The waiting is nearly over – later this month 6000 IOSH members will become chartered safety and health practitioners, with more to follow over the next 12 months.
The launch of chartered safety and health practitioners signifies the creation of a new breed of professionals, who provide practical solutions for everyday business problems. These are the trail-blazers who will sow the seeds of a more influential, respected and appreciated profession. And where they lead, others will follow.
But, of course, it won’t be just down to the chartered safety and health practitioner. Unless all IOSH members support the image of health and safety professionals as helpful, caring, business-wise and enabling people, then achieving our aims will be difficult. Just one ‘clipboard nazi’ will seriously affect this image. That’s why Continuing Professional Development (CPD) will be expanded to cover the majority of members, providing them with the tools and knowledge to be ‘enablers’.
Out with the old
Chartered members will need to change their business profiles to reflect their new status within the profession. Here is a quick guide to the new ‘letters’ and formal title.
* If you were FIOSH RSP – you are now CFIOSH, a Chartered Fellow of the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health.
* If you were MIOSH RSP – you are now CMIOSH, a Chartered Member of the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health.
* If you were FIOSH or MIOSH and have completed at least one two-year CPD cycle then you will also become a Chartered Fellow of Member.
All of these may use the formal title ‘chartered safety and health practitioner’. Remeber with the introduction of chartered membership the Register of Safety Pracititioners (RSP) no longer exists.
We asked members to volunteer as case studies and answer a series of questions about their careers, their expectations of chartered status, and their lives outside of the health and safety world. The responses will form part of our national and local media campaigns.
But it doesn’t stop there. We want to hear from members throughout this first year of chartered safety and health practitioners. Every message we deliver to members, to the public, or to industry and government will have the importance of chartered status at its core, ensuring that the value of health and safety is recognised.
If you’d like to tell your chartered story, please contact Anne Smart on 0116 257 3139 or e-mail [email protected]
