Adrian there are now apprenticeships available which are quite new = https://www.shponline.co.uk/safety-training-and-development/first-health-and-safety-apprenticeship-launched/

 Adrian, I used to be involved with STEM as there are apparently many women like me who have science/engineering qualifications who up working in other fields.

I did not activeley choose safety as a career- I segued into a safety support role because it fit with my skill sets and allowed me look after my family and move about when required, which was not possible in my previous field.

Traditional Science and Engineering jobs available at the time did not offer that level of flexibility. 14 years later I have no regrets,. I have met a lot of great people, seen some fascinating stuff and gained an insight into how people really work which I perhaps would not have had had I stuck with the proper sciency stuff.

So play up the variety and surprising diversity of what you can get into