Dear All, I wish not to bore you with this topic which has been discussed on a number of times. I took over from a guy who claim to have over 35 years health and safety, yet even basic things like Risk Assessment was poorly done and nothing seems right. Can we really say the more experienced you are, the more competent you are ? When can we say a Health and Safety proffessional is competent to carry out his?her role. Thanks

Be careful apau77 You assume it is you who is right, and that your predecessor was wrong. Are you sure of that? It may be the other way around. It might be a bit of both, or it may just be a matter of perception and you are both right (or for that matter both wrong). I have just been asked to step in at short notice and teach on another degree course. Don't worry, I was told, the previous lecturer had great slides and handouts and all the work is done for you, just turn up and talk. But its not like that. I know the previous lecturer and how good she is. The slides look great. But for a 15 week year 3 module they are not what I would expect. Lots of important topics omitted completely, others glossed over at the expense of some padding elsewhere. But step back and, of course, the work is of an excellent standard - its just that she took a different approach to mine. Get a third person in and they might say we are both wrong and that the course needs a still different structure and content that neither of us had considered. And the same may happen to you. So do think twice about your criticisms. And perhaps keep them to yourself unless you are so sure that you would gamble your job on it as your employer might see things differently from you.

You judge competence and experience as though they are one and the same, a mistake often made. Competence is a marriage of knowledge experience and prcatical application. Like any marriage, for it to be successful each individual has to play their part. It's no good having years of experience if you haven't learned from the bad, just as it is no use having the knowledge if you don't learn how to apply it from the experiences of others. Just like everything else in life it's about putting the right team together if you want to succede. Using myself as an example, I have thirty years experience in my field but have only recently gained any formal qulification in the field of health and safety, I have a number of colleagues who are very qualified as safety advisors, no one in the team believes thay are better than anyone else and we all freely seek out advice from each other. Halth ans Safety is not a field to be in if you have an inflated ego....

That is what I do not get from the rest of SHE Advisors, they think competency is how about experience.

Apau, I would add qualifications into your mix of competence. I cannot comment on your predecessor but I would ask, a) were the risk assessments and/or safe systems of work read and understood by those doing the job? b) were they followed? c) did the company have a high rate of incidents and/or a high rate of harm? d) was c) above following a decreasing trend year on year? If the answers are Yes, Yes, No, Yes then your predecessor may have been using their 35 years experience effectively without overburdening documentation. If the answers are No, No, Yes, No then I would say that things need to change. Take Care

Apau, Silly me...!! It is also set down in the Management Regs where there is a reference to "...sufficient knowledge, experience and skills..." There is no mention of time...... The Case Law is Skips v Gibson 1964 Phil

Ok What about.... Skills, Knowledge, Attitude, Experience. A CMIOSH once explained that to me on a course.

No one on here ever had a bad experience? I have known a few people over the years who could claim 30 years experience but struggled when it came to proving competence.For example it's very rare a new enployee fresh out of novice training will remove a guard of thier own volition, whereas old Fred who worked here for years knows better and will leave a guard off if he thinks it's in his way, after all we ran the plant for years with no guards on.......every coin has two sides. Experience can teach bad practice as well as good, if it ever changes we can stop providing refresher training on a 3-5 year cycle as per the HSE recommendations.