International Women's Day

Today, on the 08 of March 2021, we want to reflect on International Women's Day and consider the positive impact our business has on the lives of others. We recognise that, as Health & Safety education providers, we are in a unique position to improve people's lives through education and the facilitation of qualifications.

From our doorstep in Wales to further afield in Dubai, South Africa, Canada and beyond, our learners have made a genuinely remarkable difference in the world. Our learners tell us that as a consequence of their new qualifications, they have kept people safe in the workplace and ensured that their colleagues return home to their families after an honest day of work. Consequently, we feel a deep sense of pride every time a new person joins our learning community.

As we enter a new decade of our journey, we want to ensure that the Health & Safety industry continues to attract and keep some of the incredible learners we partner with every day. We recognise that the industry may have accessibility challenges for some women worldwide. We are working diligently with organisations such as NEBOSH, IOSH and IEMA to ensure that training is available across the globe, whether it be online or virtual.
 
The gender gap in the HSE industry has also been highlighted by the Health and Safety Executive, TUC and the International Labour Organization. Looking at our own data, we can report that the majority of our training course enquiries are from males. We believe that a greater variety, in any area, is always a positive. Our differences help us generate ideas that can help us grow, develop, and continue to ensure our teams' safety.
 
For ten years, we have aimed to innovate at every opportunity to make our courses of the highest quality possible. We have created a range of online and virtual courses to ensure that people can fit learning into a wide variety of lifestyles. This has ensured that people can learn new skills whilst balancing their family and work commitments. We have seen an uptake in learners of all backgrounds but have noticed that women have been drawn to these flexible learning options.
 
We are promising to continue to encourage and inspire women, and people of all backgrounds, to join the Health & Safety, Environmental sector. We know that there is not an easy way to diversify the industry. To begin, we will be taking four clear actions:
1.        We will ensure that a wide range of people will see our communications.
2.        We will highlight key practitioners to inspire the next generation of Health & Safety professionals through our case studies.
3.        We will partner with companies, charities such as RoSPA, and organisations to support learners of all backgrounds.
4.        We are committing to the Diverse Sustainability Initiative to better understand the challenges, barriers and prejudices that exist with our profession and make strides to address them.
 
The Diverse Sustainability Initiative is a new collaborative programme of work with the vision to transform diversity within the sustainability profession and wider environment sector. It is coordinated and managed by several partners and seeks to involve both anyone who works as an environment or sustainability professional and all professionals regardless of discipline who work within the environment sector. Astutis, invited by IEMA, are pleased to be one of the early signatories of the initiative.

The Diverse Sustainability Initiative's overall goal is to build a profession and sector that reflects the modern world. The Initiative looks to improve diversity through education, connection, and transparency to support current professionals and increase appeal and access for future and potential professionals. This journey starts with racial and gender diversity before expanding into LGBT and physical ability.

With these issues facing us, we still have questions to answer. How can we further support women who want to learn? What actions can we make to support existing female practitioners? How can we make the workplace a safer space for women? In conjunction with our partners and stakeholders, we aim to answer these questions over the coming months, and we hope we can count on your continued support.
 
We thank you for reading our thoughts, and we encourage you to get in touch with your ideas and suggestions on this very topic.

This message has been endorsed by Astutis' Board of Directors.