Posted By SAF So what does being a member of IOSH prove and mean? You've done the hard work by taking the NEBOSH exams, aren't they sufficent enough? Do you really need to be in 'the club' so to speak? Your thoughts fellow colleagues....

Posted By George Wedgwood You don't ned to be 'in the club' but most humans are herd animals and it makes them happier to be together and be seen together for 'protection'! IOSH can give you a huge amount if you are willing to participate (don't give me all that about not having the time etc.) You can learn a lot from colleagues in Branches and even more from Committee work - think about changing the organisation itself - you can't do that by moaning from the outside - you need to be constructive from inside - Council, Committees, Branches, Groups etc. IOSH gives a lot but you can give more. Regards, George

Posted By Rob T Hey chaps/esses, It's not only what IOSH can do for you! The more members there are the stronger the organisation can become. Many of you out there will know that I have no love for the EU or more importantly as regards to this forum - the EU H&S law makers - however after many years of IOSH campaigning we as a body are now being invited to at least talk in those hallowed circles. The EU would not have entertained this if we had been a small organisation. At least now we may have a voice! Cheers Rob

Posted By SAF Contrary to popular belief, I am a member and have been for several years!

Posted By SAF Point being due you need to be a member to do the job?

Posted By R Joe Prior to the new membership structure IOSH didn't mean compulsory CPD for members. It now does - good, this is an important development. Do you need to be a member to do the job - no, and you are free to leave and make your own way. Alternatively, you could stay and think of IOSH less as a 'badge' but rather something that you ultimately get out what you are prepared to put in. IOSH IS its members - but in reality relies on a relatively small number who are prepared to do more than just ‘wear the badge’. Regards RJ

Posted By Charley Farley-Trelawney It simply demonstrates your commitment to what you practice. I am a member of IOSH and proud to state this fact. Employers do not understand the route to a qualified H&S practitioner (in the main) and will fall back on the shortest route to what they are asking for, in most cases it will be membership of IOSH. How many ads do you see that require you to be a member of the IIRSM? Not that many I know, that that begs the question, why IOSH? Oh I am a full member of the IIRSM in case you wondered. The answer is in the majority rules scenario. it is not expensive and worth every penny; (in my own umble ever so opinion!) Do it; you wil not regret it. CFT

Posted By gham Im not a member but I am applying Will i notice a difference when i join, does it happen overnight or when you put your tie on.... the up to date thing cause i don't really know what's going on at the moment. Aye right! I am joining mearley to demonstrate my comitment to my career choice, I am doing it for myself, and to date i have no problem attending interviews and choosing who i want to work for rather than taking what i can get, and im sure im not alone, plus you get the SHP for free!

Posted By Tabs "Think not of what IOSH can do for you, but what you can do for IOSH..." or something like that (I was very young when JFK stole that from me...) Come on - since the late middle ages 'orders' and associations have been found to be beneficial. IOSH membership can lead to a Chartered status now - ask any accountant what 'Chartered' means and they might mention quality of work, but most will say ££'s on salary demand. If you can't see what membership does for you, perhaps you either have little experience of job movement or you are an insular chappie (neither of which, I hasten to add, are a bad thing at all!). It also gices a sort of 'ready reckoner' to experience or qualification amongst each other .. not reliable, but indicative. Oh, and I get a pretty certificate or two to hang in the loftspace, where at least i can admire them from time to time.

Posted By Hazel Harvey Whether it is worth being a member of IOSH or not is a question I am often asked. Really the ‘worth’ of being a member is not what you see in terms of tangible ‘member benefits’ but more in terms of how you view yourself as a professional. There is no requirement for a person to be a member of IOSH to operate in the health and safety area, as Health and Safety is not a regulated except in some very specific instances mentioned in legislation. This is in fact similar to most other well known professions such as engineering and accountancy but it is quite common place in these professions to look for the ‘Chartered’ or ‘Technician’ designations and in most cases employers are familiar with these and use them in job advertisements. Our profession in terms of public recognition (i.e. The Royal Charter) is very new and the individual designations are not even 12 months old yet, so as you would expect this is still filtering through to the employers at the moment. However, it is worth considering why a profession develops at all. This happens mainly because there is a perceived need for it. If you look back at the history of the professions the older ones such as medicine and law started out as unregulated professions and were plied by people who had no qualifications but often a skill and experience. Eventually as the population grew and these professions proliferated the public who were served by them became more wary of using their services and so in due course regulating bodies to protect the interest of the ‘customers’ came into being. The question then arises ‘who knows what constitutes a good practitioner?’ In the UK our answer to this was other people who undertake the same activity and so professional associations of likeminded individuals were formed. In some cases such as the medical and legal professions the competence requirements of these associations have become absorbed in the law and become a requirement to practice at all. However, most professions are not legally specified in this way but have been given the Privy Council stamp of approval and so almost by default become the legal requirement as on going law courts start to recognise ‘expert’ advice. So looking at our profession specifically there is a growing need for recognition of individuals with the required knowledge, skills and experience to practice as judged by other members of the profession and recognised by the Privy Council to do so. Now whilst it would be unrealistic to say that every single member of IOSH was 100% competent at any one time, there is at least a structure, which members sign up to and the requirement to maintain and develop the competence recognised by this structure via a CPD programme. Furthermore the ability to monitor this as all members sign up to an ethical code of practice. So what is the value of being an IOSH member? The value is the commitment to deliver advice to the public ,in its broadest sense, good standards of health and safety whilst they are either at work or affected by work. By being an IOSH member you make a public declaration of this commitment. I am not by saying this implying that anyone who is not a member of IOSH might not have this commitment but in remaining outside the Institution for his or her peer group they have not publicly subscribed to it. Hazel Harvey Director of Professional Affairs

Posted By SAF Yet someone can do a Diploma or degree and get GradIOSH, even though they might not have any experience yet a techie with 5yrs experience or more only Tech IOSH. Now compare that to the other professions.

Posted By Brett Day I know what you are saying 'officially' I have seen IOSH state that the GradIOSH is not above TechIOSH but a different grade, in reality looking at job adverts it is being viewed as higher than TechIOSH, perhaps there needs to be better information/publicity to explain the new gradings ??

Posted By Hazel Harvey This posting is going off theme it is about why should a person be a member of IOSH not the hierachy of membership relating to combinations of qualifications, skills and experience. The ethical code to which I refer covers all categories of IOSH members from Affiliate to Chartered Fellow - it is the ethical code that is the important factor about the development of a profession not necessarily the regulation of categories. The Graduate and Technician Member categories are different and employers can select which they feel is the most appropriate in the job advertisments. I think it is worth pointing out here that the majority of Graduate Members will have in excess of 5 years experience and even then before they get to Chartered they have to complete another 2 years of assessed experience and skills development. It is extremely unlikely that a person without experience will get through the IPD process in the minimum 2 year period. If anyone wants to look at what other professions do I suggest you go to www.parn.org.uk and you will find a list of about 120 bodies who are members of this organisation. Have a surf through some of their web-sites and I think you will find that the majority of them have similar structures to IOSH but tailored to their own specific professional needs. Hazel Harvey Director of Professional Affairs

Posted By IT As for any organisation ,it is what You or I get from the Membership that makes an organisation ,it is also the confidence you have in the leaders ability of the organisation. Apart from you get to use the IOSH Name ,Grad, tech, member CHARTERED and a free Magazine ,what else do you get ,whoops forgot "CPD"as well. you get recognistion as a competent person,this has been debated many times and no doubt will be debated again and again ,with more similar threads. Join or dont join your choice ,if it has NO direct benefit to you or your family why pay for something you will never use . As a registered charity organisation the only benefit you have is to say you are a memeber of a group of people who are alledged to represent the mass of Safety professionals and make collective representations on your behalf ,organise training for cost and make available a network of like minded people ,in other words a union for safety professionals any way bit off topic ,sorry Mr.Mod. I though membership discussion was a no no ,Mr.Mod ??? sorry if I am wrong on this one.

Posted By Dave Wilson In reality it does not cost anything as you can offset your professional membership fees against tax, so join it is free!