Safety Jobs-A complete guide on how to get a health and safety job in Nigeria; Starting and growing a career in HSE.

POLICY– Intentions and direction of an organization as formally expressed by its top management.  

SAFETY – the absence of risk of serious personal injury

WELFARE– access to basic facilities

WORKPLACE– A place under the control of the organization where a person needs to be or to go because of work. 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION- the prevention of damage to the air, land, water and living creatures in the wider environment.

INCIDENT- Work-related event in which an injury or ill health or fatality or damage occurred or could have occurred. Therefore, an incident can be a near miss or an accident. 

NEAR MISS- an unplanned, unwanted event that had the potential to lead to injury, damage or loss but did not do so

ACCIDENT- an unplanned, unwanted, event that leads to injury, damage or loss.

COMMUTING ACCIDENT– An accident to a worker that occurs when they are travelling to and fro from their workplace, the place where they take a meal during working hours, the place where they collect their pay.

DANGEROUS OCCURRENCE– A specified event that has to be reported to the relevant authority by statute law.

WORK-RELATED ILL HEALTH-Diseases or medical conditions caused by a person’s work.

VOLUNTEERING TO WORK FOR FREE.

Please take this part very seriously. This is where the main thing is. And you must take it seriously.

Even when you’ve done all you could do to get a job and the job is not forthcoming.

The fastest way to get work is to locate an HSE training firm near your location and volunteer to work for them for free. Though, some companies may decide to be giving you stipends for your transport fare depending on the generosity of the management.

This does not just work for HSE jobs but in all jobs, if someone wants to get work very fast.

When working in those places, will expose you to many candidates coming in for training from various companies.

From there, you can connect with them and ask them for referrals in their companies when there is an opening.

We all know that most jobs are not advertised now, they are mostly filled by word of mouth, and networking with people coming in for training where you’re working for free will help you to get a job very fast. 

Always ensure that you establish contacts with them, build a relationship, and also memorably present yourself to them at all times. Sure you are likely to be lucky someday.

Because you have the experience and knowledge of working in an HSE training firm, it’ll be easy for you to pass through any job interview that you’ll go to.

Most likely training firms that can take you as a volunteer are the ones you have done one or two training with. That is why it’s very important to pay attention when you register for training in any firm. Make sure you read and pass their course very well. It could help you to get a volunteer from there.

A friend of mine did an ISO 45001:2018 training with a firm that I know, the owner of the firm had to beg her to work for them due to her performance during the training.

So if you save some cash try and register for training in a nearby training centre.

You can choose any of their affordable courses and get in first. Be serious about it. Luck may smile on you if you do.

VOLUNTEER TO TEACH FOR FREE TRAINING OR GIVE SAFETY TALKS FOR YOUR COMMUNITY.

Your community is the people around you. Your family, your kindred or your church members or in your mosques. Ask for an opportunity to educate people on any of the safety topics.

You never can tell what’ll happen to you while doing this.

When someone teaches what they’ve learnt or what they’ve known, the topics will register very well with them and over time, it builds them to become leaders in the topics.

There are so many topics in health and safety people can easily teach people.

For example, you can pick up topics such as how to use a portable fire extinguisher, how to fight a fire using a portable fire extinguisher or how to drive safely on the road.

During one of the programs that I attended on a given Saturday, I met a lady who does child and school safety programs. 

She develops herself in that particular niche and she is doing very well. She gets the attention of many schools; both private and public schools through free training and most times, the schools invite her for paid delivery. 

One thing about volunteering to speak is that it’ll build your confidence and make you a safety leader and if you’re starting new, it’ll help you to command authority in that field within the shortest possible time.

THE THINGS A HEALTH AND SAFETY OFFICER WILL BE DOING AT WORK.

• Induction of all personnel assessing the site.

When a worker is hired, the health and safety officer must conduct a safety induction for the person. There are different types of induction.

There is a common one done at the company’s entrance gate to allow people to gain access to a work site or a factory or plant. But on employment, a worker has to undergo a detailed safety induction of a workplace.

During the induction, important things such as these are discussed, like the restroom, clinic, places where first aid box is kept, non-smoking area, company health and safety policy, and other policies of the company, Muster point area, various procedures in the company such as emergency procedures, ladder management, Risk assessment, Housekeeping, fire safety.

For the induction done at the gate entrance, in some companies, there are provisions for audiovisuals used in induction, for example, a video is played for the person to see and listen to it.

And after that, a written test is conducted to evaluate the person’s knowledge of the induction and the person would be allowed to access the factory has passed the test.

In some places, this is done verbally by the health and safety officer and after that, there is an evaluation of the induction training through writing a test.

• Raising of permit to work.

No one does work without a permit for that job. Permits are documents that authorize a work to be carried out within a specified time under a safe condition. And It’s usually raised by the safety officer but in some companies, they can assign such a role to a Permit officer. 

• Inspection of equipment like heavy machines, portable tools, and ladders.

If there are machines such as dumpers, trucks, and forklift trucks used within the site, you’ve to inspect them every morning before use in the presence of the operators or the drivers.

When inspected, if there are safety issues seen, they should be corrected before making use of the equipment. 

Inspection forms or checklists are made available for this activity and they are documented after use. 

During the inspection, when equipment is bad, the health and safety officer tags it out for repair.

No damage or bad equipment should be on use on site.

• Inspection of vehicles accessing the site.

This one is done at the gate by the security officer or a health and safety officer or any responsible persons that are duly trained and assigned for such a role. 

Any evidence of training must be documented and the training must have been from a competent person.

After the inspection, there could be an inspection tag or a duplicate Inspection form given to the driver to serve as evidence of inspection and it could serve as a pass to enable the vehicle to enter the premises. 

Things usually checked are the driver’s license, seat belt, brake system of the vehicle, fire extinguisher, the light system

• Toolbox talk.

These can be called tailgate meetings or pre-work meetings. It is usually done at the beginning of work in the morning or the beginning of any work shift usually done within 10 minutes. 

• Site inspection to make sure that the site is safe for workers.

The health and safety officer has to go around the site environment and inspect the site and put immediate controls against any hazards that might cause harm to workers before they start working for the day. If there are exposed places that can cause harm, the Safety officer can put barriers to prevent workers from accessing such areas with Caution tape or barricades,

• Site Health and Safety Meeting.

This is done monthly, weekly or once in two months on some sites and it is compulsory for everyone on site. 

Presently, in my workplace, we do our site health and safety meeting once every month.

The health and safety officer organizes the meeting with the head of the site or workplace which can be an engineer or site manager or any senior management personnel like the director. 

The meeting is one of the objectives of fulfilling the health and safety policy of an organization. 

It is used to raise the safety awareness of the workforce. The meeting has a typical agenda and it should be like this,

• Opening remark by the most senior person in the organization 
• Reading of the last-minute meeting 
• Matters arising and Corrections from the last meeting 
• Monthly health and safety statistics and incident review.
• Presentation of a topic by an in house person or an invited speaker
• Questions from the topic and any other questions 
• Any other business.
• Closing remark.

During the meeting. It should be structured and timed properly. Most companies use less than one hour for their meeting. And workers will also have enough time to ask questions and share their experiences and views regarding health and safety and their welfare

• Updating of safety statistics board

The health and safety office also updates the statistics board. The board is always visible in places where workers can see it and where it can’t be tampered with by rain or extreme weather conditions.

• Carrying out accident and incident investigations.

You have to be knowledgeable about this aspect very well. As you would be required to carry out investigations and write reports whenever there is an incident at the workplace. You’ve to undergo specific training on how to conduct investigations and get your certificate for it. Some companies allow the health and safety manager to head the accident and incident investigation team.