Karla Bostock

When Karla Bostock joined the PETA team in April 2021, she was pleasantly surprised with not only the level of support that was provided to her as a new starter, but also the encouragement she received regarding her continuing professional development.

Recognising potential, encouraging progression

Karla secured an administrator role within the Health and Safety Training Team, which involves her taking care of the admin for PETA’s suite of health and safety open courses. Upon successful completion of her probation period, she was pleased to enter into discussions about her future with the organisation, including what training would aid her progression.

PETA’s Health and Safety Training Manager, Emma Brennan, quickly identified that Karla was keen to progress at PETA, with interests in both hands-on training as well as the management side.

Prior to PETA, Karla was working for a company that provided health and safety courses within a construction context. She said: “I was responsible for organising the courses themselves including all the admin that went with that such as booking delegates onto the courses. I was also a course trainer part time, so I’d deliver one course a week, which has allowed me to gain some great experience and helped me build my health and safety knowledge considerably.”

As an Investors in People (Silver Award) standard organisation, PETA has a strong commitment to ensuring every member of staff has access to the training, learning and development that enables them to continually build on their knowledge, skills and expertise.

Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is a cornerstone of the organisation and demonstrates our ongoing commitment to our people and our customers, as we know that to train others, we need to keep our employees’ skills up to date.

Karla said: “Completing these training courses has really inspired me to learn more about health and safety - I’ve come away really enthused! For example, the first aid course has enabled me to take on board how important first aid is in the workplace, and the IOSH courses have really opened my eyes to what’s involved and what health and safety means for people within organisations. 

“A simple thing like a window blind not closing - that may seem unimportant, but it could have an impact on that person’s working lifestyle as it could cause eye discomfort or even eyesight problems due to screen glare etc, which goes to show that even the little things are important to the smooth running of a business. 

“I hope my enthusiasm comes across to potential delegates and I believe this helps me to promote the courses better too. I’m keen to give advice and assist in mapping out training paths for delegates if they’d like help with that, showing them what the best next steps could be for them.”

Karla has completed three courses with PETA so far - First Aid at Work, IOSH Working Safely and IOSH Managing Safely and she is hoping to complete her NEBOSH General Certificate at some point too.

First Aid at Work is a three-day course that gives those tasked with responding to accident or incident situations, the knowledge and skills to administer first aid swiftly and with confidence. The course covers the responsibilities of a first aider, assessing an incident, managing casualty situations, using an Automated External Defibrillator (AED), conducting a secondary survey and administering first aid to a casualty with a range of conditions or injuries.

IOSH Working Safely is a one-day, highly practical workshop that covers the basic principles of working in and contributing to a safe and healthy working environment. Topics include: introducing working safely, defining hazard and risk, Identifying 22 common hazards and improving safety performance.

IOSH Managing Safely is a four-day course (one day a week for four weeks) that will educate delegates on their responsibilities in managing safety as part of their management duties. The course covers assessing and controlling risks, understanding responsibilities, identifying hazards, investigating accidents and incidents, and measuring performance.

Karla added: “Emma has been really supportive since I joined PETA and from the moment I said I’d like to progress within the organisation, she’s really encouraged me. She’s taken a real interest in my aspirations, putting a training plan in place for me, monitoring how I’ve been getting on and helping me to explore what my next steps might be. She’s the best manager I’ve ever had and even though she has a large team to look after, I feel like I’m appreciated as an individual here and truly valued.”

Find out more about PETA, what it’s like working here and other ways in which we’ve invested in our staff…