“Chartered Manager status was my Everest”

Steven Platts CMgr FCMI never thought he’d reach anything like Chartered Manager status in his career. After leaving school at 16 with no qualifications, he had planned to spend his career in the military, but after being medically discharged, he had to completely pivot. 

“Chartered Manager status was my Everest,” he says. “I’m really proud of it, as I didn’t see that I could ever get to that point. But I did.” 

After years spent working his way up in health and safety, Steven gained a Level 7 Certificate in Strategic Management and Leadership Practice in 2022. Since then, he has become the chief health, safety and environment officer at Descon. 

“I started off at the grassroots level,” says Steven. “I built my way up through the team.” 

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Eastern promises

Steven’s journey into health and safety started after he left the army. A friend suggested Steven work with him as a scaffolder; then he got the opportunity to work on offshore oil rigs. 

“There, I was used to working to strict safety protocols, but then I got transferred back onshore and the standard of safety wasn’t as up to the mark as it was offshore, so I started bringing ideas in and looking for areas of improvement,” says Steven. 

That was when he undertook his first health and safety qualification and looked to move out to the Middle East to take advantage of a booming market. He moved over to Saudi Arabia in 2015 as a senior health and safety engineer and found that, again, the health and safety was at a more basic level than he was used to in the UK.