I want to work in Health and Safety - how do i get there?

[MeinKraft]

We have a health and safety officer in my work who visits and audits the building and then i (senior administrator) have to carry out the actions she suggests and report back. I really enjoy it, and i would quite like a health and safety officers job myself. I’m just wondering what qualifications i would need, i am 39 with two kids so would prefer to study at home if possible?

What does Indeed.com come up with?

I'd ask the health and safety office what their career path has been.

H&S is one of those "everyone's responsibility" things so there are most likely courses at work you can use to upskill.

Otherwise - Google is your friend here. Look at job ads and see what qualifications they're asking for.

You start with a training course

https://www.vocationaltraining.org.uk/qualification/city-guilds-l5-safety?utm_source=Adwords&utm_campaign=Health%20%26%20Safety%20Level5%20responsive&gclid=Cj0KCQjw6oi4BhD1ARIsAL6pox0K-CQRaBlxeA7Jf65N5nuPH5yaOUujnOlVLDAwK3QAXp6xYz3wpW0aAqsHEALw_wcB

You probably need something like the nebosh certificate in H&S. they're run all over, so look up a provider local to you.

IOSH or NEBOSH would be worth looking into. If you have a look at the Health and Safety Executive website they might have some career advice.

Looks like the British Safety Council (which I didn't know existed until this thread!) has a bunch of info about it too: https://www.britsafe.org/training-and-learning/informational-resources/how-to-build-your-career-in-health-and-safety

You can definitely do the IOSH and NEBOSH qualifications from home, I know a number of people who have.

There are quite a few health and safety roles around at the moment particularly post-Grenfell - fire door inspections are one of the areas that are crying out for staff. I'd speak to maybe one of the big H&S companies (Cardinus, for example) and see what they say?

Thanks everyone! I did google it of course but a range of different courses and certificates came up and i suspect there’s probably one standard one every employer wants. Don’t want to sign up for a degree when a certificate is the useful bit if you see what i mean. I’ll have a chat with work and see what they say. Good to know health and safety officers are a job role in demand!

Nebosh certificate in Occupational health and safety is the main one that most jobs will ask for and most universally recognised. It's a level 3 certificate. You can chose to do it completely remotely (self study at own pace), online via zoom or classroom depending on how much time and money you have. Don't unestimate the work as it's easy to get referred (eg not get a pass) on one of two parts as they are quite particular on how things are done (but don't panic if it happens as you can resit exam or resubmit your assessment and it's quite common to do so). National firms to look at are RRC (do online and in person) or compassa (which is online only I think but his materials are good). If you are in South east might be able to recommend another one if you pm me.

If you take to H&S Nebosh level 6 diploma is also an option but probably worth doing level 3 first as a lot of work, might not be needed, not cheap!

You can join IOSH (professional body) as an affiliate at any point but might be worth investigating qualifications first incase you don't take to it. They do their own level 3 and 6 qualifications as well which you could do instead of Nebosh if you decide the nebosh format isn't for you. However it's the membership most employers are interested when they state IOSH on job ads.

I an ex-construction who has done NEBOSH and from my point of view, you'd need some experience in the thing that you are 'H&S advisor' in otherwise you may not be aware of the particular issues that you are inspecting or advising on.

For example when I did my NEBOSH they used a mechanical engineering space to test us on our inspections. I am from a mechanical engineering background so picked up on some issues that the instructor, from construction, didn't even have on their list.

So getting the H&S qual is one thing but you really need some on the job experience if you want to do the job properly.

Start with NEBOSH general certificate (or equivalent) which will be a basic level, see if you could shadow a h&s professional for experience. Speak to your employer about becoming the health and safety representative My hubby is a h&s manager and that's what he said 😊

My ds ( aged 23) did an apprenticeship and gained qualifications that way. He is more involved with building sites though.

It's also good to look at how to learn more about real world H&S and the industry in general.

When I added H&S qualifications, I also found signing up to the IOSH mailings and lots of others more specific to H&S in my industry very helpful.

I connected with some H&S people on LinkedIn and started following more of their connections and reading blogs and articles. The H&S person you mention would be a good way into this network.

If you're in a unionised workplace become a Health & Safety Rep.

Do the IOSH Managing Safely course.
Then do the NEBOSH General Certificate, join IOSH and get TechIOSH.
Then do the NEBOSH Diploma, and work to upgrade your IOSH membership to CertIOSH.

I got as far as TechIOSH and did several years as a safety advisor but I've now let it lapse. The market is pretty saturated and the day rate isn't what it was. A bit like HR (your nemesis if you're in H&S) it's become very commodified - particularly for generalists. If you have a specialism (e.g. construction) the rates are better.

Do you want to be a safety officer within a larger firm, or a consultant?

I am a head of health and safety and building safety. You can do the NEBOSH General and then Diploma or you can do a degree or NVQ's.

Once you have your qualification's you can apply for CertIOSH and then CMIOSH which I am.

It's not an easy journey and ideally you need to be working in a junior role or as a rep to get the practical knowledge to help get your qualifications.

Some companies are offering apprenticeships now.