Get your SVH Social Hygiene diploma

What you get in the SVH Social Hygiene training

You get 10 complete mock exams of 40 questions, 400 exam questions in total, based on the official assessment criteria. The bar for each mock exam is 72%, comparable to the 29 correct answers you need in the real exam.

The training is meant for anyone who will be managing a hospitality venue or off-licence, or who runs the bar as a manager at a club. For € 29,95 you get instant access. The subscription continues until you cancel, and it works on any device.

What social hygiene is and why the law requires it

Social hygiene is the knowledge you need to manage responsibly in a place where alcohol is served or sold. It covers alcohol and drunkenness, but just as much drugs, gambling, hospitality, social hygiene policy and employment legislation. In practice it means knowing how to act when a guest is drunk, threatening or violent.

The Alcohol Act (Alcoholwet), which replaced the Licensing and Catering Act (Drank- en Horecawet), makes this knowledge compulsory. Managers of a hospitality or off-licence business must be at least 21, must not be of bad character or under guardianship, and must have sufficient knowledge and understanding of social hygiene. They must also be entered in the Social Hygiene Register (Register Sociale Hygiëne). The official proof is called the declaration of knowledge and understanding of social hygiene, and you get it by passing the exam.

A hospitality venue or off-licence may only be open if a manager listed on the annex to the licence is present. Clubs and foundations with a bar need at least two managers who meet the requirements. There is a separate exam for off-licence owners, with extra questions about the off-licence trade.

How the exam works at SVH

SVH sets the exam and awards the SVH Social Hygiene Diploma once you pass. It is a theory exam based on the statutory attainment targets in the Alcohol Decree (Alcoholbesluit). Those targets were set by the Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport, on the recommendation of the Lcsh.

You choose between a computer exam and an oral exam. The computer exam consists of multiple-choice questions with a fixed time limit and a fixed pass mark. In the oral exam the questions and answers are read out to you while you follow along in an exam booklet. Allow up to 90 minutes for this, including identification and instructions.

One detail surprises a lot of people. Terms from the attainment targets or the course material are not explained during the exam, so you need to know what a term means beforehand. That is why every question in our mock exams comes with an explanation, and you can ask the AI tutor what a term means exactly.

What to watch out for in questions about the Alcohol Act

The hardest questions are rarely pure knowledge questions. Usually you get a situation from practice and have to choose what you would do as a manager, while two answers both sound reasonable. If you have only read through the law, that is where doubt creeps in.

Take age checks. Under the Alcohol Act you may not serve alcohol to anyone who has not been established to be 18, and you establish that with a document listed in the Compulsory Identification Act. The ban also applies when an adult orders and the drink is clearly meant for an underage friend. Nuances like these decide whether you get a question right or wrong.

In our mock exams you come across situations like this again and again, each time in a different form. After marking, you read why one answer is better than the other. Still unsure? Put your question to the AI tutor.

• A door policy may be selective, but when does it become the discrimination that the Equal Treatment Act prohibits?
• You must not admit a guest who is visibly drunk, and a member of staff in that state may not work.
• With a guest who refuses to show ID, you choose the right conversation model: is this about saying no, or about open rule breaking?

Ready sooner for the social hygiene declaration

Practising with explanations works faster than just reading, because you notice straight away what you have mastered and what you haven't. Many candidates start by looking for a social hygiene summary. That gives you an overview, but in the exam you have to apply the material, and you learn that by answering questions.

After every test, the error analysis shows per topic where you are dropping marks. Say you have a good grasp of gambling and the Betting and Gaming Act, but keep missing questions about the Working Conditions Act and the duties of emergency response officers. Then you know at once where your time should go, and the extra practice puts you to work on those topics right away.

The explanation for each question and the AI tutor's answers together form your own summary, focused on exactly the points you find difficult. On your dashboard you can watch those weak topics gradually get stronger.

Start with a first mock exam in practice mode and see where you stand now.

Four steps to your SVH diploma

You can start straight away, as everything is online. If you'd like to see what the questions look like first, begin with free practice for the social hygiene exam. You practise online, so it doesn't matter whether your social hygiene exam will be in Alkmaar, Utrecht or somewhere else.

1. 1Sign up and startOnce you sign up you have instant access to all mock exams, on your phone, tablet or computer.
2. 2Practice mode firstWork through the first mock exams at your own pace and read the explanation for every mistake.
3. 3Work on weak topicsUse the error analysis and the extra practice until your weak topics get stronger on your dashboard.
4. 4Finish in exam modeTake the last mock exams under the same time pressure as the real exam. If you keep reaching the pass mark there, you can book your exam with confidence.

What happens after your SVH exam result

After the exam, the SVH examination board confirms your exam result and decides on your diploma. If you pass, your details appear on the diploma exactly as they are on your ID: surname, initials, date of birth, place of birth and sex. You are also entered in the SVH Diploma Register.

Next, you arrange your entry in the Social Hygiene Register. That register falls under the National Social Hygiene Committee (Landelijke commissie sociale hygiëne, Lcsh), which also issues the declaration. The CIBG carries this out on behalf of the Lcsh. When you register, the Lcsh checks your diploma number and diploma date, among other things, through a link with SVH.

Once you work as a manager, you will meet the material every evening, from age checks at the bar to a guest who won't leave. If someone like that still stays after you have asked them to go, they are committing trespass under the Dutch Criminal Code.