What qualifications do I need to look for when contracting a H&S consultant in the UK?

As a business owner, keeping your employees safe and ensuring health and safety compliance is paramount. Hiring a competent health and safety consultant can help you improve safety performance and mitigate potential risks to your company. However, with so many qualifications and certifications available, it can be challenging to know what skills and expertise to look for from a safety consultancy.

I’m going to be honest and say that even safety industry is still debating what “competence” looks like, but this blog will be your simple guide. We cover the essential training, qualifications, awarding bodies, and professional bodies to consider when contracting a health and safety professional in the UK.

 

How do I know my health and safety consultant is competent to provide expert advice?

As I mentioned in the introduction, this is still up for debate. However, it is widely regarded as a balance between experience and qualifications. Rather vague, I would say. But it’s the best we have for now. My takeaway is that determining competence may be more difficult that expected. For most professions there is a clear academic qualification and one professional body to which membership is mandatory to practice. Think about law or medicine. However, safety is unusual in that professionals usually enter the industry having worked in another career first. In this case they have an awful lot of workplace safety experience and then increase their knowledge of health and safety regulations through vocational qualifications.

 

What is the difference between memberships and qualifications for safety consultants?

Okay, this may sound simple, but I believe it still causes some confusion. There is a very big difference between membership of a professional body and a membership of a industry body and so I’ll explain. In our profession we have some trade bodies which offer subscription-based services. One prime example in H&S is the British Safety Council for which any organisation can pay an annual membership and in return they can use the BSC logo and access a bank of knowledge and guidance. Although generally positive, it does not necessarily evidence an individuals competence.

 

Who are the professional bodies?

Within safety there are a few industry bodies, and I will summarise the most well-known here. However, I do intend to build on this blog later so will keep adding to it over time. Most professional bodies offer levels or grades of membership, and this is often based on competence. Their website will often display a clear pathway to achieve a higher grade mostly through achieving a higher level of qualification combined with evidence of experience. To reach the highest levels of membership a professional will usually have to attend some form of interview or peer review.

Professional bodies will usually expect their members to complete and evidence that they have maintained their knowledge by committing to continuous learning. Health and safety consultants are often required to keep a continuing professional development record known as CPD. For example, a chartered member of IOSH is expected to attend 30hrs of CPD per year.

As a business owner looking for a consultant it could be argued that if your safety consultant is a member of a professional body then they have some independent verification of their competence.  But that isn’t always the case, and there is no legal requirement to be a member of a professional body. Increasingly some consultants are choosing not to be a member for several personal reasons.

Below we’ll explore some of the more common professional bodies in safety and the various grades of membership they offer. The letters in brackets are known as designatory letters and you may see safety practitioners displaying these letters after their name.

 

Institute of Occupational Safety and Health

IOSH are possible one of the most well know professional bodies and they offer several grades of membership.

Associate (AIOSH) - Entry-level membership for those new to the profession.

Technical (TechIOSH) - For professionals with relevant qualifications and experience.

Certified (CertIOSH) - For those who have completed a degree-level qualification. This grade was previously known as Graduate (GradIOSH).

Chartered (CMIOSH) - The highest level of membership, indicating a high level of competence and experience.

There is one grade higher than CMIOSH and that is Chartered Fellow (CFIOSH). This grade is usually reserved for those members who have made a greater contribution to IOSH but it doesn’t necessarily reflect increased competence over CMIOSH.

 

International Institute of Risk and Safety Management

IIRSM are a very well-respected professional body and tend to be known to cover a broader range of risk based areas. They have three main grades:

Associate Member (AIIRSM)

Member (MIIRSM) – Considered to be on a par with CMIOSH.

Fellow (FIIRSM)

 

There are also some other professional bodies such as:

BOHS (British Occupational Hygiene Society)

IWFM (Institute of Workplace and Facilities Managers)

 

 

What is a qualifications framework?

Okay before we dive into the detail on qualifications, first we need to explain some academic basics. Most qualifications follow a simple framework to denote the difficulty and length of the course. The complexity or difficulty of the course is denoted by the level. For example, a Level 6 Diploma. The Level 6 refers to an Undergraduate Degree level of complexity a Level 3 qualification is therefore going to be less complex.

The Diploma in the example above can be an Award, Certificate, Diploma. These refer to the length of the course and how many credits are required to pass. So, a Level 3 Diploma is a relatively basic course in terms of complexity, but the Diploma requires more learning credits than an Award or Certificate.

Hopefully, this will help in the coming chapters.

 

Who are the main examination bodies?

It’s important to ensure that the qualifications of the health and safety professional are awarded by reputable bodies. The main awarding bodies in the UK include:

 

NEBOSH (National Examination Board in Occupational Safety and Health)

City & Guilds: Provides NVQs and other vocational qualifications.

British Safety Council – Yes that’s right. As well as being an industry body who anyone can join BSC also offer safety qualifications. I told you it gets confusing.

IOSH

NCRQ

 

 

What are the main qualifications for health and safety management?

When evaluating a health and safety consultancy, here are some key qualifications to look for:

NEBOSH

• NEBOSH General Certificate: A widely recognised qualification that provides a broad understanding of health and safety issues but on its own it tends to be a lower level of qualification and is held by many with a safety responsibility but not actually working as a safety professional.

• NEBOSH Diploma: A more advanced qualification for those looking to become chartered health and safety practitioners. I’m going to be blunt; this is the probably the best safety qualification you will find in terms of difficulty and challenge. If you have a safety consultant who holds this qualification, then you know you’re in safe hands. That said, many don’t complete the Diploma because it isn’t always the most accessible.

 

NVQ (National Vocational Qualifications)

NVQ Level 3 in Occupational Health and Safety: Suitable for those starting their career in health and safety.

-NVQ Level 6 in Occupational Health and Safety Practice: For experienced professionals aiming for senior roles.

 

University Degrees

A BSc or MSc in Occupational Health and Safety usually offers in-depth knowledge and are often required for strategic level positions.

 

National Compliance and Risk Qualifications (NCRQ)

Unfortunately, NCRQ is no longer with us. They made a huge impact in the short time they were available so there is no doubt you will see safety professionals who have completed this qualification. They offered both a certificate and a diploma level course both of which were highly respected and much loved. However, as a new challenger to a close-knit industry, they attracted…shall we say unwanted attention. After a few legal battles they were forced to close their doors for good.

 

IOSH (Institution of Occupational Safety and Health)

IOSH are a professional body but they also offer a range of safety courses. These are typically designed for managers and supervisors with some level of safety responsibility. However, if a safety consultant held these qualifications only with no other supporting qualifications, then arguably you should be looking for someone more qualified.

 

Bringing it all together

Right, if you’ve made it this far then you’re either a safety professional or a business owner who really wants to hire the right person. So let me break this down for you. I’ve seen consultants with a degree who I wouldn’t trust to run a child face painting stand and I’ve seen consultants with a single NEBOSH Certificate who could manage an offshore oil rig! Experience is absolutely crucial and you know your business better than anyone. So, who would you hire if you were taking on a new member of staff? Would you only hire a graduates? If so, you’re probably looking for a L6 or Diploma level qualification. If not, perhaps a Level 3 or Certificate level qualification would be more cost effective. Also, what experience would they need construction, manufacturing, Legionella? All these factors must be considered and there are an absolute glut of additional courses that we haven’t even started to talk about.

 

Conclusion

Hiring a qualified external health and safety professional is a critical step in improving your origination's health and safety performance whilst safeguarding your workplace and ensuring compliance with regulations. A consultant can do everything from risk assessments, safety policies through to the implementation of safety management systems and in depth study on safety culture. It is important to be clear in your expectations and to undertake your due diligence before agreeing any contract. This due diligence will help you select a competent and reliable health and safety professional to provide your safety services, ensuring your business remains a safe and compliant environment.