Why choose a career in health and safety?
A career in health and safety can be massively rewarding. It has a real impact to make a difference to not only a business but its staff as well. Because every business has legal health and safety responsibilities and a duty of care to their staff, it is unlikely that someone who’s qualified in health and safety will never not be in popular demand.
So if you choose a career in health and safety, what’s in it for you?
A career in health and safety has many benefits including the following:
The ability to save lives
HSE statistics for 2019/2020 revealed:
- 111 workers were killed at work
- 693,000 working people sustain an injury at work according to the Labour Force Survey
- 65,427 injuries to employees reported under RIDDOR
- 38.8 million working days lost due to work-related illness and workplace injury
Health and safety is all about making the workplace as safe as possible through minimising risks and therefore injuries, accidents and health problems. This has a great impact on organisations and their staff and can save lives. You have the ability to help prevent people from getting injured by putting measures in place in your workplace to make it as safe as possible. This leaves staff feeling appreciated and valued which is great for company morale.
A good salary
A survey undertaken by IOSH magazine revealed the average salary for full-time employed OSH professionals was £40,000, well above the UK national average. Some, however, mainly in consultant and manager roles in the private sector earned more than £100,000. Not too bad if we don’t say ourselves…
Many areas and industries to work in
Whether you want to work in a general health and safety role or specialise in fire, construction or process safety, for example, there are a multitude of opportunities to go into when it comes to health and safety. Every sector and organisation needs someone who has knowledge in health and safety so think of the opportunities this opens up for you.
If you are considering a career in health and safety, we would consider you look at taking the NEBOSH General Certificate. It is the most recognised health and safety qualification there is in the UK and beyond and will give you a good foundation in health and safety. We also offer specialist qualifications such as the NEBOSH Fire Certificate, NEBOSH Environmental Certificate, NEBOSH Construction Certificate and NEBOSH Process Safety.
If you are particularly interested in mental health or first aid, we also offer courses in these.
If you have any questions about our courses or want to know more about a career in health and safety, feel free to call us on +44 (0)1264 874466.