Contemplating a career in Health & Safety?

Here are some answers to the questions you are likely to ask, in interviews with RoSPA consultants and managers.

Nathan Davies, RoSPA Health and Safety Consultant
Melissa Lovell, RoSPA Health & Safety Consultant
Vincent Murphy, Managing Consultant, RoSPA
Errol Taylor, Deputy Chief Executive, RoSPA

Q1. Many people wonder how does someone actually get started on a career in Health & Safety, so could I start by asking you what qualifications are required to make a career in Health & Safety?
Nathan: The qualifications that are required to make a career in H&S are dependent on the type of role that you take. There are many qualifications that are appropriate, but most H&S practitioners start with short introductory courses. When a greater level of knowledge is required a NEBOSH General Certificate qualification (approx. two weeks full time study) is well recognised. A NEBOSH National General Certificate is, in reality, an essential minimum qualification for any full time H&S job.

Many then realise that they, and their employers demand a greater level of knowledge. Most go on to study the NEBOSH Diploma (approx seven weeks full time study). The Diploma is the required level of qualification for most H&S Manager roles. This is a more demanding qualification and I would recommend the Diploma to anyone who needs to have a full grasp of the challenges that a H&S professional will be exposed to.

Q2. What are employers looking for in a Health & Safety candidate? Is CMIOSH always required to gain the best jobs?
Nathan: Employers look for candidates that have the personal skills and attributes which fit with the company and role. Those candidates who are keen, interested and have the ability to adapt to different situations and challenges will be the most successful in finding jobs.

Employers are legally obliged to make sure that the people that they employ are competent. Experience in working in the industry is really useful, CMIOSH is THE most popular way of demonstrating that you are capable and knowledgeable. CMIOSH status gives access to the WIDEST range of work and the most rewarding jobs, (but it is not absolutely essential).

Q3. What are the options available for people wanting to gain Membership of IOSH - do they have to sit official exams and what is the best sort of training to embark on a career in Health & Safety?
Nathan: Corporate membership of IOSH is gained through a mix of sitting external exams and acquiring experience. You join IOSH as an affiliate member and then progress through the levels of membership with increasing levels of experience and examination.

With a National General Certificate and five years relevant experience you can progress to Tech IOSH level. With a Diploma and two years relevant experience the CMIOSH grade is available after a peer review.

I would start by trying to gain real practical experience in a H&S role similar to where you would like to work. I spent a week with a Local Environmental Health Department before I began my studies and found the experience extremely valuable. I sold PPE to Safety Managers before I got my first full time H&S role. This gave me the chance to talk to experienced people, get to know the problems and some of the solutions to challenges and to understand the terminology and different organisational cultures of many types of workplaces. Many very successful safety managers started off working as health and safety representatives for their employer. You could also ask to get work as an assistant, a junior consultant.

Any experience is better than none, and it will show a potential employer that you are keen and committed. Any practical experience you can demonstrate will pay dividends when you apply for a job in H&S.

The best training should be delivered by tutors with a proven ability to teach, a high level of knowledge and which offer the opportunity to learn from real practical experience.

Q4. What kind of things should people be looking for when they are trying to find the best training courses, to have the best chance of achieving these qualifications
Nathan: When choosing a training course candidates should be looking for providers that can provide:

a) A venue that you can get to easily, with suitable overnight accommodation available when necessary.

Flexible dates for study, to accommodate your regular work when necessary. Many students find distance learning difficult and believe that students’ sharing their experiences is critical to being successful in your understanding of the H&S topic.
A venue that is designed specifically for training,
A venue where you feel comfortable, it’s very difficult to learn when you cannot relax.
A venue where you have access to further materials and information when you need them.

b) An organisation and tutors that have :

Recognised teaching qualifications
Experience in delivery and practical application
Previous sustained success
A delivery which allows discussion and sharing experiences
A varied use of getting the information across (i.e. not death by PowerPoint)
Trainers that use their experience to develop training material
The access to support, and further assistance when doing assignments, before, during and after the course.

e.g. RoSPA offers assistance to ensure you select the correct course, personal tutors for each delegate and tools such as a web forum so that delegates can contact the tutor in person, over the phone or electronically at the time of their choice. Students also have free use of our H&S library and info centre, where they have access to virtually every H&S book and report, and magazine ever written.

Q5. Which is the best sort of qualification, NEBOSH Diploma, University Degree in Health & Safety, specialist company Diploma or NVQs? What would be the initial stages building up to that?
Nathan:The best sort of qualification will depend on your current situation and experience. I would say that the best place to start is with short courses on topics that are core to the job role: basic H&S management, Risk assessment, Accident investigation and Training on PUWER (provision and use of work equipment regulations). If you can combine this study with the NAT CERT you should be saving both time and money. RoSPA offers a modular NAT CERT where you can sit the elements that you need over two years, at a time and frequency that suits you and eventually build up the elements until you are ready to take the exam. This offers students the BEST chance of study matching other demands they have on their time and budgets. It is very successful.

The Diploma is an excellent qualification and very useful, there are specialist companies that provide this training, choose a good one. The Diploma is equivalent to a university degree (BSc) and can be taken in a shorter period of time. The disadvantages of the Diploma are that those who are not used to studying, sitting still in a classroom and studying all night find it very difficult. It is not easy, and rightly so. If you think this is you, an NVQ level qualification is available. This offers a route to demonstrate practical application with less formal evaluations/ tests. The NVQ level 4 route requires you to prove your practical experience by building a portfolio which is evaluated by experts. RoSPA offers specialist guidance in building and presenting a good portfolio as well.

Q1. If someone has had a different career, for example holding some responsibility for Health & Safety, and would now like to change career or develop more into that role of Health & Safety manager full time, do they have to go through formal academic study or can they build on their practical experience doing the job?
Melissa: I think practical experience is vital, but it does need to be underpinned by formal study. This can be in the form of training courses taken away from the workplace, however, which can be easier to absorb than pure academic study.

Q2. How do they do that?
Melissa: I undertook the NEBOSH National Certificate, and later undertook a level 4 NVQ I found those vocational qualifications invaluable as, being quite new to safety, it enabled me to apply the subject and be practically supported by a mentor, to ensure my competency in the workplace.

Q3. What would be the minimum amount of experience and qualifications people would need to start a career in Health & Safety?
Melissa: I was managing a community health and social care service and was responsible for employee safety, often in very complex settings, so I drew on this when I undertook my NEBOSH exams, I personally think you need some experience and I would say that the minimum qualification needed is NVQ 3 or NEBOSH National Certificate.

Q4. How did you (personally) start in Health & Safety?
Melissa: I chose to move into Health and Safety following the introduction of Manual Handling risk assessor posts, in relation to the movement of people in hospitals and care homes. The appeal of the post was that it enabled me to use elements of my previous nurse training, management experience and also to learn a new subject.

Q5. How has your career developed within RoSPA?
Melissa: RoSPA has enabled me to develop my career by funding my MSc in Health ergonomics, and also by getting me to develop a new portfolio for Safer People Handling. In addition, RoSPA has encouraged me to network with a wide range of organisations such as the Health & Safety Executive, (HSE). RoSPA does recognize that learning is truly life long!

Vincent Murphy, Managing Consultant, RoSPA

Q1. What are the main steps on the ladder which helped you to achieve promotion to Manager of RoSPA’s prestigious Health & Safety training department, in charge of all its highly qualified professional trainers and consultants?
Vince: The key steps on the ladder to managing a team of consultants have been:

working in company delivering training and consultancy services which increases experience and application of knowledge across the workplace spectrum
gaining a high level of qualifications and maintaining this, through continuing professional development

Q2. What is the greatest advantage to you?
Vince: This role has allowed me, through RoSPA, to help delegates with their continuing professional development which has helped RoSPA achieve high pass rates at both Diploma and Certificate level. Recently we have launched a community forum for our Diploma delegates to further build upon the learning experience.

Q3. How high can a career in Health and Safety take someone? Can it be a route to senior management?
Vince: A career in health and safety exposes you to all levels and departments of an organisation. The role involves a good understanding of business needs, the synergy of an organisation and is an excellent route to a senior manager’s role.

Q4. What kind of health & safety training is available to line managers and senior managers?
Vince: It needs to be remembered that at the end of the day legal responsibility for H&S lies with management. To this end RoSPA offers a suite of courses, from IOSH Managing Safely to in-company Senior Management training. Managers do need to be trained to support the safety professional fully.

Q5. As an examiner for the National examination board for occupational safety & health (NEBOSH), can you say what the examiners are looking for?
Vince: A good understanding of the practical application of H & S standards supported by appropriate knowledge of management systems to ensure what needs to happen does happen. Being an examiner is, incidentally, really helpful in ensuring that our own training courses at RoSPA are correctly tailored to the syllabus, and in mentoring delegates through their course of study to achieve the best results.

Q6. What do you look for when selecting your own professional health & safety staff?
Vince: Practical experience across a variety of industries supported by formal H & S qualification at NEBOSH Diploma level, I also consider Continuing Professional Development (CPD) points to be important – these are to be gained from additional training and activities carried out, such as courses with RoSPA, or entering the RoSPA Awards or doing RoSPA audits, for example.

CMIOSH is the standard I look for.

Errol Taylor, Deputy Chief Executive, RoSPA

Q1. How does Health & Safety help with strategic decision-making?
Errol: Strategic decision-making is all about risk management. Getting the right information on Health & Safety improves the chances of success, and helps to prevent accidents – which every business needs to do because accidents are so costly to a business, in all sorts of ways that many organisations do not realise before one occurs.

Q2. What sort of training is available to Directors?
Errol: Because directors have limited time available they will often not be able to go on pre-scheduled courses. RoSPA addresses this through two routes:

Conferences, where Directors can network and key new developments can be highlighted by top speakers such as leading personal injury barristers and FTSE 100 leading company case studies given by their Chief Executives.
Tailored consultancy and in-company training means that companies can have a day or two of intensive focus on health & safety which is exactly right for their business.

All of these make Directors aware of their legal duties and responsibilities, as well as the savings they could make if safety is properly managed, and the positive benefits of doing it properly.

Q3. Do Health & Safety career professionals actually reach the top and become directors?
Errol: Health & Safety is one crucial element of the mix of skills, along with finance, marketing and HR, for example. It is becoming increasingly recognised as crucial, because of the new Corporate Manslaughter legislation brought in in April this year, whereby Directors are more likely to be sent to prison for offences.

Q4. How is this situation likely to change further over the coming years?
Errol: The UK is becoming more of a service economy, which brings an increasing dependence on SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises), where the divisions between management and director roles is more blurred than in larger organisations.

Q5. Could you give some examples of the biggest safety risks being faced by leaders?
Errol: British employees undoubtedly face their biggest risks while driving for work. There is a very personal effect on individual directors – a Director can set an appropriate example – or an inappropriate one. For example, if they speed to reach yet another meeting, or if they work too long hours and drive a long way home after exhausting meetings.

Directors have the legal responsibility if things go wrong and police will prosecute if, for example a driver falls asleep at the wheel because of too long a working day.

Q6. What can they do about it other than set an example?
Errol: One of RoSPA’s key issues is the management of occupational road risk – driving for work, which is why we offer a full range of solutions which can be targeted at those at the highest risk. These range from consultancy to driver training, and also computer-based driver risk assessments, which can be the cheapest, but effective, way to start.

Q7. What comes after that?
Errol: Consider again the director who is a keen motorbiker – if he or she suffers an accident it could bring the business to its knees! From RoSPA’s work with its key high Award-winners we know that one in five accidents occur in the home or whilst at leisure, so if we can reduce those, then the negative cost that accidents cause the workplace can be greatly reduced as well.

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Patron: Her Majesty the Queen

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