Posted By AlanPB I worked in Health and Safety for 3 years until January 2004, when I accepted the role of Operations Manager. I had no formal qualifications in Health and Safety. I am now keen to get back into Health and Safety and am considering studying for the BSC Diploma in Safety Management as well as a number of other courses. I will be funding this myself at considerable cost, and giving up a highly paid job to do it. Once qualified I would like to become a SAfety Consultant, preferably starting my own consultancy business in the Merseyside/ Cheshire area. Are these qualifications enough to get a start in consultancy? Will I need a certain amount of years in the field post-qualification before I can go into consultancy? Are there any other means of getting into this field? Are there any Safety Consultants in the Merseyside area willing to employ me whilst I train and become qualified (which should be by the end of the year) and then potentially on a permanent contract? Any advice would be appreciated.

Posted By Ralph Baqar What areas do you intend to specialise in? Or are you going to work in all health and safety fields? Certainly my view is that you need to have a certain level of experience to deem to be a consultant and be able to advise accordingly. You need to be aware that you may come into contact with other professionals who could have significant experience and qualifications. I had an example of this last week: - a well known organisation had sent a ‘consultant’ to one of my construction sites based in a city centre location. This chap toured the project with two of our site managers and several items of progress were pointed out to this person by our staff. This ‘consultant’ then decided to beef-up his report and incorporate items that were pointed out to him and were actioned before he produced his ‘safety report’. The report was sent to one of our clients (the MD) who, was horrified that not one positive aspect was written within this report. The reason he was horrified was that the site has just won a national safety award and we had invited out client to the event in London. I met the ‘consultant’ the following week to find that he had less than 3years in the field, very little practical knowledge of CDM/major construction and was not a corporate member of IOSH. His services were costing one of our clients a small fortune and for what? My view is that you should speak to someone at IOSH and ask them as to what level of experience and qualifications you require to justify labelling yourself with the term ‘consultant’.

Posted By Jeff Manion Have had similar experiences. Client in trouble and you have to rescue them bring them up to speed. Last week met contractor who had been sold a policy in last 18 months this referred to MHSWR 1992 RIDDOR 1985 PUWER 1992 etc etc, the organisation / person said there were consultants, there was no mention of their qualifications. I work as consultant and work in demolition / construction / office / asbestos areas and have qualifications and experience and am still learning (not just for CPD). It takes time and effort and to achieve being a consultant I consider myself as an adviser and some do consult with me, as I have experience some answers are easy and obvious to me. Have worked hard at this and continue to work hard at this. Keep learning and reviewing and learning and reviewing, know your limitations and then learn and review. Jeff Manion