There’s been a recent rise in the use Artificial Intelligence (AI) in professional and educational settings – in fact, a recent survey by IPSOS revealed that over a third of UK adults polled have used AI in their workplace in the last month. Preparing for any assessment can be daunting, and AI might seem like a handy tool to someone studying for a high-level qualification such as the NEBOSH General Certificate or the NEBOSH Diploma. However, careless use of AI could end up as a breach of the Malpractice Policy and result in a voided result and a waste of your time and money.
This guide looks at current guidance from NEBOSH about the use of AI in Scenario Based Assessments (SBAs), considers the ethics of using it to support you in your assessment, and answers our most frequently asked questions.
What is meant by AI?
Let’s start with the basics – when we talk about ‘AI’ in this context, we are referring to any online tool that will generate content from a prompt that could then be used in your assessment. This includes chatbots such as:
- ChatGPT
- Microsoft Copilot
- Google Gemini
- Claude
These programs are what most will think of when they think of AI, however you may not realise that plugins such as Grammarly and certain features in ProWritingAid are also AI-based tools, and are recognised by software that checks for the use of AI in a body of text.
Does NEBOSH allow AI?
NEBOSH’s stance on the use of AI has changed over time as technology changes and is likely to continue to evolve as they regularly reassess their qualifications, learners and policies.
In December 2025, NEBOSH released the latest version of their Malpractice Policy which stated for the first time that:
“certain uses of Artificial Intelligence (AI) may be permitted in some types of assessments…However, unless specifically permitted to do so (eg by assessment instructions, or any granted reasonable adjustments), the use of AI during an assessment is prohibited and will be considered malpractice” – NEBOSH Malpractice Policy, Version 21 (December 2025)
What does this mean?
This means that AI can only be used with explicit and direct permission from NEBOSH themselves – not Learning Partners, tutors, or anyone else that may be involved in your studies. The mention of ‘assessment instructions’ does seem to suggest that NEBOSH may be considering incorporating the use of AI in to certain assessments in the future, however there are currently no NEBOSH qualifications, at any level, that allow the use of AI.
The Malpractice Policy explicitly states that the misuse of AI will still be treated as malpractice and investigated the same as any other violation – for example, sharing answers or copying and pasting information found on the internet. The bottom line is that all work going in to a NEBOSH exam should be your own original thoughts, ideas and analysis.
When is it OK to use AI in a NEBOSH exam?
When you submit an assessment to NEBOSH, you are declaring that it is all your own work. If any part of your answer is found to have been written by AI, then you will be considered in breach of the Malpractice policy – just like if you had asked another human to write an answer for you.
However, there are very narrow circumstances where the use of AI may be allowed. The ‘Guidance to Learners’ section found on the front page of Scenario Based Assessments (SBAs), which are used for NEBOSH Certificate level courses such as the National General Certificate as well as in several units of the NEBOSH Diploma, has recently been updated to provide some guidance on the use of AI:
You may only use AI-enabled assistants or tools for planning your work…But you must not use AI-generated output in any form in your assessment…Your thoughts, ideas, interpretation, analysis and words must be your own. – NEBOSH Unit NG1 Assessment, Feb 2026.
So what does this mean exactly?
Using AI to plan your NEBOSH assessment answer
For example, let’s say that a task in your exam asks you to comment on how the site manager in the scenario has supported their apprentice in health and safety matters.
- You decide that the first part of your answer will be to consider the site manager’s legal obligations.
- You know from your studies that there are several relevant pieces of legislation you could explore, so you ask an AI program the following question: ‘What UK legislation refers to an employer’s duty of care when it comes to apprentices?’.
- AI then provides you with a list of regulations that it believes is relevant.
- You see that one of the regulations they have listed is the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.
- You look up this Act in your study book and revision notes from your course to find out more.
- Once you have finished your research, you decide that it is relevant to the information you have about the site manager and their apprentice.
- Using evidence from the scenario, you write a paragraph describing how you believe the site manager acted in line with the Health and Safety at Work Act.
In this case, AI is simply acting as a search engine that is providing you with public information, and all of your work is still your own analysis and uses your own judgement based off of your existing knowledge.
You should be mindful that AI cannot be relied on to be 100% correct – you should always factcheck any information that you use to plan your answer, and most importantly, never copy and paste anything from AI in to your answer. Remember that in an SBA, you should always refer your answer back to the scenario provided in order to gain marks. An AI answer will lack the context that you need to gain the mark, and will never be able to provide the insight that you should be able to give after studying the syllabus.
Can you use AI for NEBOSH risk assessments?
When it comes to malpractice and the misuse of AI, the same rules apply to NEBOSH risk assessments as apply to the examinations.
All of your work must be your own, and any information that’s found to have come wholly or partly from AI will put you in violation of the Malpractice policy. Remember that your risk assessment is specifically for your workplace – AI does not know your workplace!
Can you use AI to help with dyslexia or other conditions?
NEBOSH’s Malpractice policy includes the following when it comes to the use of AI:
“…unless specifically permitted to do so (eg by assessment instructions, or any granted reasonable adjustments), the use of AI during an assessment is prohibited”.
As of March 2026, the Access Arrangements and Reasonable Adjustments Policy doesn’t mention the use of AI. However, if you believe that you have a condition (as defined under the Equality Act 2010) where the use of AI will allow you to complete the assessment on the same level as someone without your condition, you are able to request a reasonable adjustment prior to your assessment. In previous years, when the assessments were handwritten and took place in a classroom, this included extra time to complete or access to a dictionary. Now that the exam is open book, online, and can be completed over a 24-hour period, it’s more accessible than it’s ever been but you are still able to request additional support where needed.
You should be aware that these are granted at NEBOSH’s discretion – they are able to deny or provide other reasonable alternatives if they feel that your suggestions are not reasonable. You will also need to provide evidence to support your request.
Under no circumstances should you use AI to assist with a disability or condition without formally applying to NEBOSH beforehand and being granted permission. Should they grant you any kind of reasonable adjustment then you will still need to apply for any further assessments you take, as it’s not a rolling agreement.
What does NEBOSH consider Malpractice?
In their Malpractice Policy, NEBOSH provide the following examples as misuse of AI in assessments:
- Breaching copyright – Submitting any NEBOSH copyrighted materials, such as the exam paper itself, course materials, or the syllabus to an AI tool – even if you do not use any of the information that the AI tool gives you in return.
- Using any AI content – Copying, paraphrasing, or ‘rewriting in your own words’ any AI generated content means that the underlying thought is still not your own. The purpose of a NEBOSH assessment is to demonstrate your own understanding of the key principles, and so rephrasing AI work puts you in breach of the Malpractice policy. Many people would assume that changing AI content makes it undetectable, however it can still be detected by plagiarism software.
- Solving calculations – certain advanced qualifications will require you to complete formulas or equations and apply them to the scenario where appropriate. Using AI to complete these calculations for you doesn’t demonstrate that you understand the principles behind these calculations and know how to solve them.
- Translation – Using AI to translate your answer into a different language, e.g. if you elect to take the exam in English, and you write your answer in your first language and then translate it to English using AI.
Although it is not explicitly mentioned in NEBOSH’s Malpractice Policy, using AI tools like Grammarly to check grammar and spelling is also forbidden. It’s important to remember that you do not lose marks for spelling and grammar – NEBOSH are looking to test your understanding and application of health and safety, not your literacy skills. As long as your answers can be clearly understood by the examiner, minor spelling mistakes have no effect on your mark.
Where can you find NEBOSH’s Malpractice Policy?
Your Learning Partner should provide your with a copy of the Malpractice Policy in preparation for your assessments, but you can also download the latest version via the Policies and Procedures section of the NEBOSH website.
How does NEBOSH check for AI use?
NEBOSH combine a range of methods to checking for malpractice – these include your closing interview (or professional discussions for NEBOSH Diploma learners), academic plagiarism software, and metadata analysis.
What happens if you’re caught using AI on a NEBOSH assessment?
If NEBOSH suspect that your submission contains AI-generated content then they will open a formal investigation against you in line with their Malpractice policy. This investigation may include requesting a statement from you about the allegations, asking you to submit evidence, and contacting your Learning Partner to request supporting evidence of your studies. You’re unable to sit any more NEBOSH assessments until the investigation is over.
The consequences of being found in breach of the malpractice policy vary from case to case, and will depend on your specific circumstances. These can range from your results being declared void to a lifetime ban. You won’t receive a refund for any exam fees associated with a voided result, and you’ll also have to pay to resit next time – depending on the qualification, you may have to wait a few months for the next available sitting, making a voided result a waste of your time as well as money.
There are also wider implications – NEBOSH qualifications are often a requirement for many health and safety professional roles, and a blanket ban from taking NEBOSH qualifications can be a big red flag for your current and future employers.
What should you do if you’re unsure or have any questions about AI?
If you have any questions about using AI in your NEBOSH assessments, you should contact your Learning Partner directly before taking any action.
The bottom line when it comes to AI use is that the safest and most ethical option is to avoid it altogether. It’s understandable to want to give yourself the best possible chance when it comes to an assessment that could impact your entire career, but the knowledge that you demonstrate during your exam will also be the knowledge that you take in to your career as a health and safety professional. NEBOSH Scenario Based Assessments are designed to test your competency, and if you don’t understand the subject well enough to pass the exam then the unfortunate truth is that you also don’t understand the subject enough to put it in to practice in the real world.
The consequences of cheating or taking shortcuts in health and safety are illness, injury and even fatalities, which is why malpractice at this level is taken so seriously.
