September 2023
My name is Jade, and I am a second-generation safety professional, following in the footsteps of my Dad, Jeff.
Dad has spent the majority of his career with Site Safe NZ, working in the construction industry. I am currently a practitioner accredited with NZISM, and a Graduate member with IOSH, working as a Health and Safety Business Partner for council-controlled organisation (Tataki Auckland Unlimited / TAU). Outside of work, I also volunteer for Women in Safety Excellence (WISE) NZ, sitting on the governance committee.
My Dad started working in a full-time health and safety role when I was around eight years old, having previously worked in construction. I remember visiting Dad at work when I was a child, absolutely fascinated by everything - even down to the weird soap they were using to wash grease from their hands. Dad's health and safety journey initially started with Vertical Horizonz as a height trainer. He moved to Site Safe NZ as a Regional Safety Advisor and - over 20 years later - he still works for Site Safe, now as their Organisational H&S Lead. (Although he still loves to run a training course when he can!)
I spent many years working casually for Site Safe myself, doing various admin tasks alongside other 'Site Safe babies' whose parents had also worked there for many years. A lot of us secured our first work experience preparing membership packs, assembling key chains, and entering safety training records into Excel - right back when it was just a small office in the Wellington CBD.
Having a parent whose career was in Health & Safety (H&S), I was aware of the industry and I had some insight into the skills and resources I would need if I were to follow in Dad's footsteps. However, I never really saw H&S as my own future career. Like many people, I ended up "falling into it".
I had moved to Palmerston North during my business studies and needed a job, having left my previous role in Wellington. Low and behold an admin role in H&S came up on Seek; it looked right up my alley and fitted in well with my study. It was fate. I couldn't have known what a journey that initial job would take me on - that it would turn out be a life-changing decision and lead me to where I am today.
I started the role right at the very beginning of the pandemic, and was thrust immediately into the deep end, working in a hospital laundry with a new biological risk that we knew pretty much nothing about, and a lot of worried people looking to H&S for information in order to feel safe amongst the chaos. It meant that I had to quickly adapt and learn everything I could about health and safety, as well as COVID-19 and what we needed to do to keep our people safe.
I was extremely fortunate to have a good manager, who had undertaken the OHS Diploma and was able to support building my skills from the get-go. In a short while I was given the opportunity to take on the WHS admin role and make it my own. I had immediate mentorship and support, including from the CEO, and a level of autonomy I hadn't experienced before. I realised that this type of work was markedly varied, something I had been craving.
I quickly changed role names to 'coordinator' and became a go-to for all things safety. Working in a small team, I was also able to gain exposure to the HR side which complemented my H&S work. After only a short while in the role, I knew I wanted to make H&S my career. What other work would I continuously learn across so many disciplines? I also worked with a great team of Health & Safety Reps who helped to build my confidence and enabled me to take on bigger challenges.
I planned my career pathway and began the Grad Dip OHS at Massey, following the completion of my business degree. I have now completed both. What I find really quite special is having Dad's and my name right next to each other on the NZISM register. Funnily, during one of my OSH papers, another student shared a YouTube video, saying it was "really helpful in understanding risk". Sure enough, it was a video of Dad delivering a seminar on risk management!
I think anyone who is wondering what future career to embark on should definitely consider H&S. I know I get a lot of satisfaction from supporting people to be safe, healthy, and well at work, and it has opened up an ocean of opportunities. New Zealand needs a lot more safety professionals, and I've seen some very talented newbies coming through the Health & Safety Rep route. I would encourage all of us in a position to do so, to lower the ladder and help people coming through get a foothold on that first rung.
I look forward to seeing the H&S industry continue to grow and develop. Who knows, we might even see more multi-generational safety professionals hitting the scene, like Dad and I?
