Posted By John A Wright Hi Michael, I wouldn't say age is against you, you presumably have many years of industrial experience behind you and that is something a 24 year-old won't have. That's a valuable asset, and it's one that I have too. I was made redundant and I sat the NEBOSH Cert. when I was 53, but I was fortunate enough to have years of safety committee experience and had held an H&S management job, attended things like COSHH Essentials training, Risk Assessment training etc. So I was quite well equipped to become self-employed in H&S. With The NEBOSH certificate under your arm try and persuade your employer that they can use your qualification, offer to do or assist in Risk Assessments. If they have a Safety Officer see if he has a library of ACoPs and borrow them for study. Ask the engineering department if every piece of equipment has had a PUWER assessment, ask them if every piece of lifting gear has had a LOLER assessment. If they have chemical processes or cleaning processes ask them if all the materials/jobs are COSHH-assessed. Are Permits to Work used when required? If the answer to any above is NO then maybe they can involve you and let you plan your time to do some of these things. Doing them can improve safety, reduce accidents, reduce claims, and be valuable experience for you. At my last employer I managed to fit all that in with being their Quality Manager and in time I effectively re-defined my job to my advantage. John W