Occupational safety and health (OSH) may be a profession that is not very common. However, it is a satisfying occupation with a lot of predicted growth and possibility. This article takes a closer look at how a person obtains a career in safety and health, no matter what type of sector or environment you are operating in. Mishaps do happen at any workplace. A health and safety professional’s job is to prevent accidents and make people’s time at work as safe and pleasant as possible.
A safety professional’s objective is to guarantee workplace safety and avoid ailment and injury in their organisation. Avoiding mishaps and keeping employees safe is a great choice for people who appreciate helping others. If you are looking for a good occupation or career that involves helping people, useful skills and collaboration, this is definitely something you should look into.
Education
Occupational safety and health professionals have two general career paths: vocational/technician and managerial/specialist.
Technicians are those in entry-level settings, and typically have two-year associate degrees. They have titles including terms like practitioner, technician or technologist. Specialists are the more senior-level staff members in the health and safety department. They have at least a four-year degree and often a master’s degree in safety, or an MBA.
Safety professionals in positions that need even more education and learning commonly earn higher wages. The average yearly salary for occupational safety and health experts in the month of May 2020 was $76,330, while the median salary for the more entry-level service technicians was $53,340.
To look at the education and learning requirements for safety officers further, we will consider three different categories: academics, certifications and knowledge to begin with, and finally experience and roles in occupational safety and health.
1. Required Academics. Employers commonly require entry-level safety officers to hold at least a secondary school diploma or, sometimes, an associate degree or certification. These students need to have finished a minimum of some coursework in chemistry, physics and biology.
For advanced placements in occupational safety and health, employers typically need a bachelor’s degree, and senior-level settings may also call for a master’s degree. These degrees should commonly be in occupational safety and health, but related fields like engineering, biology or chemistry may also be acceptable. For positions at the administration level, business degrees may also be beneficial.
2. Required Certifications. The first step must be obtaining a certification such as the NEBOSH IGC (Level 3) Certification or NEBOSH Diploma in OHS, which covers a wide range of topics and understanding in health and safety.
With no previous experience, beginning a health and safety occupation will certainly be challenging; however, people may do annual safety programmes. Getting a certification such as the NEBOSH IGC Level 3 offers a comprehensive understanding of numerous health and safety topics. This is a great beginning and will certainly give a chance to applicants in entry-level roles.
This will enable you to start your career, gain experience and develop your knowledge at work. It will put you in an excellent position to begin a role with more responsibility and a better salary.
In addition to academic qualification, many occupational safety and health employers expect candidates to have earned several certifications. Some preferred certifications for safety professionals are the Certified Safety Professional, offered by the Board of Certified Safety Professionals, and the Certified Safety and Health Manager, provided by the Institute of Hazardous Materials Management.
3. Required Knowledge. At any level, employers will likely expect candidates to have extensive knowledge of safety and industrial health principles and relevant government guidelines. Knowledge of the safety standards and procedures for the specific industry, and of the issues and patterns in that industry, is also expected frequently.
As you climb the career ladder and look for more advanced settings, organisations may expect applicants to know standard business principles, such as analytical skills, professional communication, risk management, informatics and data analysis, strategic planning and reasoning, and financial functions, and in some cases a higher knowledge of worldwide safety standards, leadership, professionalism, certifications and rules. Safety experts usually focus on various areas, such as ergonomics, industrial hygiene, training, occupational psychology, and occupational health and wellbeing, or in allied careers such as nursing, fire safety engineering or physiotherapy. Others may be more involved in environmental management, emergency management or security.
Experience
Proper education and learning can help you land an entry-level occupational safety and health role with minimal experience. Nonetheless, as your career advances, companies will require additional knowledge, with some duties in executive management needing ten years of experience or more.
Employers mostly look for applicants who have experience in vital job responsibilities like the following:
- Managing safety materials and programmes.
- Conducting and creating training and education.
- Accident investigations and reporting.
- Developing safety programmes and ensuring conformity.
- Record keeping and reporting.
- Emergency action.
Many companies also seek the growth of soft skills in a variety of environments and the technical proficiencies related to the area. OSH leaders frequently work closely with other departments within their company, including human resources and operations. They must have the capability to communicate successfully and incorporate several perspectives and priorities.
Furthermore, without previous experience, beginning a new career in health and safety will be challenging, but it is certainly possible. Numerous people do it every year. Right now, a search on popular job board websites for “health and safety” roles in the United Kingdom offers tens of thousands of results.
Your first step needs to be obtaining a qualification such as the NEBOSH National General Certificate, which provides a broad understanding of many health and safety topics. This is a great beginning and will offer opportunities in entry-level roles.
Understanding the Roles
OSH professionals advise, create strategies, and lead workplace safety and health management. They provide evaluation, suggestions and assistance to help employers develop risk controls and management processes that promote sustainable business techniques.
In some companies, the function of the safety professional is not restricted to merely instructing everyone to wear a hard hat and goggles. The modern safety professional does more than that, and organisations that recognise the strategic worth of OSH will be seeking applicants who can demonstrate a greater level of understanding of their role.
A health and safety expert is responsible for preventing and reducing accidents in the workplace. It has to do with boosting an organisation’s safety culture by motivating your colleagues to commit themselves to working safely.
Roles of a Health and Safety Practitioner
- Carrying out safety induction training for new personnel
- Completing safety evaluations and audits
- Keeping current with any new or changed pieces of legislation
- Maintaining and producing health and safety documents
What other skills are required?
- Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal
- Great analytical abilities
- Ability to present complicated information
- Negotiation and persuasion skills
Companies want to work with safety professionals who can articulate the value they offer their organisation and focus on more than their function as rule enforcers. Influential OSH leaders are skilled at developing partnerships. They can work with leaders in all parts of an organisation to help them recognise the significance of OSH and actively involve them in ensuring the safety of their organisation.
How Do You Become a Safety Professional?
Gaining experience and working your way up is the first step in becoming a safety professional. Individuals may be given more responsibility to tackle health and safety issues as they progress through their careers.
Managers may decide that enrolling the worker in a health and safety course is important in this scenario, to establish formal qualifications for them to hold that position. Those in charge of site safety must have “adequate training and experience”, according to the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.
Conclusion
While understanding regulations and being able to design and apply programmes that comply with them is essential for the OSH specialist’s role, companies are looking for more. If you can become more than just a font of regulatory knowledge, and instead add to your organisation’s bottom line, you will be more successful and more appealing to companies.
Your current workplace may be your first step towards a career in health and safety. Some experts start doing safety and health tasks as part of a broader role and take awareness-level courses (like Working Safely or Managing Safely). From there, many people gain additional experience and credentials (the NEBOSH Level 3 Certificate) and become dedicated OSH professionals. You might not even have particular OSH responsibilities in your current role. Still, if you have the right ability and perspective, you can undertake training to develop your confidence and expertise. The NEBOSH International Diploma in OHS (Level 6) covers a wide range of aspects of OHS and creates more opportunities to progress in the OSH field.