Roger's Story

Roger joined SA Safety in 2003 after getting a NEBOSH general certificate in H&S during resettlement and wanting to take it further. He’s currently employed as a member of our Confined Space Rescue Team and has just completed a rope access course as part of his CPD.

I joined the Royal Marines in 1991, eventually ending up as a Mountain Leader. I chose this branch as it was a challenging environment in which to work and involved interesting jobs all over the world. I served from 1991 to 2023 and during that time I was deployed to many parts of the world including Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, Zimbabwe, Brunei, the Caribbean, Norway, USA, Europe, South America and Antarctica.

My best experience was probably being deployed on operations to many parts of the world; all your training comes together and you are really relying on each other to achieve a common goal. I enjoyed being a team leader and the travel and sport opportunities were amazing. Being paid to keep fit was great too! I also really enjoyed a 6 month deployment to Antarctica; it is a unique place to visit and a fascinating insight to the research work undertaken by the British Antarctic Survey.

I learned a lot of useful skills during my time with the Royal Marines including transferable skills like teamwork, people skills, leadership, risk management, decision making, professionalism and humility. It also taught me problem solving, to be able to adapt to any situation, and to think on my feet. For me, the most useful transferable skills have been teamwork, risk management and people management, especially working in health and safety, which requires attention to detail and following procedures to keep the site operating and to keep everyone safe.

During resettlement I completed my NEBOSH general certificate in H&S which led me into this field of work. I then joined SA Safety where I’m currently working in confined space rescue, and have just completed a rope access course. I really enjoy the teamwork side of life at SA Safety; they’re a great bunch with a mix of former military, fireman, police etc so there’s great banter and camaraderie. SA Safety offers flexible working too, so you can choose when you want to work to suit your home life and commitments. I would definitely say that If you want flexibility in when you work, then SA Safety is a great place to be.

For more about how SA Safety support the Armed Forces community and to apply for an opportunity, visit SA Safety's profile.