Moves underway to accredit health and safety profession

The main professional bodies in health and safety have started discussions on official accreditation for practitioners, which would ensure that clients and employers have access to competent and sensible advice.

At a round-table meeting hosted by the HSE on 21 July, representatives from IOSH, the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health, RoSPA, the British Safety Council, the International Institute of Risk and Safety Management (IIRSM), and the British Safety Industry Federation (BSIF) discussed what a future accreditation scheme might entail, as well as a feasibility study. Details of the study are due to be published by the HSE in mid-August but SHP understands that it will be conducted by IOSH and the CIEH and funded by the HSE.

Said IOSH’s policy and technical director, Richard Jones: “The CIEH is researching existing accreditation models and assessing their suitability. IOSH is doing market research into the small-business sector to determine its appetite for an accreditation scheme and, secondly, researching in the health and safety consultancy community — not just among IOSH members but also those who are members of other bodies — to understand their feelings towards an accreditation scheme. The HSE is also undertaking parallel research into issues around how organisations access competent advice.”

The issue of official accreditation has been around for some time, and was welcomed by the Government in its response to last year’s Work and Pensions Select Committee report on the role of the HSE. However, the Executive is adamant that it will not run such a scheme, nor control or regulate the professional bodies that do establish it.

IOSH has long advocated some form of official accreditation to improve the current situation, in which anyone can act as a health and safety consultant. It said it envisages a voluntary system, which sets down a minimum standard of qualification and experience required to operate as a health and safety consultant.

The feasibility study is likely to be completed early next year but there will be no decision on accrediting the profession before the General Election, which must be held before June 2010.