April 2022 Monthly Blog – How to Get Into Working in the Health and Safety Industry
Getting started
I graduated at the start of the 1980s with little more than a cheap interview suit and a framed health & safety qualification. At a time when the manufacturing industry was in steep decline, I felt it would take forever to find a suitable job! On my side, however, was the fact of holding a relevant qualification when employers were worried about and needed help with, the 1974 Health & Safety at Work Act. I soon realised that whilst I had very little practical experience to offer, employers were deeply attracted to the idea of taking on someone who held up-to-date thinking on this major new piece of legislation.
Moving up
I therefore gratefully took up a junior management position during my early twenties, and a middle-management position a few years later. Less than a decade after, I was graded a senior manager. Although the long hours and hard graft didn’t feel like it at the time, I was building up a sought-after CV which led me to where I am today.
The tables turned
Once a senior manager, I found myself on the opposite side of the interview table, when I was allowed to build up teams of health safety & environmental professionals reporting to me. This meant receiving the CV’s of people who were - as I had been not long before - keen to land a job with a good employer. Unsurprisingly, the first thing I looked at was the applicant’s qualifications. Whilst I met many charismatic candidates whom I was certain would get on well with our people, an occasional deficiency in H&S qualifications led their CV swiftly onto the “Reject” pile. Sadly, I have seen too many poorly-qualified H&S advisers giving out dangerously misleading advice. You need the ticket to make the grade!
Plan your career
Arinite’s May 2019 Blog acknowledged the contribution made by workplace Health & Safety Champions.
If you would like to pursue a career in health & safety, a possible starting point might be to volunteer as an employee representative. Committed safety reps have caught my eye, and yes, I have been proud to recommend them for onward training, sponsored by the employer.
The NEBOSH Certificate is the minimum standard that I would look for on CV’s, and for more senior positions the NEBOSH Diploma.
If you already hold such qualifications and want to move further, there are Bachelors’ and Masters’ degrees.
It goes without saying that you should join a professional body such as the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health or the International Institute of Risk & Safety Management.
Such bodies have done much over the years to raise professional standards (some might say weed out the charlatans), offer development, updating services, networking events, jobs forums, etc.
Contact us
Arinite's clients appreciate that we provide practical, no-nonsense advice about what you need to do to establish and maintain a safe and healthy working environment.
Our team of health and safety consultants take pride in keeping health and safety simple.
If you need to call upon our expert assistance, or just for an informal chat, please call our office on 0207 947 9581, or type an enquiry to: https://www.arinite.com/contact-us
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