Posted By Angela Oakey-Jones Can anyone provide any details of court cases in which safety advisors have been criticised either for inappropriate or incompetent advice. I intend to use any anecdotal evidence to support a request for wireless laptops to be provided for our team of advisors enabling access to technical H&S information to be downloaded when out on the ground. I'd be grateful for any help you can give Angela 0207 230 4532

Posted By Sean Fraser I tend to agree with Karen - most general questions can be answered at the time, but where it is important I would think it would assure people that some effort has gone into exploring the issue in more detail and reporting back, rather than expecting a detailed answer there and then. This time not only allows for information to be sought, but also consultation with collegues and a concensus of opinion to be formed so if the question arises elsewhere for someone else, they'll have the answer to hadn rather than look it up for themselves and perhaps come to a contradictory conclusion. After all, consistency of message is just as important! The training of your people is crucial and it needs to be commensurate with the level of complexity and risk involved - horses for courses. Some might specialise and can answer just about any question on the hoof, but their competence will only be in that area - some may require a little knowledge but in a wide range of issues, where it is important to know where and how to look up the information they need to come to a decision. Remember, a little bit of knowledge can be a dangerous thing!

Posted By Paul Leadbetter Angela There was a safety consultant prosecuted for incompetent advice (under the Asbestos Regs, I think) but I can't track down the citation. There was an article in the Practitioner some time ago about the case. Paul