitted to your
Learning Partner electronically as a PDF (portable
document format) document. If you do not know
how to, or are unable to produce a pdf document,
please ask your Learning Partner for advice.
Your Learning Partner will tell you the date that
they need to receive your assessment. Once
received, your assessment will be upload to
NEBOSH for marking. If you fail to submit your
assessment to your Learning Partner by the date
requested, you will be marked as ‘absent’.
Results
We aim to issue results within 50 working
days of the date of the assessment.
Resubmission if you have been
referred in the assessment
You can only achieve a ‘Pass’ or ‘Refer’ for
the assessment. If you need to resubmit
you will need to register for the assessment
again and pay the appropriate fee. You are
not limited on the number of times that
you can resubmit the practical for marking.
However, you must remember that both
of the unit assessments (EMC1 and EMC2)
must be passed within a five-year period.
Part 1
Guidance for
learners
Part 2:
Guidance for Learning Partners
NEBOSH Environmental Management Certificate 13
This section of the guidance either expands on the
detail in Part 1 or gives specific information for
Learning Partners that is not relevant to learners.
Setting up the assessment
The EMC1 unit will be held quarterly and you
can choose to either connect the EMC2 to
this date or set up a separate on demand
assessment. If you chose the first option, you
can start to upload assessments for marking
the day after the registration closing date. If
you book an on-demand assessment, you
must upload the assessments 10 working days
after the assessment date at the latest.
Location
The assessment should normally be carried out
in your learner’s own workplace. If your learner
does not have access to a workplace, you must
help the learner make arrangements to carry out
the practical assessment at suitable premises.
If you are running the practical in this way,
you should contact the Customer Experience
team at NEBOSH for advice and approval.
You should ensure that, before the learner
carries out the assessment, they speak to the
management at the premises. This is to ensure
that the learner will have access to information
they might need, and can carry out the assessment
without endangering their own health and safety
Guidance on assessment completion
You may give your learners guidance on whether
they are ‘heading in the right direction’ – for
example, you may comment on whether
they have chosen a suitable workplace or
situation that will give sufficient scope to
achieve the necessary breadth and depth of
content required. You must not carry out a
pre-mark prior to submission to NEBOSH.
A Learning Partner’s staff, family or
friends taking the Unit EMC2 assessment
You must declare in writing to NEBOSH any staff
member, spouse, family or other close personal
relationship with any learner taking the EMC2
assessment. You must refer to the instructions
given in the document ‘Instructions for Conducting
Examinations’ for further information.
Part 2
Guidance
for Learning
Partners
NEBOSH Environmental Management Certificate 14
Assessment submission
You must satisfy yourself that the assessments
that your learners submit are their own work. By
submitting their assessments for marking they are
declaring that it is entirely their own work. Falsely
claiming that it is their own work is malpractice
and NEBOSH may impose severe penalties (see the
NEBOSH Malpractice Policy for further information).
You must tell your learners the date that you will
require their completed assessment by. You must
allow sufficient time for the upload (please see
‘Setting up the assessment’ for further information).
Assessments must be uploaded in PDF format via
the Course Provider Interface (CPI). Before uploading
the assessments, please make sure that the pages
are in order eg, run from pages 1 to 5 and are
rotated so that they can be immediately read eg,
the pages are the right way up. You will need to
click on the ‘Practical Upload’ tab; this will allow
you to either upload the assessments or, if the
learner fails to submit their completed assessment
to you on time, mark the learner as ‘absent’.
Part 2
Guidance
for Learning
Partners