NEBOSH IIRSM Certificate in Managing Risk: Insights from Kieran

Kieran Williams, Chartered Health and Safety Professional shared his experience of the NEBOSH IIRSM Certificate in Managing Risk.

Tell us about your role and career so far…

I am Head of Health and Safety for a leading independent school in Dorset, with a site population of almost 1,400. It is a beautiful and collaborative place to work.

I started in 2020 and oversee strategic H&S management – ensuring that we are on top of H&S and Independent Schools Inspectorate requirements and guidance – the development and creation of policies and procedures, and the delivery of H&S and first aid training.

I was previously H&S Officer at a secondary school and multi-academy trust, where I had been for 15 years. My role is pretty varied, and I relish the challenges that emerge every year.

What attracted you to the NEBOSH IIRSM qualification?

In the early stages of this job, I was overseeing our response to Covid, which was obviously new to all of us. I am mindful that as a health and safety practitioner, I can offer transferrable skills for managing risk in other areas to support business continuity and crisis management. I am always looking to improve my own understanding and knowledge through continual professional development, networking and training and I saw the social media posts for this course from IIRSM. I wanted to expand my knowledge of risk more widely to support the organisation.

Would you recommend this qualification to others?

Yes. It was one of the most well-structured courses I have encountered. Great content and so useful! Each part of the programme is further embedded as you go along and the terminology is clear and simple enough that it can be understood by others and to help them understand why we undertake these processes, rather than spouting ISO standards and frameworks.

Completing the course did bring the early days of my role, and Covid, back to mind as it made me more aware of the relationship between psychology and effective decision-making in managing risk. That might mean involving as many people as possible in our processes, right across our employee structure.

I also saw that we can often focus on negatives but there is a real need for us to look at the positive risks that can be taken when there is a shared desire for that.

While I feel comfortable and knowledgeable within my role and career, there is always work and professional development to be undertaken and having this course under my belt means that I can consider wider risk management roles more broadly and within different sectors in the future.