Hi Jango
I realise that this is not answering your original question, but perhaps there is a secondary question which you hint at in your later post.
Lots of people cross over from some other role into becoming H&S (or HSE, or whatever) professionals, and whilst there is a vogue for encouraging people to become OSH professionals as a starting career option, personally I think that most OSH professionals probably end up more competent if they have some experience of the world of work BEFORE making the transition.
As happens I don't think it matters that much what a person does before becoming an OSH professional. ANY previous experience gives someone a feel for how management can operate (good, bad or in between) and how things go at the sharp end (also good, bad or in between).
So, at my last employer I started as the first ever in house H&S professional, with me at a time when virtually nobody had a PC or laptop, and I didn't even have access to a typewriter.
Hence, I would draft out reports by hand and pass them elswhere to be typed out. The HSE "team" of me and later one other was supported by a secretary who did 2 days a week for us and 3 days a week for the Chief Executive, so no prizes for guesssing whose instructions would take precedence!
I came to the conclusion that the two H&S Advisers in the team were spending too much of our time fielding fairly basic questions and that we would be aided by a so called "gatekeeper" and I thought that the ideal person for such role would be our part time secretary but that they would need some training and I thought that the NEBOSH General was the obvious option.
Checked that said secretary was up for this before getting my boss to sign off for the secretary's paid time off to do the training and exams. Compared to the time, the fees were of little consequence.
It didn't come as a complete surprise (to me, at least) when the secretary told me once passing the NEBOSH exams that they wanted a career change.
So, then I had to make the business case for taking on another full time member of staff into the H&S team and to get them further training and supervision of their career development and they were the first of what became a series of people put through NVQ at what is now Level 6. A few years later and said secretary was CMIOSH.
In parallel, I had started with a blank canvas in terms of developing the company's health and safety policy and supporting management systems.
So, within those systems we introduced the concept of one or more Office Health and Safety Coordinators for each of our offices. I didn't set any person specification whatsoever, other than that such an OHSC should be enthusiastic and committed to the health, safety and welfare of their colleagues in their office. Some offices went for senior managers, some for junior staff and some larger ones for a mix.
In one of our offices the OHSC was a word processor operator (technology had moved on a bit from the typewriter) and in their words they "got the bug". Having done so, they demanded a career change, which meant that once again I had to make a business case for expanding the H&S team by another full time person. Same NVQ and once again a few years later CMIOSH.
In another office the OHSC was a junior civil engineering technician (which roughly translated as the perons who would translate engineers' thinking into drawings) who I think I have only meant once. However, apparently I managed to inspire them and over 20 years later they got in touch from New Zealand (so very much the other side of the World!) to tell me that they were now a fully qualified H&S professional. Can't take any credit whatsoever for this particular career change as I knew nothing about it until being told so many years later!
There is a long standing tradition in the UK that trade unions provide excellent training for their shop stewards and in recent decades others such as TU health and safety reps.
I ussed to work for the Health and Safety Executive and on numerous occasions managers would complain about what the Safety Reps were asking for - usually it was because the Safety Reps knew more about H&S than their managers who were not getting a similar level of training. VERY rarely did I conclude that what the Safety Reps were asking for was not entirely appropriate.
All of which means that a grounding as a TU Health and Safety Rep, who has had the training that is on offer, is perhaps about as good a platform as any, from which to jump into a career as an OSH professional.
Next logical step after your NEBOSH General would be either upwards to Level 6 or sideways e.g. to do a Level 3 qualification in e.g. Environmental Management, Fire Safety or similar.
However, as soon as you pass your NEBOSH General (good luck!) then your CV is immediately given a lift and lots of opportunities open up. If your current employer doesn't want to create an opening, where you can make better use of your new qualification and experience to date, then perhaps time to look elsewhere.
If forward thinking your current employer may jump at the chance of benefitting from the Union having already done much of the investment in training for your employer - though of course, your employer would be faced with the TU replacing you with a new H&S Rep and having to provide that new Rep with paid time off fot the TU training, but if you move they face that anyway.