Guest MarkFHenry Posted August 19, 2011 Share Posted August 19, 2011 Hi Guys/Girls I’m new to the site and seeking some advice, regarding occupational health and safety jobs, NEBOSH Diploma qualified. I’m currently working in the Middle East as an HSE manager, but in the coming months me and my wife are looking to migrate to OZ for work. I am now starting to panic as my qualification( NEBOSH International Diploma) doesn’t seem to be recognised in Australia, even thou it’s the most recognised professional safety qualification throughout the world and is the equivalent to a degree in the UK. I was wondering if there are any other safety professionals here with the same qualifications that found work in OZ. I’ve just finished the course which has been painful for the last 1 and half years. The thought of having to start all over again by doing a recognised diploma in Australia is making me sick. My wife is also a secondary school English teacher looking for work and again was hoping someone might be to give some advice on her finding work. We were looking at Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne or Perth whichever one has the best opportunities. Hope you can help. Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Wooster Posted August 20, 2011 Share Posted August 20, 2011 I am a HSE Officer in Perth. You will have to get AUS certified to practice out here, luckily you should get a cert 1V done relatively quickly once out here. Once here you can get qualified through TAFE or various agencies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest suziem Posted August 21, 2011 Share Posted August 21, 2011 Hi Mark I've moved to Sydney nearly 2 months ago and have a NEBOSH cert and diploma as well as 4 yrs of experience in H&S. I've finally got to the offer stage with jobs and found that although all of the job adverts ask for Australian qualifications, they all accept the NEBOSH ones if you explain what they are in your cover letter and interviews. There are a couple of extra 2 day courses you can do especially if you're going to be involved in any training or return to work but other than that noones asked me to do any extra courses. Ive been told the australian cert 4 is a lower level qualification than the NEBOSH cert. The main problem with getting a job is lack of experience of working in Australia. There are lots of OHS roles out here but the recruitment process is very slow with a lot of companies. The salaries are very good though. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest MarkFHenry Posted August 21, 2011 Share Posted August 21, 2011 Hi Guys/Girls I’m new to the site and seeking some advice, regarding occupational health and safety jobs, NEBOSH Diploma qualified. I’m currently working in the Middle East as an HSE manager, but in the coming months me and my wife are looking to migrate to OZ for work. I am now starting to panic as my qualification( NEBOSH International Diploma) doesn’t seem to be recognised in Australia, even thou it’s the most recognised professional safety qualification throughout the world and is the equivalent to a degree in the UK. I was wondering if there are any other safety professionals here with the same qualifications that found work in OZ. I’ve just finished the course which has been painful for the last 1 and half years. The thought of having to start all over again by doing a recognised diploma in Australia is making me sick. My wife is also a secondary school English teacher looking for work and again was hoping someone might be to give some advice on her finding work. We were looking at Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne or Perth whichever one has the best opportunities. Hope you can help. Mark Hi Suziem Your a legend, I might actually get some sleep tonight. I also have the NEBOSH Construction cert and have literally just finished the NEBOSH International Diploma, one of the main reasons I could of cried having to start more courses so soon after completing this one. As you will know it takes up your life. Are you working in construction? Did you register with agencies and get many interviews How long did it take you to get a job? Sorry for all the questions but its a big move want to make sure we have a chance, as im leaving a secure job to risk it. Its strange how NEBOSH isnt recognised, as I was told there legislations, regs etc. are all taking from the Health and Safety at Work act. 1974. They are also advertising in the SHP magazine and newspapers in the UK regarding skilled migration for safety professionals. How would we get a job if NEBOSH isnt recognised. Is there an enforcing authority such as the HSE or an institution such as IOSH were further advice could be found on the suitabilty of NEBOSH quals. Hopefully some governing body will make it more offical soon. Kind Regards Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest suziem Posted August 22, 2011 Share Posted August 22, 2011 Hi Mark Glad to be of some help I've worked in retail, manufacturing and logsitics so no construction which was a bit of a shame as there are loads of construction jobs over here! They certainly pay the most money too. If you go on seek.com.au which is where I found most of the jobs I applied for, that should give you a good idea of what's out here. It can be really dautning leaving a stable job to come over here. I had the best job ever back in the UK it was hardly like going to work- we had guitar hero set up in the meeting rooms, loads of free products and a really great atmosphere. It was a tough call to decide to head over but my partner had been promoted and it was a great opportunity. The recruitment process is quite slow over here, I started applying for jobs the day after we arrived and it took about a month and a half for me to secure a job, however with that job it was only about 2 weeks between me applying and being offered a job. It was a real waiting game to secure interviews but I ended up going from nothing to having 4 interviews in one week and being offered them all! There are lots of agencies out here. I registered with 3, one found me no jobs but I had interviews with a couple of them. Hays have a really big presence in H&S recruitment over here and there are other specialist H&S recruiters too. They're going through a massive change in H&S legislation at the moment which comes into force in Jan 2012. At the moment, each state has its own H&S legislation so for companies that operate Australia wide, this can be a bit of a pain. So a new act is coming in called the Work Health and Safety Act which will cover all states. It's my understanding that similar to the EU directives, it is open to some interpretation between the states but they should be much more aligned. This process change is called OHS harmonisation which is a good thing to know about if you're going to be applying for anything because its a bit of a buzz word at the moment. There is no HSE but each state has its own enforcing authority/regulator who can offer improvement notices and prohibition notices much like the EHOs and HSE can in the UK. One massive difference between the UK and Oz is their worker's compensation. If anyone has an accident where they are off work, they can very easily put a claim in for compensation. If you go onto the work cover website, they have a lot of legislation, info about the compensation processes and enforcement as well as the new legislation http://www.workcover.nsw.gov.au/Pages/default.aspx. This is just the website for NSW so the other states will have similar. I've heard South Australia has the most picky regulator A lot of the actual act is the same but the codes of practice are generally much less specific than the UK. There are not as many codes of practice and they are very similar like noise exposure limits and heights of handrails, numbers of toilets etc. NEBOSH is recognised as a good qualification to have but its not something that you would ever see on a job advert. However, if something asks for the Australian Dip, that's about NEBOSH diploma level. There is the Safety Institute of Australia and the National Safety Council of Australia who might be able to provide more advice but I really wouldn't worry about whether NEBOSH is recognised or not too much. It may not be formally recognised but most employers are aware of it and accept it as a good level of qualification. They will be more interested in your experience. If you do get to the stage of applying for jobs, make sure on your CV you don't use too many english abrieviations like CDM as they won't know what it is here. I hope that's been helpful. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask away Suzie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simonwilliams Posted August 22, 2011 Share Posted August 22, 2011 Hi I found this thread very interesting,my wife sue and I are moving over to Perth in December. I work as a Health and safety advisor for a large construction company,having read a few posts from some time ago and doing a fair bit of research I decided to enrol in a distance learning course for the OHS Level IV. I currently hold NEBOSH General and Construction certificates as well as a few IOSH courses. Should anyone have any links to recruiters in Perth I would be very grateful. Hope this thread keeps going as its becoming very useful. Thanks Simon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Hornster Posted August 23, 2011 Share Posted August 23, 2011 I totally sympathise with your situation Mark as I too have found it frustrating that a highly sought after H&S qualififctaion such as the NEBOSH Diploma is not recognised in Australia (at least not without a massively long explanation). I submitted a skills assessment application to VETASSESS based on my NEBOSH Diploma and the fact that I a a Chartered Professional member fo both IOSH and the SIA as well as a RSP with the SIA all of which VETASSESS assessed negatively for migration purposes. Apparently the NEBOSH Diploma is assessed at no higher than an Australian Diploma (not Advanced Diploma or Degree) which falls below the qualification requirements for a positive skills assessment for migration purposes where the requirements is at least Australian Bachelors Degree level. That leaves the only option for migrating to OZ as being the employer sponsored 457 temporary residency visa. On the plus side there seems to be quite a few Australian employers lookign to recruit UK trained and experienced H&S professionals to work in the booming mining, oil & gas industry. I am in talks with a few employers in Perth and things are looking quite positive at this stage but as mentioned by someone else in this thread the Australian recruitmenrt process is painfully slow! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Hornster Posted August 23, 2011 Share Posted August 23, 2011 On a slighly different note, can anyone currenty working in the construction, mining, oil & gas industry in Australia as a H&S professional shd any light on the main differences in day to day job and any accontabilities assigned to the job? I have heard (with a pinch of salt) that it is usually the H&S advisor/manager/coordinator who usually gets put in front of the firing squad following any accident/indicent. Is there any more truth in this than what we can currently expect from working in a similar role here in the UK? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olly Posted August 23, 2011 Share Posted August 23, 2011 Some of the jobs here requiring a Dip level qualification also like a Training and Assessment Certificate to train staff in OHS (or as someone has already pointed out WHS as it is soon to be called here). I have just upgraded to have a career change, and am doing the Cert IV Training and Assessment to go with the Diploma OHS. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest stevenw8971 Posted August 23, 2011 Share Posted August 23, 2011 don't know much about the H&S side of things, but your wife will need to get her skills reassessed by the state teaching board of whatever state you go to, or if shes the main applicant get them assessed by AITSL first then the state, she'll prob need a first aid certifcate and maybe sit the IELTS english test Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mext60 Posted October 9, 2011 Share Posted October 9, 2011 Hi All, I am new here on the forum, and am seeking some opinion/ advice. I found this thread to be quite informative and related to my current profession, so putting this question here as well. My qualification is Bachelor's in Mechanical Engineering and in my 7 years of work experience, the last five years are more relevant to Occupational Health & Safety Advisor role then hardcore engineering job. Though all this OSH experience is in Engineering/ Construction and Manufacturing companies. Some of my latest job roles are EHS Engineer, HS Auditor and EHS Coordinator. My question is that is there anybody out there who had a similar situation, and can thus guide me how to proceed. Should I apply to Engineers Australia or I can try my luck at VETASSESS. I used VETASSESS advisory service and there advice was completely vague about this. They said that though this is not a highly relevant degree, however this is evaluated at VETASSESS on a case to case basis. Also, is there anybody with similar situation who might have applied to Engineers Australia, who can guide me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Hornster Posted October 9, 2011 Share Posted October 9, 2011 Hi Mate, Unless you have at least a BSc degree in OHS, VETASSESS will give you a negative skills assessment. My advice would be to apply under your engineering degree as you will have a better chance of getting a positive from engineers australia. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mext60 Posted October 9, 2011 Share Posted October 9, 2011 Thanks Hornster. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Antony Seymour Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 Hi, I wonder if you could possibly help? I have just moved to Perth from England where I was employed as a H and S manager and I am now having problems finding a position even though I hold IOSH and Nebosh aswell as others. Any advice would be gratefully received. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Antony Seymour Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 Hi, I am just reading your post on here which is very informative. Did you manage to secure work in Perth. I have just arrived here and am finding it a bit difficult to get interviews even though I have a very strong construction based background and sound background in OHS? Perth was the place all the recruitment agencies point you to when you are still in the UK but as the dollars in the bank rapidly decrease a little bit of panic is starting to set in!! :-(. Any help would be appreciated. Antony Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eera Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 Hornster, to try and answer your question on OHS in Mining, in QLD the Workplace H&S Act and Regs do not apply to mine sites; one of the first parts of the Act specificially spells out them as excluded and they fall under their own legislation, so in effct, OHS qualification are largely irrelevent and there's a seperate set of quals for mining work risk management. It's different in each state, and I don't know how the new OHS Act is going to work as I believe each other state's mines follow OHS legislation and it doesn't have that exclusion in it. But yes, the Coal Mining Act is very specific in stating that the site senior executive (and effectively the deputies in forms of the saftey managers) are *personally* held responasible for accidents and incidents - which is why there is a monumental amount of paperwork to be done before someone's allowed on a site. If there's a serious accident, someone in management will go to jail for it. I recall a trainer saying the main difference between the Workplace and Coal Mining Safety and Health Acts were that under OHS law your company will be sued, under Coal Mining it's the individual. During training they like to bring up examples of managers who served time for mining fatalities, luckily never been in the position of finding out how stringent it is in reality. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mext60 Posted April 19, 2012 Share Posted April 19, 2012 Hi All, just to inform all the OHS professionals that I did get positive skills assessment from VETASSESS. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jojojojo Posted April 19, 2012 Share Posted April 19, 2012 Hi there I have nebosh general cert and fire cert and nvq 4 in OHS. I am a practising HD Adviser with several years experience. Do I stand any chance of receiving approval from VETSSSESS following skills assessment? I feel like it is all made so mysterious, when it could be made so much more simple!!! Thank you on advance. No Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mext60 Posted April 25, 2012 Share Posted April 25, 2012 Dear Jojojo, One needs a Bachelor's degree to succedd with VETASSESS on OHS. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest shabu23 Posted May 6, 2012 Share Posted May 6, 2012 Hai Mext60 Congrats for positive skill assessment. Any Bachelor degree will do or it has to be OHS specific? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mext60 Posted May 6, 2012 Share Posted May 6, 2012 It has to be a degree related to your sector of experience. For example if you have a degree in Construction Management and OHS experience in construction industry, it can be assessed as positive. Similarly, since I had a degree in Mechanical Engineering and my OHS experience was in Engineering, Oil&Gas and Manufacturing industry, so I was assessed as positive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
movingbacktoaus Posted August 24, 2012 Share Posted August 24, 2012 Hi All, I'd be interested to get an update from some of you who have moved to Australia and your experiences in finding work in health and safety. I have a NEBOSH General Certificate and Fire Certificate and have been involved with health and safety in the UK for last 12 months, also doing quality management and some environmental management. Our plan is to move to Brisbane in about 12 months time (no visa restrictions or owt as I'm an Australian passport holder). Would it be worth doing a Certificate IV in OHS prior to moving out? Any advice from anyone who has been down this route would be much appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
premm Posted June 11, 2013 Share Posted June 11, 2013 It's really sad to hear that. Well, Nebosh certification are valid all over the world (as per my knowledge or the stuffs I've read). Let me do some research on it and i'll let you know![h=1][/h] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lalbiotech Posted April 26, 2014 Share Posted April 26, 2014 Dear Mark, Hope all is well with you. I was looking for Nebosh Diploma materials on web and came across this thread. Hope you are settled now in Aus. Would you be able to share some preparation materials that helped you in the Diploma. I am preparing for the exam in July. Thanks LAL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blaise92 Posted July 22, 2018 Share Posted July 22, 2018 hello pips.just need advice.do i necessarily need a degree to become a an iccupational safety officer? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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