How to become a WSH Officer in Brunei

A Workplace Safety and Health Officer is a registered role in Brunei Darussalam, not a job title a company can simply hand out. Under section 32 of the Workplace Safety and Health Act, Chapter 277, no person may act as a WSH Officer without approval from SHENA.

This is what the route actually looks like: when a workplace is required to appoint one, what you need to qualify, what the application involves, and what keeps you registered afterwards.

When a workplace must appoint one

Section 28 of the Act requires workplaces of a prescribed class to appoint either a WSH Officer or a WSH Co-ordinator. The Workplace Safety and Health (Workplace Safety and Health Officers) Regulations, 2014 set out which:

• Shipyards
• Factories used for processing petroleum or petroleum products
• Factories carrying out building operations or works of engineering construction with a contract sum of BND 10 million or more
• Any other factory where 100 or more people are employed — except those manufacturing garments

Below that construction threshold, the WSH (Construction) Regulations, 2014 require a WSH Co-ordinator instead, for any worksite where the contract sum is under BND 10 million.

Note the definition of “factory” is broader than it sounds. Under the Act it covers premises where people handle, sort, pack, store, alter, repair, construct, process or manufacture goods — or handle hazardous substances. A great many Brunei workplaces qualify.

What you need to qualify

A recognised qualification

SHENA names the minimum plainly: the NEBOSH International General Certificate in Occupational Health and Safety, or an equivalent. The accepted equivalents are substantial academic qualifications — a Diploma, Advanced Diploma (HND), Degree, Master’s or PhD in occupational health and safety, or a related field such as safety, health and environmental management.

For most people the certificate is the realistic route, which is why it appears first in SHENA’s own guidance.

One point of confusion worth clearing up, added since this was written: SHENA’s guidance says “NEBOSH IGC”, while NEBOSH revised the qualification in 2026 and its units are now GIC1 and GIC2. It is the same certificate under a new code.

Two years of practical experience

The qualification on its own is not enough. SHENA requires at least two years of practical experience relevant to the work, and expects you to have been genuinely involved — reviewing and developing safety policies, running risk assessments, investigating incidents, conducting audits and inspections, delivering toolbox talks and training, sitting on safety committees, and managing emergency preparedness.

If you are starting out, this is the part that takes time, and no course shortens it. Take the certificate early and build the experience alongside it.

The eligibility basics

• At least 21 years old and employed in Brunei Darussalam
• A Brunei citizen, permanent resident, or holder of an Employment Pass with the employing company
• A “fit and proper person” to carry out the work
• Present and active on site — this is not a role you hold on paper

Applying

Applications go through the E-SHENA portal. You may be asked to attend an interview at SHENA for further assessment of your eligibility, so be ready to talk about what you have actually done, not only what you have studied.

Staying registered

Registration lasts two years, and renewal depends on Continuing Professional Development. SHENA expects a minimum number of hours each year across categories including continuing education, delivering or teaching, and inspection, audit and review — with 15 hours annually in several of them.

Formal training courses count toward continuing education, as do lectures, seminars, workshops and conferences. Toolbox talks you deliver, in-house training you teach and mentoring you provide count under delivering and teaching. Keep the certificates — SHENA requires evidence, recorded and supported by documents.

Your organisation must also assign you a supervisor, normally a line manager or someone from senior management with relevant safety knowledge, who confirms you are genuinely active in the role.

Where we come in

We will be straightforward about what training does and does not do. It cannot give you the two years of experience, and it cannot make SHENA approve your application. What it can do is get you the qualification SHENA names, and it is the part you can start on immediately.

• The NEBOSH International General Certificate is the minimum qualification in SHENA’s guidance. We deliver it in Jerudong as an accredited NEBOSH Learning Partner — ten days plus assessment.
• Our Workplace Safety and Health Act, Chapter 277 course covers the legislation the role is built on: the duties it places on people, and the penalties for getting it wrong.
• Both count toward your annual CPD hours once you are registered, and so does anything else formal you attend with us.

If you are weighing up the GIC against a shorter course, our comparison of IOSH and NEBOSH covers the difference. For the WSH Officer route specifically, the GIC is the one SHENA asks for.

Where to start

Read SHENA’s own guidance note first — Requirements of Workplace Safety and Health Officer & Workplace Safety and Health Co-ordinator, reference 2022/IGN/02(01), on the SHENA publications page. It is the document your application will be assessed against.

Then tell us where you are — whether you already have the experience and need the certificate, or you are starting from nothing and want to know how long the whole route takes. We will tell you honestly, including if the answer is that a WSH Co-ordinator registration fits your situation better for now.

Requirements and fees are as published by SHENA at the time of writing. Always check the current guidance before applying.

Updated in August 2026 to reflect NEBOSH’s revised syllabus, under which the certificate’s units are now GIC1 and GIC2. Originally published in July 2025.