Do you not have to be a member to be able to place post on here???

#7 JJ Prendergast asks for a definition of a safety consultant. Try this for starters! A Consultants Association listed on the HSE website under "Sources of Specialist Advice" page has the following at its core:- Safety Consultants vary, and it makes good sense to compare fully the services that are on offer and the approaches they intend to adopt. You will be assessing the competition on the basis of their appreciation of your undertaking, their expertise, their experience and reputation, and, of course, their day or package fee. Remember membership of a professional organisation is no guarantee of a consultant’s competence. It is the case that membership of some professional organisations does not require academic qualification(s), and or experience. In the past, membership of some organisations could be obtained simply by being “a manager” or by having a certificate. Always request a copy of your consultant’s achievements, details of membership (including membership number and grade) of professional bodies and of course, experience and exposure to your industry. Your consultant’s credentials can then be cross checked by contacting the relevant professional body. Membership grades vary and it is important that you choose your consultant after considering his/her grade of membership. XXXX defines the “fully competent consultant” in broad terms as a person who:- • Has approximately three years experience as a Health and Safety Consultant; • Is experienced in all elements of the consulting life cycle; • Can take full ownership for delivery of a project for a major work stream; • Has experience in managing others; and • Whose contribution is highly valued by their client. A very good base I submit. Jon

All good stuff by John M with respect to defining a 'h&s consultant', but it is fairly generic and could probably be applied to most types of 'consultant'. My point was how define the difference between the type of safety work I do, along with lots of others in the O&G sector. Am I an 'Engineering consultant that also does safety' or a 'Safety consultant that does engineering' Working in the safety sector has such a wide scope and covers very many disciplines and branches that contribute to the overall aim of achieving adequate levels of safety within whichever industry or business sector you work in. I have nothing to hide and am more than happy to show my evidence of training and qualifications etc, but if it ever became a legal requirement to have cetain qualifications etc to be on the OSCHR, I would then trade as a generic 'Consulting Engineer' For the areas I work in, I would say it is virtually impossible to split the divide between engineering and safety. There are other contributors to this forum, such as Chris Pacham (the Gloves Man) who would be in a similar situation. So the problem remains - how do you define a h&s consultant in terms of job content, knowledge and experience etc?

I seem to recall an email in November last year extolling the virtues of the Register and highlighting its membership in excess of 2700 "consultants". With such a drastic reduction of membership to 1200 (as posted on this forum) it would appear that Lord Young's proposal was not based on common sense at all. Difficult to see it lasting another 12 months with such a low fee income. I agree with JJP & Mr Packham - specialists in their field (Marine, Oil/Gas/Power/Offshore/Mining/Others) do not require membership of the Register to secure their salary or generate further income. Jon Jon

Invictus - I don't agree that CMIOSH is not worth the effort. Of course it may very well not be if you are already a specialist in your own field like JJP or Chris P, but for me it certainly has been worthwhile and I have been asked about it by larger clients. It's OSHCR that has not yet proved its worth to me, not Chartered membership so persevere!

Based on statistics, does the register infer that there are currently only 1900 'competent' consultants available to provide professional services to clients in this country? I'd suggest that this is a very, very small pond - based on the number of 'competent' practicioners out there!

You are correct there are now 1972 on the register. It was 1200 when I looked a few days ago. I am guessing that quite a few had not paid before the 30 April deadline but now have done so and so have been restored. It seems to me that the keyword search has improved although I could be wrong. The main issue however is that companies looking for a consultant don't know of the register's existence and so don't even go to it in the first place. Thus it is currently mainly being used to verify that people are registered if they say they are rather than to find someone in the first place. None of my clients so far have shown any interest in whether I am registered or not, thus for me it's simply not worth it. If the register became more widely known and was actually used a a tool to find a consultant then I would reconsider membership.

Sad thing is there is some with CMIOSH that are not fit to have the title. To be on the register there should be an exam, that would weed out the bad from the good.

I agree with JJ, I don't think that an exam will really add anything to the register. Personally I would like to see the requirements completely reformed so that you have to be CMIOSH with X years experience, or not CMIOSH with Y years experience and relevant qualifications. I think that you should require a few references from clients or a case study of your work to confirm that it is good and your advice is practical and realistic. However I can see that this would be a lot of work for both sides and ultimately the register would cost more to maintain, stuck between a rock and a hard place comes to mind!

Maybe they'll reduce the entry criteria to increase the membership! Wouldn't surprise me

Well they certainly made enough 'noise' both in the build up and when it began Ray.