Health and safety advisers 'get qualified'

In response to a recent Parliamentary question, Department for Work and Pensions minister Anne McGuire, said the Government was "fully supportive" of the introduction of a chartered status for safety and health professionals.

She pledged to recommend that all people providing safety and health advice to employers hold chartered status, or should at least be working towards achieving it.

Last year, 220 workers died and 30,666 suffered major injury through work activity. Over 2.2 million people experienced ill health attributable to work, and more than 39 million days off work were caused by injuries and illness.

The Government's support comes after the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) awarded 'chartered status' to its corporate members in November last year, after IOSH itself was awarded corporate chartered status earlier in 2005.

Professional development

To meet the academic requirements for the new chartered designation, health and safety practitioners will have to achieve a level six qualification, such as a relevant degree level qualification or the NEBOSH National Diploma, or to complete a level four NVQ before sitting a professional examination.

There will also be a need for "initial professional development" including a period of professional experience before

undertaking a peer interview. There is then the ongoing mandatory requirement for Chartered Safety and Health Professionals to undertake continuing professional development (CPD) for the remainder of their careers to ensure that their skills and knowledge are fresh and kept up-to-date.

IOSH President, Lawrence Waterman, said: "You wouldn't employ someone who wasn't Corgi-registered to deal with a faulty boiler, and you wouldn't want an accountant dealing with your finances who wasn't chartered. The same rule should apply to health and safety.

"We're raising our game so that business and industry can reap the benefits. The days when a health and safety practitioner could go around a workplace with just a checklist and pen have long gone."

He added: "Chartered safety and health practitioners will be a different breed, providing practical solutions to everyday problems in the workplace and communicating in the language of business."

'Suitably qualified'

Norwich Union Risk Services' training and consultancy manager, John Phillips, commented: "The complexity and nature of work undertaken by safety and health professionals in the modern workplace means that they need to be suitably qualified and experienced in a range of competencies including engineering, chemistry, law and risk management.

"The road to becoming a chartered professional may be long, but the rewards may now include a diverse and challenging senior role within industry - the safety and health profession may now be considered on a par with many other chartered professions."

John, himself a chartered safety and health professional, added: "Hopefully more graduates will be attracted to the profession, and there will undoubtedly be a growing demand for level six qualifications such as the NEBOSH National Diploma for those people moving into the health and safety arena from other professional disciplines."

Norwich Union Risk Services offers a range of professional training course to enable health and safety practitioners achieve the academic requirements of becoming a chartered professional. For further information call 0500 55 99 77 or click on the 'Training' link at the top of this page.