Course details

New Zealand Diploma in Workplace Health and Safety Management (Level 6)
NZQF Level 6

About the course

Get into Health and Safety Management with the New Zealand Diploma in Workplace Health and Safety Management. Develop essential skills needed to manage and develop health and safety protocols.

This diploma will advance your personal and professional skills necessary to be successful in demanding and evolving business environments that are recognised locally, nationally and internationally.

You will learn:

  • Risk management
  • Health and Safety in Employment
  • Occupational health and safety strategies and organisational systems
  • Occupational health and safety training strategies and evaluation
  • Occupational health and safety management practice leadership
  • Occupational health and safety strategic planning and performance measurement
  • Occupational health and safety intervention programme design and evaluation
  • Workplace Health and Safety Resilience in Dynamic and Disrupted Contexts
Changes to the Qualification Starting 2026This qualification is being updated to align with its latest version. Beginning 2026, the paper MGT608 – Organisational Behaviour will be replaced by a new paper: MGT645 – Workplace Health and Safety Resilience in Dynamic and Disrupted Contexts. If you have already completed MGT608 – Organisational Behaviour as part of the Level 6 Health and Safety Diploma, you will not be disadvantaged. Your previous completion will still be recognised, and you will not need to take the replacement paper.

Entry requirements

Applicants should be a minimum of 20 years of age, with a minimum of four years secondary education. All applicants should have academic attributes (e.g. successful completion of a previous qualification at Level 4 or above) or industry experience (e.g. as evidenced by CV or employer references) which indicate they have a reasonable likelihood of successful completion of the programme.

Personal commitment and a belief in one’s own ability to succeed are also important personal traits and will always be taken into consideration during the selection process.

Special Admission

Notwithstanding the above admissions categories, in exceptional circumstances, a mature aged applicant who can show evidence of ability to succeed in advanced level studies in workplace health and safety management (e.g. strong work experience/background as evidenced by CV, or referee attestations), may be considered for admission provided the applicant has successfully completed an approved course or programme, which is deemed to prepare graduates for the required academic standard for entry.

English Language Requirements

Applicants, whose first language is not English, or who come from a country where the language of instruction in schools is not English, are required to provide evidence of having achieved one of the following: 

NCEA Level 3 with University Entrance, or

an International Baccalaureate Diploma or Cambridge A¬ level qualification for which the teaching and assessment was conducted in English; or

Cambridge Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (CELTA),or

Trinity College  London Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (CertTESOL);or

Successful completion of all primary education (being the equivalent of New Zealand primary school years 1 to 8) and at least three years of secondary education (being the equivalent of three years from New Zealand secondary school years 9 to 13) at schools in  either New Zealand, Australia­, Canada, the Republic of Ireland, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States one of the countries listed in Rule 18.5 where the student was taught using English as the language of instruction; or

Successful completion of at least five years of secondary education (being the equivalent of New Zealand secondary school years 9 to 13) at schools in either New Zealand, Australia, Canada, the Republic of Ireland, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States where the student was taught using English as the language of instruction; or

Successful completion of a Bachelor ‘s Degree, Graduate Certificate, Graduate Diploma, Bachelor Honours degree, Postgraduate Certificate, Postgraduate Diploma, Masters’ Degree or Doctoral Degree, the language of instruction of which must be in English and which must be  from a tertiary education provider from New Zealand, Australia, Canada, the Republic of Ireland, South Africa, the United Kingdom or the United States or

Successful completion of one of the following internationally recognised proficiency tests listed below to the level required of the programme of study and  with all scores achieved in a single test during the two years  preceding the proposed date of enrolment

Diploma at Level 6

  • IELTS test - Academic score of 6 with no band score lower than 5.5
  • TOEFL Paper based test (pBT) - Score of 550 (with an essay score 5 TWE)
  • TOEFL Internet based test (iBT) - Score of 60 (with a writing score of 18)
  • Cambridge English Examination -B2 First or B2 First for schools or C1 Advanced or C2 Proficiency with a score of 169.  No less than 162 in each skill.
  • OET - Minimum of Grade C or 200 in all sub-tests
  • NZCEL - Level 4 (Academic)
  • Pearson Test of English (Academic) - PTE (Academic) score of 50 with no band score lower than 42
  • Language Cert - C1 Expert International ESOL Written (LRW) PASS with no less than 25/50 in each skill and Spoken (S) PASS
  • Trinity ISE - ISE II with no less than distinction in any band

*This course is not available to international students.

About the provider

Southern Institute of Technology (SIT) provides quality tertiary education and training across a wide range of subjects and qualifications. From certificates to postgraduate studies, we offer NZQA programmes for students to learn at a level and pathway that suits them.

We are home to the Zero Fees Scheme and are the only tertiary provider in New Zealand to offer a no tuition cost education to domestic NZ students for every year of study, at all levels.

We offer SIT programmes at campuses in Invercargill, Queenstown, Gore, and online through SIT2LRN Distance Learning.

We also have a specialised faculty in rural education at Telford in Balclutha, South Otago.

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