What type of health & safety person do I need? A manager? An advisor? What?
We quite often get phone calls from people who know that their company needs some health & safety support, but they’re just not quite sure what. Will it be sufficient just to get a consultant in to produce a few risk assessments and basic policies or do they really need something more, an H&S advisor or manager perhaps? Obviously this largely depends on the size and complexity of your organisation – the larger and more “high risk” it is, the greater the requirement for comprehensive H&S systems. You’ll also need to look at your work force – Is there already a good awareness of and approach to Health & Safety or do they need training and support in order to develop this? This is known as developing a safety culture and can be a lot more complex and time consuming than many people realise! A lot of the time workers and management just don’t realise the benefits that a good strong safety culture can bring until they actually have it.
So what if you think about all this and decide that you do need more than just occasional consultancy support? What level do you need – an H&S Advisor or an H&S Manager? What’s the difference between the two, I hear you asking yourself, don’t they just do much the same job?
Well, yes and no...a lot depends on the size and style of your organisation, but generally speaking a manager will be expected to operate at a higher level than an advisor. The manager will be expected to demonstrate good people management skills as well as just a good knowledge of health & safety management. He or she will often be managing a team of advisors or assistants, so will need a range of well developed communication skills – negotiation, influencing, persuasion etc. Other skills such as budgetary management, and the ability to develop and implement strategy are also likely to be found in an experienced manager as opposed to an advisor.
Another question is the level of qualifications and experience you need to look for. For a manager level role, CMIOSH (Chartered Membership of IOSH) is a good idea – this shows extensive H&S experience and qualifications (more about that in another blog, but in the meantime if you have a look at the IOSH website (www.iosh.co.uk) you can get more info.) For an advisor role, you don’t need such a high level of qualifications and experience, quite often a level 3 qualification like the NEBOSH General Certificate combined with a couple of years experience in an H&S related role is sufficient.
It’s important not to just compile a list of required qualifications and stick to it blindly though – there are very many highly experienced and effective health & safety professionals out there who aren’t members of IOSH or who hold qualifications that aren’t among the most commonly recognised. This doesn’t mean they aren’t any good, just that health & safety is a multi faceted industry. The successful H&S practitioner will possess strong personal attributes of good organisation and good communication combined with a sound knowledge of health & safety legislation and best practice.
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