Building a Successful Career in Safety: Skills, Tech, and the Art of Influence

About this Webinar

Navigating a long-term career in health and safety requires looking far beyond basic technical qualifications. The average person will spend roughly 80,000 hours of their life at work, yet far too many safety professionals let their careers be shaped by default rather than by design. When top talent leaves their roles, it is rarely just about money; it is driven by poor management, a lack of senior support, and stagnant career progression.

In this session, Julian Taylor sits down with James Irwin, an active member of the IOSH Nominations Committee and HSE recruitment specialist. Drawing on the highly successful presentation series James refined with NEBOSH, this webinar moves past standard safety checklists to deliver five real-world strategies for building a career you genuinely enjoy. Together, they will explore how safety professionals can bridge the skills gap, use tech creatively, and master the "sales" and political skills needed to influence the board, engage the CFO, and drive true operational excellence.

What You’ll Learn

• The 80,000-hour mindset: Treating your career as a marathon rather than a sprint, and understanding where technical qualifications fit into your long-term growth.

• Setting intentional goals: How establishing even a rough target acts as a decision-making compass to prevent your career from simply moving by default.

• Designing an actionable plan: Overcoming the pressure to know the entire path from day one, and learning how to simply start building a flexible career map.

• Leveraging mentors and networks: The practical steps to finding and connecting with industry mentors who have already walked the path you want to follow.

• Building an authentic personal brand: How to use platforms like LinkedIn to share your interests, remain visible, and transition into a highly influential safety leader.

• Safety as a sales role: Dissecting the art of business engagement and why communication training is the missing puzzle piece for securing board-level buy-in.

Who Should Attend: 

• Health & Safety and Risk Professionals

• Team Leaders and Managers

• Senior Leaders and Executives
• HR and People and Culture Leaders 
• Anyone responsible for workplace health and safety outcomes