Career Overlap Transition record
RecordMove

Explosives engineer to mine health and safety engineer

An explosives engineer already meets 50% of what the mine health and safety engineer role asks for. The move turns on 7 required skills not yet in the profile.

Fig. 1 · Skill transfer ESCO v1.2.1 · directional
From explosives engineer
50 % overlap
Partial match
To mine health and safety engineer
11 You already bring
7 Still to learn
22 Skills in the target role2
Learning distance Real move, short list to learn

48.9/ 100

1 How much of what a mine health and safety engineer is expected to do is already part of an explosives engineer’s work. Directional: the figure for the reverse move differs, because moving into a speciality is not the same problem as moving out of one. 2 Every skill the mine health and safety engineer role is recorded as needing, required and optional together. What these numbers mean.

Why

Why this move works

A mine health and safety engineer role treats 7 of its required skills as things an explosives engineer already does. You would walk in with these on day one.

  • address problems critically
  • electricity
  • ensure compliance with safety legislation
  • geology
  • mine safety legislation
  • safety engineering

What stands in the way is 7 required skills the profile does not yet cover. Table 3 groups them; Table 4 says which to take first.

Table 2

Table 2 · What you already bring

Of the 11 skills that carry over, these are the ones fewest other occupations ask for. A mine health and safety engineer role needs them, and most people applying for one will not have them already. This is the part of an explosives engineer background worth leading with.

Skill the target role also needs Area
  • already held mining engineering engineering, manufacturing and construction
  • already held mine safety legislation engineering, manufacturing and construction
  • already held impact of geological factors on mining operations engineering, manufacturing and construction
  • already held safety engineering engineering, manufacturing and construction
  • already held geology natural sciences, mathematics and statistics
  • already held ensure compliance with safety legislation assisting and caring

All 11 carried skills, including the 7 the mine health and safety engineer role treats as required.

Table 3

Table 3 · What you may need to learn

The 11 missing skills fall into 6 areas of the ESCO skill hierarchy, numbered in the order worth working in. Areas carrying the most required skills come first, and inside each one the required skills sit above the optional ones. Nothing here is a verdict on you: it is a list of what this particular job asks for that your current one does not.

Skill to pick up Tier
01 information skills 2 required, 2 supplementary
  • still to learn investigate mine accidents required
  • still to learn maintain records of mining operations required
  • optional, not held inspect mine safety conditions optional
  • optional, not held monitor employee's health optional
02 communication, collaboration and creativity 2 required
  • still to learn train employees in mine safety required
  • still to learn prepare scientific reports required
03 management skills 2 required
  • still to learn develop health and safety strategies in mining required
  • still to learn manage emergency procedures required
04 assisting and caring 1 required
  • still to learn prevent health and safety problems required
05 engineering, manufacturing and construction 1 supplementary
  • optional, not held electrical engineering optional
06 services 1 supplementary
  • optional, not held health and safety hazards underground optional
Table 4

Table 4 · Where to start

The 3 entries a mine health and safety engineer role is least likely to hire without. The ordering is computed from the skill data, not from what pays.

Each entry opens a course search for that skill. Career Overlap earns nothing from these links.

Appendix

Appendix · The rest of the record

All 11 skills that carry over
Skill Type
  • already held address problems critically skill
  • already held electricity knowledge
  • already held ensure compliance with safety legislation skill
  • already held geology knowledge
  • already held mine safety legislation knowledge
  • already held safety engineering knowledge
  • already held supervise staff skill
  • already held impact of geological factors on mining operations knowledge
  • already held mining engineering knowledge
  • already held present reports skill
  • already held troubleshoot skill
4 supplementary skills, helpful but not required
Skill to pick up Tier
  • optional, not held inspect mine safety conditions optional
  • optional, not held monitor employee's health optional
  • optional, not held electrical engineering optional
  • optional, not held health and safety hazards underground optional
11 held skills the mine health and safety engineer role does not ask for
Skill Type
  • not needed by the target role chemistry knowledge
  • not needed by the target role decide quantity of explosives required skill
  • not needed by the target role examine prospective blast area skill
  • not needed by the target role explosives knowledge
  • not needed by the target role handle explosives skill
  • not needed by the target role issue drilling instructions skill
  • not needed by the target role report misfires skill
  • not needed by the target role report outcome of blast skill
  • not needed by the target role safely detonate explosives skill
  • not needed by the target role sequence explosions skill
  • not needed by the target role signal for explosion skill
2 gaps that are knowledge rather than practice

Knowledge gaps usually close through study. Practical skill gaps usually need something you can point at.

Skill to pick up Tier
  • optional, not held electrical engineering optional
  • optional, not held health and safety hazards underground optional
Index
FAQ

Common questions about this move

Can an explosives engineer become a mine health and safety engineer?

Yes, and it is a moderate move. An explosives engineer already covers 50% of what a mine health and safety engineer is expected to do: 11 skills carry over, 7 of which the mine health and safety engineer role treats as required.

What skills does an explosives engineer need to become a mine health and safety engineer?

7 required skills are missing, plus 4 optional ones. They fall into 6 areas of the ESCO skill hierarchy, led by information skills. The single most important is prevent health and safety problems.

How hard is the move from explosives engineer to mine health and safety engineer?

Its learning distance is 48.9 out of 100, which is the moderate band. That accounts for both how much is missing and how specialised those skills are.

Note

How this record was compiled

Both occupations are taken from ESCO, which lists the skills and knowledge each occupation is expected to have and marks every one required or optional. Nothing here is a prediction about hiring, and nothing here knows that a particular employer wants a particular certificate. Treat Table 3 as a starting point for your own research rather than a syllabus. The full method states what these figures can and cannot tell you.