What's it like to study the globally recognised NEBOSH International General Certificate?

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Mia Alunno, a seasoned HSW Advisor at Talley’s, found that studying the NEBOSH International General Certificate (IGC) course with +IMPAC was an eye-opening experience and invaluable for her career. Not only did it confirm her existing skills and knowledge, but it also exposed her to new perspectives and international best practices. 

"I'll be recommending some of my colleagues go on +IMPAC’s NEBOSH IGC course," she says. "It's a good course to really learn about the drivers influencing worker behaviour and opens your eyes to what good H&S looks like.”

Mia was the recipient of last year's ESL: +IMPAC NEBOSH Scholarship and says that after being in the Health and Safety space for about five years, a lot of what she knows has been gained through experience rather than a systematic approach of learning as with the IGC.

"This course gives me the chance to validate my skills and knowledge to international standards and gives me more confidence to apply what I know in my workplace. It’s also made me think about the cultural indicators that we could consider when engaging with others and the financial, moral, social and legal reasons, why do health and safety.”

One of the most significant benefits for Mia was the course's focus on human behaviour and engagement in health and safety. "I think one of the hardest aspects of the H&S profession is managing expectations and communication with workers and management at different levels with different backgrounds and personalities," she says. "And that's something you really learn about with the IGC – how to engage with each stakeholder in such a way that's going to help you build a positive culture across the whole organisation.”

+IMPAC’s NEBOSH IGC course also gave Mia a deeper understanding of international standards. "It was really interesting to learn more about international standards like ISO 45001 and how they categorise risk," she says. "It's even more relevant for me now because Talley's is under the ACC Accredited Employer Programme, which is moving in line with ISO 45001."

Mia says the course has also broadened her sources of knowledge. "The course has also given me more exposure to international resources. Predominantly we've been getting our information from Worksafe in New Zealand. But now I can also confidently offer international guidance to back up our reasoning."

In addition to the academic benefits, Mia found studying the NEBOSH IGC has benefited her relationship building at work, especially with middle management. "What I’ve learnt is certainly helping in those interactions, especially with those workers who've been here a long time and may have the mindset of health and safety being a bureaucratic process, to help them understand how even as an individual, they can contribute to developing a positive culture and why this is so important."

Mia found +IMPAC’s IGC course provided the ideal environment to collaborate and learn from others in different industries. "Wherever possible we (Talley's) do try to send our workers to public courses to be able to have that exposure to different workplace or industry challenges," she says. "Also to keep tabs on the 'hot' skillsets and knowledge within industry at the time."

She encourages those professionals who already have a bit of Health + Safety experience under their belts to upskill with +IMPAC's NEBOSH IGC.

If you're looking to boost your health and safety career or enrich the expertise of your team members, the NEBOSH International General Certificate with +IMPAC is the ideal H+S training course.

Find out more here or contactus@impac.co.nz