Occupational Health and Safety Adviser

[zeizeno]

Hello everyone,

I have completed my Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering from the UK. Currently I'm working in an industry as an HSE (Health, Safety and Environment) Officer.

 

Last night, I came to know that my current occupation would not get assessed by the Engineers Australia but VETASSESS. I was reading about their skills assessment and there it says, "Bachelor degree or higher and/or 5 years' relevant experience". I need some clarification on this whether does that mean any Bachelor degree or the one specific to Health, Safety and Environment? Because I did a module on HSE while I was a student. Or do I have to get 5 years' relevant experience?

 

I'm looking forward to your replies.

Thanks in advance.

[Raul Senise]

Hello everyone,

I have completed my Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering from the UK. Currently I'm working in an industry as an HSE (Health, Safety and Environment) Officer.

 

Last night, I came to know that my current occupation would not get assessed by the Engineers Australia but VETASSESS. I was reading about their skills assessment and there it says, "Bachelor degree or higher and/or 5 years' relevant experience". I need some clarification on this whether does that mean any Bachelor degree or the one specific to Health, Safety and Environment? Because I did a module on HSE while I was a student. Or do I have to get 5 years' relevant experience?

 

I'm looking forward to your replies.

Thanks in advance.

 

You are confusing the Skills Assessment requirements for Vetassess with the ANZSCO skills level information.

 

As the occupation of Health and Safety Adviser is a Group A occupation for Vetassess purposes, you will require a degree with a highly relevant field of study and at least one year of post-qualification highly relevant employment experience.

 

For this specific occupation, Vetassess may consider other factors such as in house training where there is no major in OH&S.

[Ozmaniac]

If a skills assessment from VETASSESS is a problem, you could perhaps nominate Mechanical Engineer as your occupation. If your UK degree is a Washington Accord qualification, EA will assess you as a Professional Engineer without requiring any work experience as an ME. If you can get to 60 points without experience points (e.g. by getting good IELTS scores), you would then meet the requirements to submit an EOI for a 189 Independent visa. When you have a 189, there's no requirement whatsoever for you to work in your nominated occupation; there's nothing to stop you from working as an Occupational Health and Safety Adviser (or driving a cab for that matter).

[zeizeno]

You are confusing the Skills Assessment requirements for Vetassess with the ANZSCO skills level information.

 

As the occupation of Health and Safety Adviser is a Group A occupation for Vetassess purposes, you will require a degree with a highly relevant field of study and at least one year of post-qualification highly relevant employment experience.

 

For this specific occupation, Vetassess may consider other factors such as in house training where there is no major in OH&S.

 

Thank you for your reply.

 

Since I don't have a degree in relevant field, I will have to gain at least 5 years work experience along with some in-house training.

[zeizeno]

If a skills assessment from VETASSESS is a problem, you could perhaps nominate Mechanical Engineer as your occupation. If your UK degree is a Washington Accord qualification, EA will assess you as a Professional Engineer without requiring any work experience as an ME. If you can get to 60 points without experience points (e.g. by getting good IELTS scores), you would then meet the requirements to submit an EOI for a 189 Independent visa. When you have a 189, there's no requirement whatsoever for you to work in your nominated occupation; there's nothing to stop you from working as an Occupational Health and Safety Adviser (or driving a cab for that matter).

 

 

Unfortunately, I have a Sydney Accord degree.

What if I go for an engineering masters (postgraduate) course in Australia?

[WeegieDave]

Unfortunately, I have a Sydney Accord degree.

What if I go for an engineering masters (postgraduate) course in Australia?

 

Would help although would cost you a pretty penny!

[Raul Senise]

Since I don't have a degree in relevant field, I will have to gain at least 5 years work experience along with some in-house training.

 

This is not how Vetassess works. The 5 years of experience instead of formal qualifications relates to ANZSCO not Vetassess requirements.

 

As per my first post, for this specific occupation, Vetassess may consider other factors where there is no major in OH&S.

[Strine]

Hi, I am new here. I've been looking into this a lot as of recently and I am having the same questions. It is indeed an odd process to get a positive assessment from VETASSESS. On one hand hardly anyone has a specific University degree in OHS but on the other hand it seems there is a way to get a positive assessment anyway. But it's hard to figure out how as no one seems to know much about how VETASSESS deals with this particular issue.

 

 

Now I have a question, do you think a bachelor degree in law together with NEBOSH certificate or diploma would be assessed positively?

 

 

If not, what about getting some Australian education, and at what level? Would a certificate IV/diploma be enough? Also does anyone have a recommendation on where to get it? I can't seem to find anything in Victoria because for whatever reason international students are not admitted into many OHS courses, for example the RMIT Graduate Diploma in OHS or Master of OHS (I found some MScs at a few other Universities open for international students but MSc might be an overkill anyway and it's quite pricey as someone said above, 38k (!) to be precise) and also a lot of TAFEs simply say "International program: No". Those open to international students that I did find are the ones I've never heard of before. Also do I understand correctly that the work experience is asked to be post degree?

 

Thanks!

[OSN]

Hi Strine,

I have recently been assessed by VETASSESS under OHS and below is an excerpt from their letter. Hope this helps answer your question

"This occupation requires a qualification which is assessed as comparable to the educational level of an Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) Bachelor degree or higher degree, in a field highly relevant to the nominated occupation. In addition to this, applicants must have at least one year of post-qualification employment at an appropriate skill level completed in the last five years which is highly relevant to the nominated occupation. If the qualification(s) are not at the required educational level, or if the employment has been completed prior to the qualification, then the employment will be assessed below the required skill level"

[Robwilliams1983]

Posters looking to be assessed for a health and safety role, please be advised that this occupation is recommended to be removed from the Australian list of jobs in July. If you google 2015-2016 australia immigration proposals it is there somewhere along with some other occupations recommended to be removed from the sol.

 

Of course, this doesn't mean that it will be removed but I doubt you would receive a skills assesment etc and get your eoi accepted before this time. So you might want o save your money and see if this occupation gets removed first!

[Bungo]

Hi Strine,

I have recently been assessed by VETASSESS under OHS and below is an excerpt from their letter. Hope this helps answer your question

"This occupation requires a qualification which is assessed as comparable to the educational level of an Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) Bachelor degree or higher degree, in a field highly relevant to the nominated occupation. In addition to this, applicants must have at least one year of post-qualification employment at an appropriate skill level completed in the last five years which is highly relevant to the nominated occupation. If the qualification(s) are not at the required educational level, or if the employment has been completed prior to the qualification, then the employment will be assessed below the required skill level"

 

The excerpt below is just the first part of the blurb about this specific occupstion on their website.

 

It goes on to state that if the qualification is not in a highly relevant field, then applications will be considered on a case by case basis based on work experience.

[OSN]

Thanks Bungo for the clarification. I clearly missed that part.

[Strine]

Thanks OSN. I guess it still doesn't say what would they consider as "highly relevant". It's very subjective and without clear rules it could come down to what the case officer thinks?

@Robwilliams1983, thanks for the heads up. It seems they are proposing some very popular and also basic skills as well, accountants, veterinarians, barristers, dentists, mining engineers are all proposed for removal. http://www.industry.gov.au/industry/Office-of-the-Chief-Economist/SkilledOccupationList/Documents/2015Submissions/Department-of-Employment.pdf

 

As for the OHS they say

 

Employment has been falling and research undertaken by the Department suggests that competition

from local candidates for available jobs is very strong. In addition, large numbers of candidates are

considered by employers to be unsuitable due to their lack of specific experience. Turnover of these

workers is relatively low, and although a significant number of jobs are expected to be created over

the next few years, migrants who are not job matched are likely to experience difficulty gaining

employment in these occupations.

 

It is contradictory to itself, falling employment yet a significant number of jobs are expected to be created?

[wrussell]

The OP was correctly advised by Raul Senise. There is no point in fishing arount until you get thye answer you want to hear.

[OSN]

All,

I have lodged my 189 Visa application for OHS on 17th April. If this occupation is removed from SOL from next year, would that affect my application? Thanks.

[wrussell]

All,

I have lodged my 189 Visa application for OHS on 17th April. If this occupation is removed from SOL from next year, would that affect my application? Thanks.

 

No.........

[OSN]

Thanks, wrussell. It is a big relief.

 

@ Strine: Regarding your question, I agree it is a bit subjective but VETASSESS case officers have good understanding about OHS and they are very reasonable. My degree was not in OHS but it went through.

[mext60]

Well, I had similar circumstances, i.e. a degree in Mechanical Engineering but work experience in OHS in Engineering firms, that was assessed as positive by Vetassess in 2012. Though I had around 5 years of experience. So if you need further information please let me know.

[OSN]

I've done some research and found that if CO is not allocated before 1st July, and if the occupation is removed from SOL, the visa application will fall into category 5, the lowest priority. Anybody knows the processing time frame for this category?

[nv190499]

Hey guys,

 

I have a Bachelor's in Environmental Engineering, a Master's in Environmental Management and around 4 years of experience. Unfortunately, 2.7 yrs of the experience was gained between the bachelor's and master's degrees while remaining 1.3 yrs of experience was done post-master's. The entire work experience (with the State & Central government (Environment) as well as a UN agency) is related to that of both environmental health officer and OH&S Advisor.

 

First thing I'm confused about is whether I should show my Master's degree or not, since depending upon vetassess/the CO, my work experience pre-master's may/may not be assessed as skilled (after deducting the 1 yr min. requirement). Second thing I'm reaaaaaallly confused about is whether I should apply as an EHO or OHS Advisor. Gut says to go with EHO. What do you guys say (reg. both first and second issue)? :laugh: