Posted By Craige When I did my Nebosh Cert one question was: "What are the elements of competency?" The answer is they were looking for was: Someone with the relevant: S - skill K - knowledge A - atitude T - training E - Experience According to NEBOSH if you have these you are competent. How they are measured is another matter. Craig

Posted By Rachel Moschke After completing the dip 1, my employer was still not happy and insisted that I gained ‘MIOSH’ so I have undertaken the NVQ4 route to avoid those exam nightmares, I am finding the NVQ route really suits me as I am doing it through e-learning. Visit www.sheilds.org they have loads of information on the NVQs. Good luck Rachel

Posted By PaulA Steve... I think you are right, along with the others above, your last statement is soooooo diverse from the mentality of the "must have the MIOSH and Degree" people who tread the threads on this great website... it is inspiring that us mortals who are aspiring to climb the dizzy heights may have some credibility on the H&S front line.... I condider myself to have the appropriate skill base to do the job I do and can hold my head high.... In answer to one of the points above though, I would question that even if I had a degree in Nuclear physics.... but not even a NEBOSH Gen Cert.... would they employ me as the H&S Officer??

Posted By Richard Spencer Steve and Paul et al Competency is defined in any professional capacity one choses to work and practice in. If you are CEng, then you would have met the competencies of a professional institution and the UK engineering council. One’s view of oneself is quite something else. As a professional person it is how you are judged by others against predetermined criteria that is the nub of it all. Without this recognition from learned society competency is just an expression of one’s ego. How you view yourself is fine, but how other assess competency is quiet another. I think many IOSH members are still coming to terms with this concept and the proverbial will undoubtedly ‘hit the fan’ so to speak following the vote in November. If anyone is in doubt, as to these terms they should check with Heather for the latest advisory. Richard - FIEAust FIMarEST

Posted By Ian Waldram It seems that most respondents are agreeing that key aspects of competence include both knowledge (often expressed as 'qualifications') and also experience of applying that knowledge to real issues. There is also the important issue of whether it's just my self-view of competence, or whether I'm trying to convince others, e.g. actual or prospective employers. Paul's original posting doesn't really consider the process for convincing others that one's self-image is pretty accurate, but I suggest that is actually the key point. Most who are interested don't actually have the time and/or resources to consider every case in detail, so rely to a large extent on the 'independent' assessments of 'experts'. Qualifications are one way of getting an independent assessment of knowledge, but what about experience - how can that be assessed independently? (I'm sure we've all seen CV's which look great, but the person they describe is less impressive face-to-face). Also, what about keeping knowledge updated since original qualifications were obtained? Mainly to tackle this latter issue, most professional bodies have CPD schemes, some rely almost 100% on self-assessment, others include an element of independent verification or audit. A good way to demonstrate OSH competence is to use the current UK (or any other reputable) definition of the professional advisor's role, and to provide brief summaries of work done mapped against the different elements of the role. That's exactly how an NVQ is structured, and why the revised IOSH CPD scheme to be implemented soon uses the NVQ as a basis. You don't have to pay any money to do this, just use the NVQ details from the ENTO website. You will pretty soon see whether or not you regularly perform in all the 'model' competence areas, or only some. You can then decide whether you want to develop those in which you have minimal, or no, experience and/or knowledge. You can also decide whether you are doing this just for your own self-confidence, or whether you want to convince others - if so £10 to join the IOSH CPD scheme and get an element of independent verification is good value! It's not a question of 'letting' individuals be competent, but of assessing the evidence they are willing to provide, against an agreed model. Merely saying "I have x years of experience" is no longer enough - sadly lots of fairly incompetent people in lots of different areas continue to be employed because they work for less-than-competent employers or clients!