Consultants register welcomed

Health and safety consultants are being invited to sign up to a new register that is intended to become a benchmark for standards in the profession.

The Occupational Safety and Health Consultants Register (OSHCR) aims to increase employers' confidence in accessing good quality, proportionate advice and also to address concerns that some employers can find it difficult to know how and where to get health and safety advice.

Welcoming the register, BSIF chief executive David Lummis said: “Unfortunately, there are always those who think they know more than they do and this register provides the perfect way to highlight the good health and safety consultants and weed out the not so good.”

Roger Bibbings, occupational safety adviser at RoSPA, also welcomed the register, commenting: “While there is evidence that some businesses are using consultancy when they already have sufficient knowledge internally to manage health and safety, many others are still not accessing the advice they need to help them deal with significant risks.

RoSPA hopes that the new register will help those firms that need advice to find people with suitable expertise.”

Steve Pointer, head of health and safety at EEF told HSM that the decision to make the register voluntary had soothed previous fears that a qualification scheme could dramatically increase the cost of health and safety advice for businesses. Steve added that while the scheme is a welcome opportunity to crack down on incompetency:
“The EEF is keen to see the professional bodies involved in this scheme also turning their attention to the over selling of safety services.”
The register will be freely accessible and searchable for employers from early spring. To apply to join the register visit: www.oshcr.org