If you work in Health and Safety, what's it like?

[notsinging]

I'm considering trying to make a career change and I think I might find Health and Safety fulfilling, plus the retraining required seems do-able from a time and finances perspective. I'm looking at the Nebosh General Certificate as a starting point (with possibly the IOSH Managing Safely first). I have some experience of doing risk assessments and also governance and compliance, but in the tech field.
If you're in Health and Safety, would you recommend it as a career? Is progression possible? Is it stressful? Are you able to maintain a work/life balance? Do you get taken seriously by your organisation, or is it a battle to make changes happen? What's your day to day life (especially in terms of the balance between office/remote working/site visits?) I know it's a huge field covering different industries, but it would be really good to hear some first hand experiences.
I think I'm ADHD (waiting for assessment) and I'd be particularly interested to hear from anyone with neurodiversity in the field. I benefit from variety and struggle with repetition, so I'm wondering about how varied the job is. I wouldn't deal well with 100% compliance, for example. And I get swamped with admin if that's the only thing I'm doing. But risk assessing, evaluating situations and communicating with people are things I feel good at. I work fully remotely at a computer 100% of the time currently, and it's made me realise I would benefit personally from a career where I'm out in the world sometimes, but the possibility of some degree of home-working would be really useful from a family logistics perspective (I've seen a number of H&S jobs advertised which are work from home with regular site visits for example, which I think could work well for me, I'm just not sure how common or achievable this is within the industry).
Any other hints and tip for getting started (or tips to avoid the industry!) would be much appreciated. Thanks.

Possibly no one in H&S on here, but I'm bumping just in case.

H&S is 99% administration. All those risk assessments are written at a desk after a look around a location or are based on generic scenarios without leaving an office.

If you have a 2:1 degree or above the Health and Safety are hiring trainee Inspectors. I did that job for 5yrs as an Inspector of construction work and tbh I was very underwhelmed by it. Of my cohort of around 44, only 10 or so are still there now - most of us left within 5yrs with many headhunted into private industry in much higher wages. I left to move into a role I actually had some passion for, and will never go into H&S despite the potential for massive paydays.

Could you approach a company and ask to shadow a H&S officer for a day? It is very very heavily paperwork based in afraid!

I work in H&S. You will mostly likely need your NEBOSH diploma as well as your certificate but some companies may take you on if you are working towards your diploma.

We have specialists in DSE and posture working within our team as well as more construction/estates H&S.

It all depends on the set up of the company you work for. Mine includes wellbeing, so that is a massive chunk for half of the team.

It can be a varied in a sense role depending on set up but it is an awful lot of admin, and you have to be on top of it. You can't not hit deadlines etc...... it has also been a stressful few years with covid and we are all knackered from it.

There does seem to be a massive shortage at the moment so wages are getting very high.

I've been thinking about doing this myself. I'm currently on maternity leave and desperately looking for something with better pay potential (I'm a team leader for the National Trust), but I can't afford big outlays to retrain. I'm a solo mum, would this role be suitable for part-time work?

@PinkFootstool

I have a 2.1 degree, where can I find out about the trainee course, please?

My apologies, apparently recruitment for this cohort closed on 12th June, but all vacancies will be advertised on the Civil Service Jobs website.

It's extremely time demanding - you'll be travelling away for training approx 1 week a month for 2years, studying for your NEBOSH and working in the job full time for the whole period. Post-qualification you'll still have another year of training courses.

https://www.civilservicejobs.service.gov.uk/csr/index.cgi?SID=Y29udGV4dGlkPTM5NDY1ODgyJnBhZ2VhY3Rpb249c2VhcmNoY29udGV4dCZwYWdlY2xhc3M9U2VhcmNoJm93bmVydHlwZT1mYWlyJm93bmVyPTUwNzAwMDAmcmVxc2lnPTE2ODY5OTkxMDctMTY5OGFiY2E2NTllN2ViM2VmNWY5OGY1MTdmMmZlNzQyNjRkNDlmMg==

It really varies. My job is minimal admin. A lot of attending meetings to provide advice, responding to queries, commenting on documents. I work with schools as part of my role so alot of advice on off site visits. Some writing policies. I love it, you never know what will happen next.

@PinkFootstool Thank you. Yes that does seem too time-demanding for me.

@helpfulperson Could I ask how you got into your role, please?

I took a different route to most. I did a degree in engineering but graduated in the early 90's slump so couldn't get a job. A local University offered a bursary from the EU to do a masters degree in H&S and it seemed like a good idea. It was about the time new legislation came from Europe.

I got my first job locally because a managing g director of a manufacturing plant took a leap of faith on me. I have moved job a couple of times over the years but now manage the team in a local authority.

My DH retrained to this a couple of years ago now. He has no degree, but did his Nebosh and is now a regional H&S manager for big company.

It depends on the Industry and whether you are site based/multi site etc. A lot of the higher earning roles will involve multi site travel UK wide , and due to it's nature, you can't always plan the travel too far in advance.

There's a lot of admin, often a lot of company politics to navigate and if the company culture isn't safety oriented then it can be pushing a ball up a hill regularly to try and get the smallest change through. Often you don't have the autonomy to make the final call, much like HR, your an advisory support role so you need to be good with getting people on board or you'll find it really frustrating.

I was also going to suggest HSE inspector route. Good training and a variety of work. Allows for more variety than working in private industry so more likely to hold your interest and (ime) civil service are much better with ND than private sector. Recruitment fairly regular and - if the 2:1 requirement still exists - it's on the way out.

Thanks everyone for your comments, it's been really useful to read these.
@OhhhhhhhhBiscuits, presumably your company is very large, to have a team with specialists in specific areas within H&S? Interesting that wellbeing is part of the work, I've read a number of job ads and seen recent seminars etc where wellbeing is heavily discussed as part of H&S - seems more so than when I first started looking into the field a few years ago.
Any idea why there are shortages - do you feel it's a growth field or are there retention issues?
@solosunflower I've seen people who work freelance as consultants, but I'm assuming this will have been after having gained full time employed experience in the industry. H&S roles within the civil service might give you the chance of part time work though. I can't afford big outlays to retrain either and one of the things that appealed to me is that training courses that everyone seems to ask for on job adverts are relatively quick and not too expensive. The main one that gets asked for as a basic requirements, the Nebosh General Certificate, is usually done over a few months, but can be done as a 9 day intensive course, which gives you an indication of the amount of working hours involved. And it's not too expensive. The next level up, the diploma sounds a much higher level/ more rigorous (and more expensive) but often seems to be done "on the job" in a first job and possibly paid for by employer. It sounds do-able to get hired on just the general certificate from requirements on job ads, although hard to tell whether that's the reality in practice.
@PinkFootstool thanks for the info about the civil service training, I think the 1 week a month travelling would rule it out for me in terms of family commitments. You sound underwhelmed by your experience H&S. What was it that you had passion for that you did eventually go into? (if you don't mind saying of course)
@helpfulperson interestingly a few of the most positive accounts I've had from people in H&S have been people doing it in schools or universities. Is the team you manage in the local authority dealing solely with schools?
@hotlava273 I hadn't considered civil service vs commercial sector in terms of ND, thanks for mentioning that.

@notsinging

Ive only just seen this, I’m head of EHSQ for a large international company, happy to answer any questions.

im on holiday and just about to head to bed but will pop back over the weekend.

it’s a great career though and not at all admin based…. I don’t write any RAMs

I wouldn’t recommend going to work for HSE though… it’s high stress, alit if work and not great pay compared to private sector.

Oh that's great @Chocbuttonsandredwine, thank you for offering. I'm going away for the next couple of days, but will have a think and send a few Q's when I get back if that's ok.

@Chocbuttonsandredwine thanks very much for the offer to answer questions, I've got a few, if that's ok....

I'm doing the IOSH Managing Safely course at the moment as a first step, and then planning to sign up to do the NEBOSH National General Certificate in Occupational Health and Safety - from the reading I've been doing, and the job adverts I've been scouring, these seem to be the basic courses that get recommended/required. Does that sound like a good starting point to you?

How essential do you think the NEBOSH Diploma is? I've been reading that it should be possible to get a first job with just the certificate and that employers will often provide training for you to do the Diploma - but I'm wondering if that's realistic.

I have experience of conducting risk assessments and working within an ISO framework in a different field (information security), so I'm hoping this will be useful, as the basics of risk assessments and methodologies are exactly the same. I've done short courses in ISO 27001 for my current work and I'm wondering whether it would be useful to do something similar in ISO 45001.

Basically, any thoughts you have on additional training I could do (that's hopefully not too expensive) that could make me attractive as a job candidate would be much appreciated!

I don't have experience in specific industries or areas where I've mainly seen jobs in Health and Safety advertised e.g. manufacturing, healthcare, construction, universities, housing associations etc. Do you think this will be a negative against me? (I've done basically office-based jobs in the past, so no "hands-on" experience of working in industrial environments etc).

thanks

@notsinging they sound like the right qualifications to be getting a H&S position, especially with the RA and ISO work you have done. I’d recommend trying to get a position and getting 6-12 month’s experience before committing to the diploma, as sometimes its not necessary, and if it is, it will be easier if you have some work experience under your belt. There’s also the chance that your employer might pay for it, and allow you to do it in work time.

i wouldn’t rule out an environmental certificate as that can be a big plus in employers eyes, especially with the focus on ESG.

What I would say is try and get involved in as much safety stuff as you can, as it shows willing, and it’s good experience. When you are applying for jobs, even if your role wasn’t “safety” really big up the safety aspects, and anything that may be relevant, any initiatives, working groups etc that you were part of.

At entry level it’s those things, being interested and keen that are important if I’m recruiting, and transferable skills. My absolute hate is people in the business applying for a safety role from an operational one, professing to have “an interest in safety” but having never approached me to get any experience/shadowing or volunteering to be part of the various safety groups and committees that we have. I’d never refuse someone a day shadowing my team.

hope this helps.

That's all really useful, thanks very much @Chocbuttonsandredwine. My current company is almost 100% remote based and I'm at the other end of the country from their small office HQ, which isn't very useful for getting involved with H&S. However, I'm involved with a local charity and know the person who has done their risk assessments, so I think I could offer to assist or ask to shadow there to get some practical experience.

In terms of environmental certificates, are there any you'd recommend? I've just been having a look at the Nebosh Environmental Management certificate, for instance - is that the kind of thing you were thinking of?

If you have the drive you could set up and H&S committee, do monthly bulletins on safety topics, things that are relevant to the business or even just every day life. One of my team runs quarterly campaigns, at the moment it’s summer safety so things like heat stroke, water safety, travelling etc. people then use them in their team meetings or they are posted on our inter web thing.

rusk assessments a good idea, also if you are all remote working are DSE assessments carried out, if not you could look into that, would be a good thing to take ownership of.

Sorry, when I said certificate I should have said NEBOSH, there probably are others but NEBOSH is a universally accepted qualification. There’s a lot of focus on environmental issues now so having someone with a qualification sets you apart from everyone else.

Really can’t emphasise being as “creative” with your CV as you can to really highlight all of the H&S work that you have done and experience that you have. Even if it isn’t part of your official role, you should def mention it if you have done it/taken responsibility. I was going to mention office compliance, and playing an active part in fire marshall/PAT testing/legionella testing but if you’re report it’s probably more difficult

Oh this is great, it's given me loads of ideas for how to start being more proactive with getting experience, thanks @Chocbuttonsandredwine!

I’ve actually amazed myself at how many ideas I had… my job is so far removed from actual safety these days… it’s all strategy and blah blah. 😂

I was wondering if there's much of a career progression route @Chocbuttonsandredwine, but it sounds like there has been for you😀

Interesting question.

It’s quite a fixed path, without masses of options if that makes sense? You tend to go from advisor to manager to head of, and that’s about it… all moves I’ve made have involved leaving a company and starting with a new organisation as typically there’s only one person doing one job above you, so unless they leave there isn’t much chance of promotion.

the flip side of that is it’s easier to get decent pay rises and moving every 3/years gets you varied experience.

My next move will hopefully be global/director, and then after that it will be to a self employed role to do training, and such like, bit of travelling whilst working to see me into early retirement 😁

Yes, that makes sense @Chocbuttonsandredwine . Presumably even in the bigger companies there's just going to be a few people in the roles, rather than big teams. Sounds similar to what I'm doing at the moment.
One more Q if that's ok! I've read a number of comments online about the most difficult part of the job being coming into conflict with c suite re. them not taking health and safety very seriously, a sense of being seen as an annoyance or obstruction or having to constantly fight to make change happen. I can see how that would get wearing after a while. I'm guessing there is a lot of variation from company to company in terms of attitudes and overall vision, and it does sound like there are companies who do genuinely take it seriously, rather than pay lip service or doing the minimum necessary to comply. Is this something you've come up against a lot? Is it difficult to make your voice heard? Or are things changing?

@notsinging

Brilliant question. And you’ve caught me at the end of a particularly “challenging” week where I feel like I’ve been battling with literally everyone. 😂

So yes, some organisations take safety really seriously, some pay lip service, and some do nothing at all. Safety is always seen as “priority” until it comes to money. I believe that all accidents are preventable, however the cost implications of this would probably mean most businesses couldn’t operate successfully and people wouldn’t have jobs. So we roll.

I’ve worked hard in every role to try and change/positively impact the safety culture of an organisation, educating people as to why the safe way is best, and using the H&S team as a support function to seek advice and ask questions rather than pick up the pieces and sweep up the mess when it goes wrong. We aren’t there to police, or jump out of cupboards with clipboards. We are there to help, ensure everyone goes home safely and ultimately improve the business. You don’t win work/be production/make a profit if your safety record is terrible after all.

So that’s my interview answer.

However. This week has been torture. Fundamental differences with higher management, which is frustrating, time consuming and disheartening. It’s hard not to get too involved sometimes, and take things personally, especially when you are passionate about your role and ensuring the safety of your workforce. It should be everyone’s priority but sadly that’s not always the case. Sometimes you just have to take it on the chin, change the things you can, do what you can, and accept you will never change the world, but your job and commitment means that people go home to their loved ones, and sometimes that’s enough.

and failing that… wine.

I’ve come at H&S from a different angle - I worked in civil engineering / contaminated land work then moved into environmental management and then into H&S - mostly manufacturing and construction industry based.

Environmental management was a lot of picking it up on the job, although I did an IEMA environmental management or audit course (can’t remember which now). Lots of environmental auditing, management systems, EIA type work, and due diligence for corporate mergers and acquisitions.

From there I did the NEBOSH certificate to help with the H&S side and ended up doing a co-ordinator role alongside the environmental work. Stuck at that for a few years but gave up when DC2 was coming along and switched into something entirely different.

Now I work very PT for a small charity, which is a lot more events focussed, and is a mix of office and site based (site constraints are a constant headache).

If you are interested in the environmental side I’d have a look at IEMA courses (you can do a foundation course online but you’re looking at around £650 inc IEMA membership), but you could come up with some ideas about how to make your company more sustainable to use on your CV.