The IOSH Working Safely training course , is a good course it provide the correct depth of knowledge for the candiates. Why does it not have a expiry date / renewal date on the certificate the same as all other IOSH certificates (i.e. Managing Safely, Safety for Directors, etc). I have had a long & tiring discussion with a contractor's site manager, who attended the W S course in 2004 & has been told by IOSH that the certificate is still current (as I have when I contacted IOSH training department direct). How can a 8 year old certificate still be current?

Thanks Betta for your comments, the majority of which I agree with for our own employees & direct sub contractors. However this was a contractor's manager (not an employee), who believed that a 8 year old course is still valid because IOSH said it does not require to be renewed.

Is it possible your miffed because your floggin these courses and want people to renew as often as possible? A levels or degrees dont have expiry dates so the very basic of H/S instruction doesnt really need to be reviewed in the context of having a certificate with a date on. Surely the basic building block of having done the course is then built on with day to experience

Surely if IOSH say it is still valid and doesn't need renewing, then it IS still valid and doesn't need renewing. It's IOSH's course - they can say what they like about it. You can argue that what they say about it makes it insufficient for whatever you want it to demonstrate, but I don't think you can dispute what the contractor's manager says - his qualification is still valid and does not need to be renewed. As I understand the course, it's an introduction to health and safety. It's an induction-type course. Does your employer's induction training expire and need to be re-done after you've worked there for some time?

Taylor - do you have a driving license?

The level of this course is at introduction level and whilst I understand your comments regarding expiry dates, however the issue I see is about competence of the individual and yes I understand that training is part of this. Under CDM 2007 Appendix 4 you are required to assess the competence and comment if you are not happy, doing this means you have met the requirements but if you Director decides to ignore this and deems the individual as competent then you have done your bit. I don't want to sound negative and side step the issue but in reality this is what happens and so you can either accept it or fight it, but be prepared that it may be a long and hard battle. Also I have completed many training courses and it appears that it is 50:50 between expiry dates and not, thankfully NEBOSH don't have them but if they did oh imagine the cost to us professionals in constantly re-taking exams, another thought from memory I am sure that the HSE state that refresher training sholud be carried out on a regular basis with up to 5 years between refresher as a maximum but ideally 3 years. Regards PaulR