Hi Lisa, the Diploma in Safety Management was offered by the British Safety Council in the 1990's as a direct competitor against the Nebosh Diploma. I, like many other people, chose to study for the latter because IOSH had been pushing hard to become Chartered. I think that was the reason the DipSM was to be seen as a "less attractive" option; I am NOT saying that NEBOSH Diploma was in any way a better qualification. I note that the British Safety Council are offering another Diploma (in Occupational Safety and Health) at Level 6. PH2

Lisa, I dont know becuase I studied the NEBOSH Diploma, but if you look on Linkedin or Google "DipSM" there seems to be a lot of people that are in the H&S profession who have the DipSM. Why not contact the British Safety Council directly to see if their Diploma was ever third party accredited, and at what level? PH2

Lisa It must also be remembered that just because someone has say IOSH, NEBOSH, BSC accreditation, then this alone does not show that they are competent; by the same token, not having accreditation of any of the above does not mean that someone is not competent. In my many years involved in H&S I have met people with far higher levels of accreditation from the above mentioned who I would happily take/seek advice from, but then I have also met people who have no IOSH, NEBOSH or BSC accreditation who again I would happily take/seek advice from. Puts on hard hat and ducks in case this develops into the whole full blow define competence debate.

You can attain Technician member status with NGCL3. I've met many a H&S practitioner with CMIOSH, or a degree who operationally inept but i've worked in a department where all but one of its incumbents was Tech(IOSH) and they were all superb pratitioners, mainly due to the fact that they all came from an operational and indeed 'manul' background and understood the inticacies of actually working rather than studying

Stedman's right....and into the following decade. The old BSM Diploma ranked at the old Level 3.

It is only since 2004/5 onwards that BSC has been offering its Diploma that has been accredited ( at that time by QCA)and simultaneulsly recognised by IOSH for GradIOSH. I was with BSC from 1998 to 2004 (and was on the BSC Qualifications Quality Assurance Committee from 2005 to 2008). Huge efforts were made to "upgrade" the BSC Diploma qualifiications ever since Sir Neville Purvis and his sucessiors took over as Director General of BSC after the passing away of James Tye, as it was fairly clear that given a choice, and acceptance, the significant majority of BSC diploma qualified holders preference was for IOSH Corporate membership. Although the accreditation for BSC came in 2004/5, ever since BSC was certified to ISO 9000 in late 1990's/early 2000, the qualifications processes & procedures were significantly improved, including content and training delivery. Obviously, with a now level 6 equivalent award, it could no longer continue the multiple choice exam (which was not all that easy/simple!) and that was discontinued with the "new" qualification. Pls remember that there has been so many changes regarding "levels" etc in the National Qualifications and Credit Framework., but the key factor is that the QCA Acredited Diploma (also IOSH recognised) would have the QCA logo or similar on it.

In any profession, one may find a few so called "inept" people, but that need not mean that the majority of CMIOSH are "inept" .

Ian, you appear to be mixing up between IOSH & NEBOSH. Unlike the formative years, NEBOSH is now totally independent of IOSH. We are not discussing IOSH "Courses", but "Qualifications" that were awarded by BSC ( and a comparison with NEBOSH). I very much doubt that anyone completing IOSH Managing and Leading Safely Training would deem that as "Practitioner" level qualification. The Level 6 Diploma "Qualifications" currently offered by BSC and NEBOSH are based on a ""National Qualifications Framework" that have accreditation from the National "Regulator" which in turn meets the required criteria ( National Occupational Standards) . We have come a very long way in context of Occupational Health & Safety Practitioner Qualifications and as such, any other existing or new awarding body can apply to compete with NEBOSH or BSC. The reason there is no or very little competition is that a significant investment in resources is required to be eligible to be an awarding body. It is not only exams and specification, but also includes the governance & quality control of course providers. One can have a discussion on the merits or otherwise of a multiple choice exam format. I agree that in some of the high hazard sectors, such as nuclear, offshore oil & Gas , COMAH (Chemicals) , it is the basic qualification that provides underlying technical knowledge, but that does not mean that additional H & S Practitioner Qualification will not provide the extra bits, if one wishes to have it.