Case Studies

If my maths is right you did your first NEBOSH qualification, the National General Certificate, in your early 20’s.  Can you explain how this came about?

I didn’t appreciate that health and safety could be a career until the business I was working for had to respond to an enforcement matter. As part the businesses’ response, I was sponsored through my NEBOSH National General Certificate in Occupational Health and Safety on the understanding that, in addition to my ‘day job’, I took on health and safety.

Why did you choose the NEBOSH National General Certificate specifically and how did you find it?

A very experienced health and safety consultant recommended the qualification to me. Without his input, I may not have set off on this path so I will always be grateful for his guidance and support.

At the start of my studies, I remember feeling a little overwhelmed because everything was new. I was working in the leisure and fitness industry back then, so some of the topics covered in the syllabus were totally alien to me. I completed it on day release, which worked well because it gave me time to digest what we were being taught. At the end of the course, I was amazed by what I had been able to learn and retain.

Shortly after, you signed up for the NEBOSH National Diploma, followed by the NEBOSH Fire Certificate. Can you explain why you selected these qualifications as part of your development?

When I left school, I didn’t really have a clear path ahead. I decided not to go to university because I didn’t want to devote years of my life studying a topic which might not be right for me. I decided to start by following my interest in fitness and studied a diploma in personal training and sports therapy.

After a few years in the leisure and fitness industry, I was probably even less clear where I was heading longer-term, and so being given the chance to take on the NEBOSH National General Certificate was an easy hook – a chance to explore something new and hopefully come up with some answers - and since then everything changed! I soon decided I wanted to make health and safety my career, so I enrolled on the NEBOSH National Diploma in Occupational Health and Safety, funding it myself. I had to fit my studies around my full-time role, which was challenging at times, but it was worth it because my Diploma was a keystone for my health and safety career.

After completing my National Diploma, I secured my first full time health and safety role with the British Transport Police. At that time fire safety was a key focus for the organisation, so my employers paid for me to take the NEBOSH Fire Certificate.

Your career progression has been swift and impressive! What do you put your success down to?

At key moments during my career, people have backed me. Perhaps my contribution has been being ready and willing to walk forward whenever they have opened doors for me! This requires two things. Firstly, consistently bringing your best attributes, consistently. I never hoped to be a walking HSE encyclopaedia, but I know where to look for the right answers if I need them. I focus on building effective relationships and seeing things through the eyes of operators and leaders. Secondly, being willing to feel a bit uncomfortable from time to time. You cannot wait until you feel perfectly ready to move forwards as that moment may never happen. I find I grow best when I feel I am in a little bit too deep!

Good advice! You have worked in a wide range of industries including hostels, distribution, policing and luxury accommodation. How easy did you find it to switch between industries?

Experiencing different industries has been the magic ingredient for me which has really helped keep me energised and interested. I think the key to successfully switching between sectors is being humble, not expecting to know all the answers, and being willing to ask the right questions. It is important for health and safety professionals to feel confident to ask questions, without being worried they are revealing a knowledge gap to someone.

Callum, I can see you have just been appointed IHG Hotels & Resorts VP Global Safety & Security, which sounds a fabulous! Can you tell us a little bit about the role and responsibilities please?
IHG is a FTSE100 constituent with around 6,000 hotels globally, operated under our 17 brands (including Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn and Intercontinental). Across more than 100 countries our business is delivered through a combination of hotels that we manage and those that are operated by franchisees.

The scale and diversity of IHG’s business was of huge appeal to me when I decided to join. It’s a privilege to help set the agenda on such an important topic area for the organisation, particularly as the sector challenges itself to define what our next (and ‘post-pandemic’) chapter looks like.

I’m responsible for owning our global approach to safety and security. That means building and maintaining the machinery we need to design, monitor and report on safety and security globally – working with a talented team of safety and security specialists who help our business execute those arrangements in our regions.

Over such as vast business it couldn’t be more apparent that our operators and hoteliers hold the pen when it comes to managing risk day to day, and so the work of our safety and security team has a significant tilt towards building the capability of those teams across our business. Our role is to enable those teams to be successful in delivering a safe and secure environment without necessarily needing a specialist on the other end of the ‘bat phone’ at all times.

At a time when there seems to be an increasing number of scale crises and incidents across the globe, it’s an important time to step up and help make safety and security management impactful.

What do you enjoy most about your HSE career?

HSE blends a handful of things which I really enjoy; I’ve a bit of a bias towards ‘process’ based thinking, I do enjoy technical topics and I’m also deeply interested in how organisations operate.  HSE offers a good overlap between each of these!

How do you think the profession can encourage more people to choose a health and safety career at an early age?

I’m sure there are plenty of others who, like me, don’t appreciate that health and safety is a potential career choice until they have already entered the world of work on a different path. Perhaps supporting businesses’ responses to the COVID-19 pandemic offers a bit of a window into what our profession does, so more school leavers understand the nature of our work.

I also think that some may hold the misconception that to ‘do’ H&S you need to have spent 20 years working ‘on the tools’ in that industry first. I remember earlier in my career thinking that not having years of operational experience was going to be a huge blocker for me, and fortunately, I was proven wrong. The ability to manage risk well should be industry agnostic - you don’t need to limit yourself to any one industry or sector. Making the health and safety world one where you can hop between industries is something most of us can related to in one way or another and could be attractive for many starting their careers in the profession.

What advice would you give to someone who wants to get into health and safety?

Your colleagues will not expect you to have perfect recall of standards and regulations. They want you to be a trusted advisor and to be honest when you are at your knowledge limit and need to go and search for answers. This can do wonders for building that trust – certainly more than fluffing the moment with a reflex response.

Think about what your key strengths are and find a way to amplify them. I would also encourage you to keep asking questions and expect to feel (temporarily) out of your depth from time to time. It’s part of the learning process!