NEBOSH ‘helps you adapt to new surroundings’
Case Study: Amitabh Bhattacharya - Global Environmental Management Services (GEMS)
Switching industries can be daunting for anyone, but suddenly finding himself working in two entirely new fields meant Amitabh Bhattacharya needed to adapt very quickly to his new surroundings.
Amitabh’s further education on leaving school consisted of a degree in Biotechnology, followed by a Diploma in Industrial Safety and an MBA in Disaster Management. His extensive qualifications put him on a career path of more than seven years as a health, safety and environmental professional within the oil and gas industry, both in his homeland of India and in Saudi Arabia working with some global top tier oil companies like Halliburton and Baker Hughes a GE Company.
His focus changed in 2017 when he got the opportunity to work as an HSE Manager for Global Environmental Management Services (GEMS). At the time, he had just added the NEBOSH International General Certificate in Occupational Health and Safety to his already impressive CV, as he had learned “just how recognised and respected NEBOSH qualifications were in the Middle East.”
As well as helping him gain his new position, Amitabh told us his NEBOSH qualification proved invaluable in an entirely different way.
“I was given HSE responsibility for two different sites, one a waste recycling centre in Dammam which was fully operational, and another in Jubail which was under construction,” he said. “So this, in effect, was two entirely new fields of operation for me.
“My NEBOSH International General Certificate was fresh in my mind and what it gave me more than anything was a way of applying the knowledge and experience I had gained from both my earlier education and within oil and gas, to these new areas of process safety and construction. The Certificate gave me a framework I could apply to these challenging new environments.”
He added: “Obviously health and safety was not new to me, so it wasn’t a case of me not knowing what to do, but what NEBOSH gave me was a better way of applying my knowledge and experience in very different surroundings.”
In 2018, Amitabh was shortlisted for the Safety, Health and Practitioner (SHP) ‘Rising Star Awards’ in recognition for his “dedication and commitment to driving HSE performance”. He also recently wrote an article for ‘Consult 2050’ providing guidance on disaster management strategy.
Amitabh is keen to recommend NEBOSH to his colleagues and peers: “It certainly uplifts your knowledge so that you are more precise in what to observe and assess, and really help you to rectify things. In many respects, NEBOSH gives you the upper hand and of course, as I’ve already mentioned, the practical skills to work in many other fields.”
In the short-term, Amitabh is now looking to gain a lead auditor qualification and in future the NEBOSH International Diploma in Occupational Health and Safety. In the longer term, he hopes that his “passion for the health and safety profession” will lead to a high-level health, safety and environmental leadership role.