Advice on how to develop my career

[SJR]

Hello,

Apologies if this has been asked before, but I am looking for advise on how to develop my career as a Health & Safety executive/officer.

A bit of background, I work for a small construction company and at the beginning of the year was asked to take on H&S duties as there was no one in the company to do that. I agreed and was advised to do the NEBOSH Health and Safety Management for Construction (UK) certificate. I have started to take on some duties such as RAMS, training schedules, etc and have my certificate exam booked for July.

Well it turns out I really enjoy Health and Safety and loved the studying. However, I am confused about where to go next in terms of studying and helping me excel. There seem to be so many courses and options that I don't know what is useful and what isnt.

Does anyone have any advise on what to do next to aid my current role and prepare for the future?

[witsd]

Do the NEBOSH general and construction, and if you can swing it do fire as well. That will give you a good grounding to start with. Then you need to make a decision - you can happily potter about doing low level H&S stuff indefinitely, you can specialise in one area and take some additional courses on that subject (I chose fire), or you can look at degree-level courses, which are expensive unless you can find a company that is willing to pay for it. The NEBOSH Diploma is probably the most obvious course for that, but others are (or at least were) available.

[stephen1974]

NEBOSH is sadly the only game in town now NCRQ killed itself with stupidity. See if your company will pay for the courses. Id suggest the two week classroom courses rather than distance learning stuff, but if you have to do it yourself via distance learning, do the online open exam ones, they are s o much easier to pass than the traditional exams.

OTher than that: City and Guilds stuff like Confined Spaces (6160), Understanding planning, supervising and managing working at height (6144) etc..

[Jess96]

Hiya,

Sounds like you're off to a great start with these foundations! agree with the others to see where you want to specialise. (I am currently specialised into Food/ Beverage Manufacturing) and decide what you want to do next, it might be worth looking to either taking on more responsiblity or to a bigger company that will give you the exposure to what you're looking for.

Agreed on if you distance study for NEBOSH do the online exams, this is the way I have studied as my work haven't paid for my education and it's given me the flexibility I need. If you do want a degree in H&S look into companies that are signed onto the apprenticeship levy as they will be more likely to support you. Good luck!