Careers & Development

A key focus for the Government Health and Safety Lead is to strengthen the capability of those working in roles as health and safety professionals, as well as individuals who have health and safety responsibilities across the public sector such as H&S Representatives and Senior Leaders.

Our professional development programmes have been tailored to meet specific capability needs identified by the sector. These programmes are designed to grow and develop a confident, skilled, and future-ready health and safety workforce.

H&S Reps Learning Modules

Check out our free online interactive resources exploring the role of H&S Reps and key health and safety concepts.

Health and Safety Generalist Career Pathway

Check our the guides which outline how to get started in your career, how to recruit for health and safety practitioners and the skills/experience and knowledge you need for each step of the career ladder of Health and Safety Generalists.

Summer HSW Internship Programme

Our Health and Safety Summer Internship Programme, is designed to build a pipeline of future passionate health, safety, and wellbeing professionals for the government sector. Check out our 2021 Workplace Health and Safety Awards, winning the Leadership category.

Scholarships, Public Sector Graduate and Internship Programmes

Find out more about the health, safety and wellbeing scholarships and other public sector graduate and internship opportunities across the various agencies and career fields.

Enhancing Safety: De-Escalation Training

To assist you with finding de-escalation providers, we have identified a couple of training providers that have received favourable feedback from various public sector agencies over the last 12-24 months.

Early in Careers Health and Safety Certificate

Partnering with IMPAC, the Public Sector Early in Careers (EiC) Health and Safety Certificate replaces our existing Early in Careers Programme. The new certificate uses the NZQA’s micro-credentialing qualification process to align this certificate to showcase what a ‘good’ H&S advisor looks like, as outlined in the published 2022 H&S Generalist Career Pathway.
This certificate is designed for new H&S practitioners, co-coordinators, graduates who are starting their careers in health, safety, and wellbeing profession, and HS Reps who are interested in developing their H&S knowledge further or to use as a stepping stone programme to transition into a H&S career.

Officer Development Programme

Partnering with the Institute of Directors (IoD) we present the Officer Development Programme, designed for public service agency senior leaders with officer responsibilities under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (HSWA). Who also have dual management roles for health and safety governance and operation management.

Check out our 2021 Workplace Health and Safety Awards, winning the Governance category. Aimed at Deputy Chief Executives and Chief Executives,

Career Opportunities (Vacancies)

Job Hunting? or Looking to recruit?
The GHSL can support our member agencies by providing free advertising and promotion of public sector, health, safety and wellbeing vacancies.