Our story, 20 years of success

Where it all began, those 20 years ago

Since very humble beginnings SHEilds has continued to grow and now dominates the IOSH, NEBOSH, and ProQual health and safety training market with their innovative interactive e-learning platform.

Incorporated in the UK in 2002 SHEilds first office was the back bedroom of a 3 bedroom semi-detached house. At that time there were only the owners and 1 member of staff working for SHEilds, while it was a bit of a squeeze it was manageable, but not for long.

We launched our OHS NVQ qualifications in 2003, it was at this time that SHEilds underwent its first expansion and moved to their first official office premises. Due to the demand for our NVQ qualifications, we recruited more NVQ assessors, surprisingly the demand was global as well as local. In April 2005 our first Middle east student completed their NVQ with us, quickly followed by many more.

Later in 2005 we officially became a NEBOSH accredited e-learning partner. SHEilds were the first company globally to be able to offer NEBOSH courses online. We had to work very hard to convince NEBOSH that our training solution was robust enough to meet their very demanding teaching criteria but once they saw the potential of the finished product, they awarded us LP status centre 548.

The first NEBOSH qualification offered online to the public was the NEBOSH National General Certificate. This was launched January 2006 and immediately received praise from students and corporate entities due to the lower cost and the amount of flexibility it offered.

Following our success with NEBOSH and partly due to the demand from our corporate clients we created the world’s first IOSH managing safely e-learning course with the first online IOSH examinations. Again, we had to work very hard to establish a platform that was user friendly but robust enough to be meet the exacting examination standards that IOSH are known for.

Another round of expansion then followed, with a new bigger office and even more employees recruited along with dedicated tutors, course advisers and administration staff.

This little group of three had very quickly expanded to a company with an office larger than the house they had started in, with over 15 employees arriving at 9 each morning.

SHEilds success was starting to grow

Towards the end of 2006 the demand for our qualifications and e-learning delivery truly was global. With a huge number of students based in the Middle East it was decided we needed a local regional office to look after our students. We opened our first international office in Knowledge Park, Dubai.

The first call of action was to recruit again and staff the UAE office with course advisers and administration staff to provide a smoother service for our Middle East clients. Very quickly the Dubai office reached its capacity of 6 employees and the hunt was on for larger premises.

SHEilds was really growing now

More qualifications followed rapidly, we added the NEBOSH Diploma, the NEBOSH International Diploma, the NEBOSH Fire Certificate, and the NEBOSH Environmental Diploma all delivered through our e-learning platform.

Both the UK and Middle East offices were working flat out and still the demand came thick and fast, time for the next major expansion – Asia.

In 2009 we expanded into Asia with our first office opening in Mumbai, quickly followed by additional Indian offices in Hyderabad and New Delhi.

More Courses were developed and launched, we added the NEBOSH Technical Certificate in Oil and Gas Operational Safety, the National and International Construction Certificates and the NEBOSH Health and Well-being at Work in quick succession.

Again, it was time to recruit and increase our employee base, adding in every department from finance to I.T, and course advisers to assessors.

This little group of three was now a fully global company with 30 employees distributed through 5 offices spread across 3 locations.

Still growing

2012 saw us expand into Africa with the opening of our South Africa office in Johannesburg. The location was selected due to the increasing number of course enquiries from the region, this was an exceptionally busy year for SHEilds and by the end of 2012 we were on the hunt for a larger office in Johannesburg, meaning we could again expand and meet the growing demand for our training.

2013 saw the SHEilds South African team move to a much larger office space in Roodeport, just in time for our latest qualification releases, the NEBOSH International Fire Certificate, and the NEBOSH Environmental Awareness Award.

Our hard work and effort was reaping rewards for our students:

• 2014 saw a SHEilds student win the NEBOSH best candidate of the year award for the Environmental Diploma.
• 2016 saw a SHEilds student win the NEBOSH best candidate of the year award for the International Diploma
• 2018 saw two SHEilds students become best NEBOSH candidate of the year, one for the International Diploma and another for the Environmental Diploma.
• 2019 saw two SHEilds students become best NEBOSH candidate of the year, one for the International Diploma for two consecutive years in a row and another for the National Fire Certificate.

2020 saw Coronavirus cause a global lockdown, with many people working from home where possible and many others unable to work. Throughout the pandemic SHEilds continued to support their students to complete their studies and we saw many new students who took advantage of the additional free time they had been given to upgrade their qualifications or even retrain to start a career in the industry. As a company we also had to adapt the way we worked and introduced new technologies and processes needed to continue working through these very tough times.

To aid personal development SHEilds developed and launched two totally free courses which can be taken by anyone – details are on our website.

SHEilds added a dedicated development team who have fully redeveloped all our training courses to include new additional resources and interactions elevating our teaching to an even higher level.

And still SHEilds continues to grow more than 20 years from our beginnings

At the time of writing this we are currently undergoing further expansion in all areas and have recruited an additional 10 employees who are currently undergoing their training to become specialists in their roles. These new members are spread across our office network.

We have just released the IOSH managing safely for the rail industry and have several exciting new courses in development which will be ready for release very soon.

Follow us on our social media channels to keep up to date with our activities as we continue to grow.