This awareness-level qualification introduces learners to:

Knowledge developed:

Skills developed:

This Award is designed for anyone involved in chemical industry operations or interfaces, including:

No prior qualification is required this Award is intended as an accessible entry point into the subject.

Assessment is conducted through an online examination via the Britsafe Examination Management System (EMS). Learners must achieve a minimum score of 70% to pass. On successful completion, learners receive a certificate, available both as a physical copy and as a soft (digital) copy. Results and certificates are typically issued promptly following successful completion.

While this Level 1 Award is a foundation qualification rather than a competence credential, it provides relevant grounding for roles including:

Learners can apply this qualification directly to:

This Award is best positioned as a foundation in industry co-operation and stewardship. Learners often progress into:

Britsafe Qualifications UK Limited delivers this qualification fully online, making it accessible to learners across the UK and internationally without the need to attend a physical training centre. Responsible Care operates as a global initiative across more than sixty countries, and the principles of supply chain hazard communication, product stewardship and shared incident learning are applied internationally. Specific statutory arrangements, including major hazard regimes and supply duties, are set nationally, so learners working outside Great Britain should confirm the framework applicable locally.

1. What does this qualification cover?
   It covers co-operative safety arrangements in the chemical industry: supply chain duties and hazard communication, downstream user responsibilities, product stewardship, neighbouring establishment obligations, off-site emergency planning, emergency services liaison, public information, Responsible Care, transport interfaces, contractor co-operation and collective incident learning.
2. Why does a chemical site have duties towards its neighbours?
   Because a major accident at one establishment can be made worse by what is stored or done next door. Where establishments are close enough for that to happen, the Control of Major Accident Hazards Regulations 2015 require them to exchange information and co-operate so that each can account for the other in its own planning. It is a legal duty rather than a matter of goodwill.
3. What is section 6 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act?
   The provision placing duties on those who design, manufacture, import or supply articles and substances for use at work including ensuring, so far as reasonably practicable, that they are safe when properly used, that testing has been carried out where necessary, and that adequate information is provided. It is the principal supply chain duty in UK health and safety law and is rarely mentioned outside specialist practice.
4. What is Responsible Care?
   A voluntary global initiative through which chemical companies commit to continuous improvement in health, safety, environmental and security performance, and to openness with the communities in which they operate. It is administered in the UK by the Chemical Industries Association and operates in more than sixty countries. It sits alongside legal obligations rather than replacing them.
5. What is product stewardship?
   The principle that responsibility for a substance extends across its lifecycle rather than ending at the point of sale. It includes understanding how customers use the product, providing adequate information for safe use, and considering handling, storage and disposal downstream.
6. Why is a safety data sheet not enough on its own?
   Because a document that arrives and is filed has protected nobody. The information has to reach the people who actually handle the substance, in a form they can use, and be reflected in the site’s own assessments and procedures. Information transfer is only complete when it changes what somebody does.
7. Why do emergency services visit sites in advance?
   Because the first minutes of an incident are decisive, and responders arriving without knowledge of layout, inventory or access routes are working blind. Familiarisation visits, accurate substance information and joint planning materially affect how an incident unfolds.
8. Why is information provided to the public around major hazard sites?
   Because people living nearby need to know what to do if something happens. Major hazard regulations include requirements to inform those in affected areas about the hazards and the action to take, and community liaison arrangements exist so this is not left until an emergency.
9. Why does the course cover learning from other companies’ incidents?
   Because the alternative is learning only from your own, which is a considerably more expensive method. The chemical and process industries publish incident findings through trade associations, professional institutions and regulators. That system works only if organisations both share honestly and read what others have shared.
10. Does this qualification cover COMAH compliance?
    At awareness level only. It explains the co-operation, planning and information duties that arise under the regime so that site personnel understand why those arrangements exist. Achieving and demonstrating COMAH compliance requires specialist competence well beyond a Level 1 Award.
11. Does it qualify me to handle dangerous goods transport documentation?
    No. Carriage of dangerous goods has its own regulatory framework and training requirements, including driver training and the Dangerous Goods Safety Adviser role where applicable. This Award covers the interface at awareness level.
12. Who is this qualification aimed at?
    Process and site personnel, supply chain and logistics staff, technical and regulatory teams, contractors, emergency response team members, community liaison staff and supervisors.
13. Are there any entry requirements?
    No formal prerequisites are required. Learners should have a reasonable standard of English and be aged 16 or above.
14. How long does the course take to complete?
    The qualification has a minimum instructional contact time of 4 hours, making it a compact, focused course suitable for induction-level delivery.
15. How is the qualification assessed?
    Through an online examination via the Britsafe Examination Management System, with a minimum pass mark of 70%.
16. What materials are provided with the course?
    Learners receive digital (soft copy) course materials via the Britsafe learning management system. The course is delivered entirely online; there is no physical classroom attendance or physical course material.
17. What happens after I pass the exam?
    Successful learners receive a certificate from Britsafe Qualifications UK Limited, featuring an anti-counterfeit hologram seal for authenticity. The certificate is available both as a physical copy and as a soft (digital) copy.
18. Is this qualification recognised internationally?
    Yes. Britsafe Qualifications UK Limited delivers this qualification fully online to learners across the UK and internationally, though statutory arrangements differ by jurisdiction and should be checked locally.
19. Can this qualification lead to further study?
    Yes. It provides a foundation for product stewardship, regulatory affairs, COMAH and process safety study, dangerous goods training and higher-level occupational health and safety qualifications.