I’m due to leave the RAF after 22 years service in June and as such I’m looking towards my next career.

My current interest is the Health and Safety route and have started a lot of the courses available.

What I’m after is something to supplement the H&S qualifications I will gain to make me more attractive to potential employers.

I know in some industries that the H&S dual hat as such so what should I be looking at as the extra bit.

Many thanks.

Steve

Have you gone mad?

Have you gone mad?

No why ??

Behavioral safety is all the thing where I work, rather than just the very practical NEBOSH regulatory stuff.

We do a lot with behavioural safety (Human Factors) in the RAF.

No why ??

You might not qualify then.

renton

Member

Have you gone mad?

No why ??

Think of a tabloid headline “Elf & Safety Gone Mad”

In answer to your question “Environmental” is often something H&S managers have a Hat for.

We do a lot with behavioural safety (Human Factors) in the RAF.

Ah yeah, I suppose you would. Er, another idea, an environmental management qualification, the E bit of HSE. or maybe Security, (HSSE) or sustainability (HSSSE) which took us a while to work out at a team meeting yesterday. 😊

Cheers.

Ive actually just sat my Nebosh Environmental certificate but have to wait 10 weeks for the results.

Was going to say dust and noise testing. Seems popular with the people we see. Does that come under the Environmental bit?

Have you looked at job adverts to see what the requirements are for the areas you are interested in?

I dabbled in it some time ago before moving onto something else. There were a lot of ex forces people working in it back then as it was common training available to those on way out of forces and it was a good skill match as well around managing people and being assertive enough. Back then getting a start was fairly easy, not much competition for places and as such you just needed some non H&S work experience in the field or on the tools and an entry level NEBOSH certificate. That would have got you an H&S officer or advisor job on 30K+ a year easily. Now the vacancies I see advertised very often look for degrees, diplomas, chartered status and several years H&S experience for the same entry level(ish) roles for less money than 10 years ago. There are a lot of bigger places now offering apprenticeships in H&S and some universities even offer undergraduate degrees.

It’s a profession that has lost its way a bit if you ask me, it is now seen as a career to get into early on and you see people in their early 20s with no industry experience whatsover coming up with policies they have zero appreciation of the impacts these can have on the people carrying out actual work tasks. They struggle to interact with a workforce where a typical operative might have 15-20years experience on the job, have more training and knows more about the practices and legistaltion surrounding it than those out to advise them. This is very apparent when an experienced operative is seeking guidence on something out the ordinary, increasingly, no longer is the old hand at the job turned H&S officer in their later years there to offer the advice needed, but someone more often than not will need to get back to you as they don’t have a clue. It’s also morphed more into a profession that cares more about itself, massaging and manipulaitng statistics and data in order to chase personal progression than it does about actually making a difference to peoples working conditions and welfare.

Wheres the like button when you need it.

Benv thanks for the insight, its something Ive heard quite a lot already and it is making me a bit wary to be honest.

You are right in that the advertised jobs are now more frequently looking for Diploma level quals which also makes it a struggle as whilst I appreciate Im starting from the bottom again I cant afford to lose to much in pay as I still have a family to support etc.

Whilst I would be new into the sector in civilian life Ive been doing quite bit of H&S at work here in the RAF so am hoping that they will see that as relevant experience come the time Im applying.

Civilian life is quite daunting compared to the military !! especially after 22 years.

Roles are often include HSEQ, so you need the environmental management and quality management bit as well. EMS and QMS experience tends to come in 2nd to H&S in most JDs I’ve seen though.

Drac

Subscriber
Have you gone mad?

😆

Whilst I would be new into the sector in civilian life Ive been doing quite bit of H&S at work here in the RAF so am hoping that they will see that as relevant experience come the time Im applying.

Civilian life is quite daunting compared to the military !! especially after 22 years.

I know a few who started after 20 odd years in the army and are now H&S directors at very large companies after working their way up the corporate ladder. You just need to learn to play the game I suppose. As I said, from what I’ve seen, the skills you gain in the forces* (often without realising you gained them) translate very well into corporate life. So much so I’ve even seen large companies with specific targets with regards to number of ex forces personnel they want to try and employ.

Roles are often include HSEQ, so you need the environmental management and quality management bit as well. EMS and QMS experience tends to come in 2nd to H&S in most JDs I’ve seen though.

This is true, more so for smaller and medium sized companies where they are not going to have the ability to employ individual specialists. You can attend a 5 day long 9001:2015 lead auditor course to get you on your way in the quality side should the need arise down the line.

* people management, conflict resoloution, problem solving, being used to a reporting structure, team building, working in hazardous environments, working to strict processes and procedures etc.

Disclaimer – I am not an ex-forces person but these are examples I’ve seen those that are use.

Could you face teaching it? Construction h and s is massive now with even basic ops being put on the sssts course. Last two I did were taken by ex forces personel, first one was an absolute prick who liked to talk about himself second one was a real gent of a bloke who had some awesome stories to tell if you wanted to hear them. He knew of the other course leader …..

Chapeau Drac! 👏🏻