Demand for safety professionals in the resources sector is plummeting, but it's increasing in some industries, and has soared by more than 40 per cent in two states, according to a safety recruitment expert.

Craig Mason, founding director of The Next Group – which specialises in talent sourcing for the HSE and HR professions – told OHS Alert that demand for safety professionals in the mining sector has dropped by 23.8 per cent over the last 12 months.

This figure is "additionally huge" because nearly 29 per cent of HSE job opportunities are in the mining sector, which makes it the biggest part of the market, he says.

But there has been an improvement in opportunities in a range of industries, such as the healthcare and public sectors.

According to The Safe Step (part of The Next Group) HSE job index for February, the healthcare sector had strong growth in December 2014 and January 2015.

Public sector vacancies are also very strong, with demand growing in this area since September 2014 "after being in the doldrums for the previous 10 months", the job index says.

Mason says the healthcare sector is becoming "more sophisticated, particularly around risk management", as it employs hundreds of thousands of people doing "relatively risky work".

The public sector is "recovering from a significant drop" after it "fell in a hole at the beginning of last year" when a number of state governments, particularly Queensland, were cutting costs and restructuring, he adds.

(The left column represents percentage changes from a base level set at November 2013. Source: The Safe Step HSE Job Index)

"Massive" demand in Victoria and Tasmania

The overall national demand for safety professionals has declined by 5.8 per cent over the last 12 months, meaning the market is "relatively stable", Mason says.

However, an analysis of the states and territories shows "some very different stories", he says.

"We're seeing demand in Victoria and Tasmania, to be frank, shooting the lights out."

From a low in February last year, demand for safety professionals in these states has increased by more than 40 per cent, which is "massive", Mason says.

Of the resources-impacted states, Western Australia's demand for HSE workers over the past 12 months has fallen by 20.1 per cent, while Queensland has fallen by 29.5 per cent, the job index says.

"The additional fall in Queensland can probably be attributed to the pause button being hit in all industries as a result of the shock state election result," it says.

"While Western Australia is challenged, of the major markets, it still had the most opportunities in HSE in February [2015] with 24.9 per cent of the national total compared to NSW with 24 per cent, Victoria 20.1 per cent and Queensland 19 per cent."

(The left column represents percentage changes from a base level set at November 2013. Source: The Safe Step HSE Job Index)

Develop your business partnering skills

Mason says that for health and safety professionals in the job market, "the one clear and significant overriding requirement is to develop business partnering skills".

These skills are "the ability to interact with business leaders to improve business performance through proactive and commercially-orientated HSE strategies", he says.

"In other words, it's not tell the business what to do, it's work with the business to get the right outcome."

Employers hiring safety professionals are looking for people who can manage change, influence decision-makers, and coach line managers and employees, Mason says.

"Now is a seminal time in the HSE marketplace. Never before has there been so much of a focus on these business capabilities to be successful, rather than technical domain expertise," he says.

Mason says safety professionals can develop their business partnering skills by:

• understanding business drivers;
• learning about profit and loss;
• taking an interest in what the business is doing, particularly in areas outside of their area of expertise;
• focusing on other dynamics within their industry; and
• looking at other dynamics in business generally.

Safety professionals could do a Master of Business Administration to obtain these skills, Mason says.

"But if they want a simple, easy thing to do on a daily basis, then reading the business press is probably a pretty reasonable start," he says.