Launched on the 30 April, the NEBOSH HSE Certificate in Health and Safety Leadership Excellence will support leaders who want to make a real difference to health and safety performance and culture within their organisations.
NEBOSH Chief Executive, Teresa Budworth, commented: "This new one day qualification highlights the clear moral, legal and financial business case for improving health and safety culture. It covers the key competencies and behaviours HSE research indicates are associated with health and safety leadership excellence so that delegates can become better advocates and influencers of health and safety."
Teresa added: "We are delighted to have worked again with HSE on this new qualification. Our ability to deliver strong, credible professional occupational safety and health qualifications combined with HSE's industry-leading knowledge and expertise gives real value to our students and their places of work."
When creating this new qualification NEBOSH and the HSE worked with a range of business leaders, union representatives, health and safety directors, and managers. Here are just some of their thoughts around the need for the NEBOSH HSE Certificate in Health and Safety Leadership Excellence, and the benefits it will bring."
Ronnie Miles, Managing Director, Bells Food Group said: "People at the top need to lead by example. I often hear fellow business leaders say their biggest asset is their people. If that's the case, prove it! This new NEBOSH HSE course and qualification will only take up one day of your working year, but it can show as a leader how you recognise that protecting people from ill health and injury is one of your core business objectives.
"This new qualification is short and focused and highlights how health and safety can support building better relationships through things like leadership walkabouts and conversations, while at the same time having a positive influence on overall performance.
"I'm also impressed, as I believe other business leaders will be, to see the regulator HSE working alongside such a strong vocational qualifications body as NEBOSH to develop something that will help those at the top. Levels of culpability for leaders and accompanying fines for health and safety breaches are far more significant than ever before, so it is good to see something new designed to help leaders proactively improve safety culture in their organisations."
Nigel Clamp, Health and Safety Director, Africa & Eastern Mediterranean Basin Region, HeidelbergCement AG said: "For health and safety to be effective, it has to be led from the top of the organisation as a core value," he said.
"Good leaders understand there are now all kinds of drivers for improving safety. Putting the moral aspects to one side, the stock market and your business peers understand more than ever now that safety performance can mirror your overall management performance. Good safety is good business and leaders need to know how to have a bigger influence on their managers to ensure they drive the health and safety improvement agenda down through the organisation."-
Nigel added: "This new qualification may well be an excellent new tool for health and safety directors and managers, who want something tangible they can run to the board with. Encouraging leaders to take this qualification can potentially support them in their efforts to improve health and safety culture, behaviour and performance."
