Shadowing scheme
Health and safety graduates looking to get
a head start in the food and drink sector are being offered work
placements by the world’s leading organisation for health and
safety professionals.
The Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) Food
and Drink Group is now piloting the organisation’s
Shadowing Scheme, to give graduates the opportunity of at least
three months experience with a company in the food and drinks
industry. By offering crucial hands-on experience of the world of
health and safety work, it gives those on a placement a greater
chance of getting onto the employment ladder.
This follows the Office of National Statistics’ recent
announcement that the graduate unemployment rate is now at one in
five – 20 per cent. Having reached the highest rate in a
decade, the figure has doubled since before the start of the
recession.
Committee members from IOSH’s Food and Drink Group are health
and safety managers for some of the UK’s biggest food and drink
manufacturers. They have pledged places for job-hunting IOSH
graduate members with companies such as The Shropshire Group,
Britvic, Greencore, Dairy Crest and Tulip.
IOSH Food and Drink Group committee member
and project founder Tom Chambers, said: “A lot of recently
qualified health and safety practitioners are coming out of
education and struggling to find their first posts. We all know how
tough times are at the moment, but I was still shocked at the sheer
number of graduates who were desperate to find work – unpaid or
paid.
“The IOSH Food and Drink Group is piloting
the Shadowing Scheme purely to give unemployed graduates the
opportunity to shadow experienced safety advisors and gain the
experience they’ll need to get on that first rung of the employment
ladder.
“After all, good qualifications are
important, but that’s only half of the complete package.”
Mr Chambers, who is also Greencore’s Group Safety, Health and
Environmental Manager, took on the Scheme’s first graduate in 2010
at the company’s Bow factory, which makes sandwiches and snacks for
major retailers. Ernest Apau spent three months on his placement,
but was offered a nine month extension to his contract as safety,
health and environment (SHE) advisor.
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