The Skills Show, the UK's largest skills and careers event, is offering ten student volunteers a rare opportunity to gain hands-on health and safety work experience at the 2013 event, which takes place at the NEC, Birmingham, from November 14-16.
The opportunity is open to students within the hospitality sector who are already studying health and safety as part of an existing course at college, school or with a commercial organisation and are keen to gain vital work experience in the sector.
The ten chosen volunteers will work alongside The Skills Show’s health and safety manager and his team, who support the students before and during the event. Volunteers also receive other benefits including an accredited certificate for training completed at the show and a reference for future jobs. As ambassadors for The Skills Show the volunteers will also wear branded health and safety volunteer uniform and will be able to keep all personal protective equipment they are provided with.
Daniel Ward, health and safety manager for The Skills Show, commented: “Good quality health and safety experience is hard to find as a student, so this opportunity is a real bonus for those who are selected.
"The Skills Show is all about ‘learning by doing’ and this programme is a clear demonstration of our ethos, which provides young people with new, valuable practical skills. Any college, school or organisation which offers health and safety courses should get in touch and discuss the ways that these volunteering opportunities can help its students to progress.
“I have worked in the industry for more than ten years, but can still remember the first time I walked in to the build stage of an exhibition. With so much going on and no practical experience or idea of where to start, I dived straight in and have never looked back. Health and safety is linked to all aspects of an event from planning through to delivery and this is particularly true of The Skills Show, which is a particularly complicated event with many different strands.”
Tony McDaid, Volunteer Health and Safety Officer at The Skills Show in 2012, commented: "The knowledge I gained was outstanding thanks to the variety of operational tasks undertaken within one environment. Working with Daniel and his team gave me encouragement to carry on in my quest for a future in health and safety. What a marvellous opportunity, thanks to The Skills Show team.”
The Skills Show is the UK’s largest skills and careers event and plays host to a wide range of activities, each with its own occupational health and safety, welfare and environmental factors to consider. With elements ranging from UK Skills competition finals (often involving heavy industrial machinery) and interactive Have a Go sessions for young visitors to sector Showcase performances by students, all involving young people and adults of all ages, The Skills Show provides a unique opportunity to experience a broad range of health and safety-related issues which the chosen volunteers will need to control.
Colleges or training providers which would like to offer this volunteering opportunity to their students should contact Daniel Ward, Health and Safety Manager on DWard@theskillsshow.com by Friday 24 May 2013. Please note that if selected for the role, volunteers will need to attend a training session with The Skills Show’s health and safety team before they are issued with their volunteer uniform. The Skills Show’s health and safety manager will confirm the date for the training session.
