Consultants register to improve safety advice
A NEW national register of occupational safety consultants will be set up to help employers access good-quality, proportionate advice, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has confirmed.
The Occupational Safety Consultants Register (OSCR), which will go live in January 2011, will provide firms with details of consultants who have met the highest qualification standard of recognized professional bodies and who are bound by a code of conduct that requires them to only give advice which is sensible and proportionate.
The register has been developed by the HSE and a network of professional bodies representing safety consultants across Britain. Employers will visit a single website that will help them to find local advisers with experience relevant to their particular sector.
‘The Occupational Safety Consultants Register will make it easier to identify consultants who meet the highest standards within their professional bodies,’ commented Judith Hackitt, chair of the HSE.
‘There are already many very good safety consultants who give sensible advice to employers. The register will help recognize their professional skills and also encourage those who do not yet meet these standards to do so. It will help to raise the standard of advice available to employers and increase their confidence in the advice they receive.’
To be eligible to join the register, individual consultants will need to be either chartered members of the safety bodies IOSH, CIEH or REHIS or a Fellow of the IIRSM.
Membership will mean they have a commitment to continuing professional development, a degree-equivalent qualification, a minimum of two years’ experience and professional indemnity insurance, and that they are bound by a code of conduct to only provide sensible and proportionate advice.
The scheme will be managed by the professional bodies themselves through a not-for-profit company, with the HSE providing support. A further announcement on the details of the scheme will be made later this year.
The Occupational Safety Consultants Register (OSCR), which will go live in January 2011, will provide firms with details of consultants who have met the highest qualification standard of recognized professional bodies and who are bound by a code of conduct that requires them to only give advice which is sensible and proportionate.
The register has been developed by the HSE and a network of professional bodies representing safety consultants across Britain. Employers will visit a single website that will help them to find local advisers with experience relevant to their particular sector.
‘The Occupational Safety Consultants Register will make it easier to identify consultants who meet the highest standards within their professional bodies,’ commented Judith Hackitt, chair of the HSE.
‘There are already many very good safety consultants who give sensible advice to employers. The register will help recognize their professional skills and also encourage those who do not yet meet these standards to do so. It will help to raise the standard of advice available to employers and increase their confidence in the advice they receive.’
To be eligible to join the register, individual consultants will need to be either chartered members of the safety bodies IOSH, CIEH or REHIS or a Fellow of the IIRSM.
Membership will mean they have a commitment to continuing professional development, a degree-equivalent qualification, a minimum of two years’ experience and professional indemnity insurance, and that they are bound by a code of conduct to only provide sensible and proportionate advice.
The scheme will be managed by the professional bodies themselves through a not-for-profit company, with the HSE providing support. A further announcement on the details of the scheme will be made later this year.
