If its a new company have they anything in place? Is the initial gap analysis needed? Possibly a lot of work here, and hard work at that! The average salary is circa £35,000. Hope that helps

Hi Dave, why not do what most companies do and get 3 quotes? make sure the consultant is competent, has adequate insurance and preferrably some references and take it from there?

How large is the company?

Hi Dave If it was a couple of months down the line you could access the HSE consultants register to establish contact with a consultant in your area. There is also the Consultancy Group within IOSH that would be able to assist. Based on previous experience you can expect to pay from £500 a day upwards for a good consultant. Beware of large consultancies. Sausage factory health and safety springs to mind and all you will end up with is a large bill and a lot of paperwork. Always ask who will be carrying out the work, and what their qualification and experience is. It may not be the person you originally met with. Implementing a system into any organisation is not easy and all any consultant can do is point you in the right direction, the organisation must make it work. Hope this helps

Why is it that for putting in a QA system, other type of management system people are willingly paying lots & lots but for H&S they want to pay not a lot? That said its quality U want not just quantity however sometimes both do go together Listen to the postings herein as some good advice has been given and the money cost of a system will depend on what is required and what is already in place especially the culture of the organisation. Additionally the cheapest is not always the best but it can be

Hi Dave, i agree with other responses in that it depends on the size of the Company and what, if anything is in place. What size and type of company? The way i would proceed is to have a good Gap Analysis/audit report taken against HSG65 and ask for an action plan and recommendations to be included. That would give a good platform for a quote for corrective actions. Also remember that not every consultant is an auditor! Looking at some of these costs on here I think i need to put our prices up!

Hi Dave & co, As an established (and reputable I hasten to add) QHSE consultant hopefully the information below will help you: Any consultant who is worth their salt is prepared to build and develop a relationship with a client and not just provide a "one-off" service. In circumstances as described consider the following: If a system is in place it might be worth doing a gap analysis to see how far off the company is from having a fully developed system. If the company is just starting out and there is not much in place at all there is little point in having the gap analysis as it will possibly be telling you what you already know and you would be better using your budget to "fix" things than generating lists. The consultant can develop a system for a company but it needs to be tailored and specific to the company's scale and risks. With regards to the implementation, the consultant can assist with this but if you want to achieve a truly useful, dynamic system that the workforce buys into then it needs to be implemented by personnel based in the organisation with support from the consultant as and when required. Use the consultant to do the legwork - I sometime think people consultancy is a glamorous job but a lot of the time we are involved in doing the work that people a) don't have time to do or b) don't think is very exciting but in most cases this work is what builds the solid foundation for any system or culture to be user-friendly and adopted. Keep it basic - colours, numbers and flowcharts are generally well understood and just because you have lots of procedures, manuals, etc doesn't mean the system is effective. Get Client references - good consultants generally don't advertise a great deal because a lot of their work comes from recommendations. There are too many times I have had to sit down with senior management of a company explaining that they have just wasted a lot of money and yes it is going to cost them more to get it to work properly in the first instance. At the end of the day a lot of consultancy is about your interpersonal skills and how you get on with your clients! Go with your gut feeling about the person who will be involved in doing the work - can you get along with them if you are the one who will be working with them? Most importantly, be clear on what you want - you will get what you ask for and all too often people ask for the wrong thing in the first place. Work on a budget and make sure that the prices you get include preparation time, write up, etc and not just time on site. Have objectives/deliverables set - remember a consultant is a member of the supply chain and you are paying for a service/delivery of an end product. Hope this helps, in future the OHSCR may well help with queries like this and whatever you think of the scheme (good, bad, necessary evil) it should at least give Companies a starting point. Best Wishes - Donna