Case Studies

Well if Bev Greenall, is anything to go by, it certainly is possible. At one stage or another she has been employed in all of these roles and is now thoroughly enjoying life as Health and Safety Advisor with South East Water.

“It’s hectic, but you know something new happens every day and it’s very interesting work,” Bev said about her job there. “I’m not stuck behind a desk, I’m out and about, investigating accidents and preparing safety reports and generally helping make sure people work as safely as possible. It suits me, because I’ve done a lot of jobs in my  time, and now I have one where I do lots of different things.”

Bev’s enthusiasm for health and safety began when she was working as a secretary for a Health and Safety Manager. She got to see first-hand how varied and interesting the role of a health and safety practitioner can be. Bev was keen to get more involved and thought that increasing her own health and safety knowledge would help her achieve this. She decided that her best course of action was to take a NEBOSH qualification and the one she chose was the NEBOSH National General Certificate in Occupational Health and Safety.

Then 4 years ago, an opportunity arose for a Health and Safety Advisor role at South East Water and Bev couldn’t resist applying for a full time health and safety role. Holding the NEBOSH National General Certificate in Occupational Health and Safety helped her meet the criteria and her application was successful.

Her Certificate stood her in good stead for the next stage too. The role required her to have a NEBOSH National Diploma in Occupational Health and Safety. Bev immediately took on the challenge and in May 2014 she was delighted to pass.

“The Diploma course was very intensive and required a lot of studying at home. Luckily, I was used to that as I had completed an Open University degree previously,” Bev told us. “It has been incredibly helpful in my role here, because it has broadened my knowledge. Before joining South East Water, most of my health and safety experience was office related, but here we deal with specialist machinery, plant, noise, almost all kinds of hazards. Thankfully these were covered in depth by the Diploma. It was really interesting and helpful to study with people from all kinds of other industries.”

Bev has now found a role that provides the kind of variety she thrives on and which also offers lifelong learning.

“I’m very happy working in health and safety with South East Water,” she concluded. “I think it’s an extremely worthwhile job to do and that I really am making a difference.”