Only the best health and safety people will do!

At its annual conference in Telford the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) announced it would be doing more to expose those giving health and safety a bad name through a new campaign dubbed 'Get the Best'.

Employers and HR managers would be targeted from May this year, to ensure that only people who were "fully competent" in health and safety could give advice.

IOSH president Lisa Fowlie said: "As the law stands it's too easy for anyone to operate as a health and safety practitioner, regardless of the skills, experience and qualifications they have. Giving bad advice threatens lives and costs business a fortune. It's up to us to do something about it, and 'Get the Best' will be our response."

She added that IOSH would continue to lobby the Government to produce a competency statement on health and safety.

"It's important that in such a critical profession as health and safety, there is some way of rooting out the rogue traders who sully the good name of the profession," she said. "We hope to persuade the Government to produce a statement that outlines what a competent practitioner looks like."

Lisa went on to highlight how IOSH was the only chartered body for health and safety professionals, and that therefore its qualified members "stood out".

However, there was a need for the profession to prove its worth. She said IOSH had commissioned research, which she expected to demonstrate the value of competent health and safety advice to the workplace.

"Health and safety practitioners still have to prove they are giving the best to their employers. That means committing to giving competent advice and maintaining skills and knowledge through continuing professional development (CPD)."

Occupational health 'toolkit'

In another move at the annual conference, IOSH announced the publication of a new online occupational health "toolkit".

The toolkit will initially cover work-related stress and musculoskeletal disorders, but will be expanded later in the year to also help tackle inhalation hazards and skin disorders.

Former IOSH president, Neil Budworth, who initiated the project, said: "We're concerned about the high numbers of people suffering from illness caused by what they do at work. Our toolkit aims to help support the Government's 'Health, Work and Well-being' strategy by arming practitioners with practical tools to help them spot the early signs of work-related ill-health."

The move was welcomed by Work and Pensions minister John Hutton, who told the conference that the Government was about to undertake a "comprehensive review" of the health of UK's working age population.

Mr Hutton said: "Health and safety practitioners have a crucial role to play in mentoring and supporting those joining or rejoining the workforce. IOSH is playing a critical role in leading from the front.

"The first stage of the IOSH toolkit is another important step forward in giving health and safety practitioners easy access to the information and guidance that will help them play a greater role in tackling illness and absence caused by occupational health issues."

A link to the new IOSH occupational health toolkit is provided above/right, as is a link to further information on the Government review.