Case Studies

Can you tell us about your organisation and its approach to Health and Safety?

At East Midlands Airport (EMA), health and safety sit at the heart of everything we do.

As a complex, high-risk operational environment handling millions of passengers and large volumes of cargo each year, we recognise that a strong safety culture is fundamental to maintaining safe, efficient, and resilient operations.

Our approach is centred on leadership, competence, and culture. We are firm believers that competence is a key enabler in improving behaviour and culture, ensuring that everyone, from frontline colleagues to senior leaders, has the knowledge, skills, and confidence to work safely and make the right decisions. This belief underpins our investment in safety training across all business areas.

We operate under an ISO 45001-certified management system, which provides a structured framework for continual improvement and proactive risk management. Our safety governance model encourages ownership at all levels, supported by clear processes for hazard identification, risk assessment, and incident investigation.

A vital part of our culture is engagement and visibility. We promote open reporting of near misses and safety observations, viewing them as opportunities for learning rather than blame. Through initiatives like safety boards, QR reporting codes, and team briefings, we make safety a shared responsibility across colleagues, contractors, and stakeholders.

Ultimately, EMA’s approach to health and safety is about creating an environment where people feel empowered, competent, and accountable, not only to follow procedures but to challenge, improve, and take pride in maintaining a safe airport for all.

 How do you go about identifying health and safety training priorities? 

Our health and safety training priorities are identified through a structured and proactive approach. At an organisational level, we conduct both a Training Needs Analysis (TNA) and a Training Frequency Analysis (TFA) at an organisational level to ensure alignment with regulatory requirements, ISO 45001 standards, and cultural improvement goals.
Each department maintains its own TNA, tailored to its specific risks and operational needs. Training priorities are further informed by data from incidents, audits, and safety observations. This ensures training is not only compliance-focused but also drives competence, cultural improvement, and behavioural change across the organisation.

East Midlands Airport is a NEBOSH Accredited Corporate Learning Partner, meaning you can deliver NEBOSH training to your own staff. What are the benefits of becoming accredited in your own right?

Becoming a NEBOSH Accredited Learning Partner provides East Midlands Airport (EMA) with a range of strategic and cultural benefits.

Firstly, it enables us to deliver high-quality, nationally recognised training in-house, which has been tailored to the specific risks and operational realities of our airport environment. This ensures our training is not only compliant but also relevant, engaging, and immediately applicable to the roles our colleagues perform.

Secondly, being accredited in our own right demonstrates EMA’s commitment to competence and continuous improvement. We firmly believe that competence is a key enabler in improving culture and behaviours, and the ability to deliver NEBOSH courses internally reinforces that belief by embedding a strong learning culture across our workforce.

Being a NEBOSH Corporate Learning Partner also provides flexibility and efficiency. We can deliver training around our operational needs, aligned with our own procedures, without relying on external providers.

In addition, this accreditation enhances our employer brand and professional credibility, supports career development opportunities for colleagues, and helps attract and retain skilled professionals who value ongoing development.

Ultimately, becoming a NEBOSH Accredited Learning Partner has allowed EMA to shape its own learning journey - ensuring that health and safety knowledge, competence, and culture remain deeply rooted within the organisation.

You are accredited to offer the following four qualifications. Can you explain why you selected these qualifications and share how their rollout is benefiting your organisation?

At East Midlands Airport (EMA), we selected these four NEBOSH qualifications deliberately to align with our strategic priorities, cultural ambitions, and operational needs. Each course plays a key role in strengthening competence, supporting behavioural change, and embedding a proactive safety culture across the organisation.

Together, these qualifications form a comprehensive and complementary suite that addresses key aspects of safety performance including learning from incidents, managing risk, leading effectively, and supporting wellbeing. Their rollout has enhanced competence, improved engagement, and strengthened ownership of safety across EMA, helping to sustain our positive cultural journey.

• NEBOSH HSE Introduction to Incident Investigation – this qualification was selected to build internal capability in understanding and learning from incidents. It equips supervisors and managers with the skills to identify root causes and implement effective corrective actions, which ensures the focus is on learning and prevention not the attribution of blame.
• NEBOSH HSE Award in Managing Risks and Risk Assessment at Work - this qualification underpins one of our core safety principles, effective risk management. It ensures colleagues at all levels understand how to identify, assess, and control risks in line with our ISO 45001 management system, helping drive consistency and confidence in risk-based decision-making.
• NEBOSH HSE Certificate in Health and Safety Leadership Excellence NEBOSH – This qualification directly supports our leadership development agenda. It provides our senior leaders and managers with the insight to understand how their behaviours and decisions influence safety culture. It has been particularly beneficial in strengthening visible safety leadership and aligning our strategic objectives with day-to-day actions.
• NEBOSH HSE Certificate in Managing Stress at Work – this qualification was selected to support our commitment to colleague wellbeing. We recognise that a safe workplace is not only about physical safety, but also psychological health. It helps our leaders and managers identify stressors early, provide appropriate support, and foster a more open and supportive culture around mental health.

In one sentence, please could you tell us: What is the best thing your organisation gains from partnering with NEBOSH?
Partnering with NEBOSH enables EMA to deliver recognised and credible training to our team, bringing a range of strategic and cultural benefits.