I became a safety professional because I wanted a career that fits the upstream oil & gas sector. After having worked in the downstream oil & gas sector for my national service and performing some safety roles for 2 years and being sent for safety workshops, I was naturally on the path of safety. My interest was sparked when I did a module, HSE Management in the Oil & Gas Industry from my Master’s Degree in Oil & Gas Management, hoping for a career switch to the upstream oil & gas sector. But it turned out, the upstream was all about engineering jobs and therefore the program was not cut for it, so I had to do some research. I checked on Rigzone and found HSE as one of the hot jobs in the oil & gas industry; I also checked the profiles of a lot of safety professionals on LinkedIn and noted down the things I needed to study for my professional development and prepared for them. Each day my colleagues closed from work, I stayed back to study and left for home at 9 pm every day and 10 pm sometimes. My immediate supervisors could not comprehend my energy and direction. Some thought I was trying to outpace them but in fact, I was planning my exit. My “WHY” was definitely to work upstream and make more money, and my “HOW” was to benchmark myself with all the folks on LinkedIn to pursue all the relevant safety qualifications. After completing IOSH Managing Safely, NEBOSH IGC, and NEBOSH IOGC to complement my Master’s Degree, I reached out to safety professionals on Linkedin in search of an internship. Enoch Egyir, a kind guy, responded to my message; I met him in person a few days later and he took me to Skarm Construction & Engineering Ltd, where his office shared premises with. To my surprise, there was a vacant position because the safety folks had resigned for better opportunities. All I needed was an internship to re-align my career path but it turned out I would be paid GHS 800, less than what I earned in the previous three years. That was how I entered mainstream safety. A couple of months later, Yaw Frimpong also reverted to me on Linkedin about a vacant position and I took it. I am forever grateful to these great guys and I promised to also pay it forward.
