Posted By westhamsean My advice would be to start with the Nebosh General cert first,there are lots of employers that will except this as a min qualification.

Posted By Watto To try and give you some hope, I was in a similar position to you a couple of years ago, I took the general certificate of my own accord, then I asked the company I was with to pay for the construction certificate, at this time I was still working on the railway so had no experience other than talking to people, and they paid for this. I was then asked (luckily) to go and be a resident safety adviser on a large project off the rail, they saw I was trying to make a difference and agreed to pay for my NVQ4, always keeping my PTS in date. Eventually I got back on the rail with a principle contractor. What you may have to do is do something similar and take a job off rail to get experience then come 'back', reading this forum on a regular basis you do succeed if you keep trying and it is worth while.

Posted By Ian Mitchell Sorry: Just seen the line WITHIN the railway industry. But still, I knew a consultant RIMINI Planner who was on 45k. That'd buy a Lambretta or two...

Posted By westhamsean When studying for my NGC and Diploma i found that using past test papers and examiners reports very use full and don't forget the questions sometimes are repeated on future test papers. I also work in the railway industry Good luck

Posted By CFT John How far do you want to run with this? if you wish to progress deeper and gain a greater knowledge with a matching level of experience then one may suggest to you - the diploma in H&S, or perhaps an OU degree. An NVQ whilst perhaps tempting - would not on this occasion be my preferred ... 'what now?' Difficult to be precise, as you know you - far better than I. Further thoughts from you - may be helpful in chewing the fat further. CFT