What’s it all about then?

Use you skills and expertise to reduce the risk of injuries, accidents and other health issues within your food manufacturing company.

You’ll ensure everyone in the company understands their responsibilities and fully complies with relevant health and safety legislation and associated company policies and ways of working.

You’ll be responsible for promoting a safe working culture in your company, have an eye for detail and be able to communicate effectively at all levels in your organisation.

What sort of things might I be doing?

The job will probably include the following:

• Depending on the size of the company you’re working at, management of a team of advisors
• Communicating with and positively influencing the actions of staff on Health & Safety related matters and ensuring they know how to work safely
• Designing and implementing systems and processes that promote and protect an effective Health & Safety culture throughout the company.
• Conducting regular audits and liaising with external bodies like the Health and Safety Executive

What will be expected of me?

You’re performance and effectiveness will be measured on a variety of issues including the reduction of accidents, injuries and other health related issues at work.

Although you’ll probably be already well-qualified simply to take up this position, you’ll be expected to stay right up to date with any changes to the law.

You’ll be a well organised person with an eye for details others might overlook and as you may have to support colleagues on different shifts, you should be the sort of person who is able to work effectively on their own while also being able to liaise and communicate directly with other people when working as part of a team.

You will need to be an extremely well-motivated and diligent individual who is passionate about helping colleagues to work as effectively as possible.

You will approach your work logically and analytically and be someone who is able to make quick, accurate judgements backed up with facts and information.

As the Health & Safety Manager you’ll be expected to lead a team - so experience managing people and communicating professionally and competently will be a major advantage in securing this role.

What can I expect?

A job as Health & Safety Manager in food manufacturing will be interesting and challenging. As well as the management of day-to-day activities, you can expect to be involved with strategic Health & Safety issues within your company and the development of updated company policies.

Being a Health & Safety Manager is very rewarding – the role is vitally important in food manufacturing and processing companies so as a specialist in this area, you will always be much sought after.

What about the pay?

An experienced H&S Manager can earn anything from £35,000 upwards depending on the nature of the job and associated responsibilities. Although they will vary from company to company, starting salaries are typically around £22,000.

What qualifications do I need to get in?

To rise to the position of Health and Safety Manager, you’ll very probably have spent some time as a H&S advisor while you build up your skills and experience.

You can study either part-time or full-time for the qualifications you’ll need to get into the H&S arena with part-time study options particularly attractive when you’re already in work. Alternatively, you could undertake a full time course before you look for a suitable job.

What about further training?

You will need to keep your knowledge up to date throughout your career.

As a Health & Safety Manager, professional membership of a body such as the Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (ISOH) is always useful to employers as this demonstrates both your qualifications and experience.

You’ll develop your skills on the job and professional bodies such as IOSH provide a range of short professional development courses to help you with your career.

As well as this there is also a variety of specialist qualifications that Health & Safety staff might consider and these include:

• National Education Board for Occupational Safety & Health (NEBOSH) Specialist Diploma in Environmental Management
• British Safety Council Diploma in Environmental Management
• NEBOSH National/International Certificate in Construction Health and Safety
• NEBOSH Fire Safety and Risk Management Certificate.

Anything else I might need to know?

An effective Health & Safety Manager will ensure that less time is lost due to staff absences caused by accidents at work and health problems. Improvements here will directly improve the bottom line profitability of your employer.

In food manufacturing, you might need to work shifts sometimes covering evenings, nights or weekends rather than a standard Monday to Friday working week.