Rank: Forum user 
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Had an idea the other day-would this work?
Could a mechanism be put in place which did the following: a consultant achieves a place on the Register and informs the HSE- he/she also inform the HSE who their clients are. Those clients are then removed from the HSE's visit schedule, unless there's an accident/incident warranting HSE attention. This would give some impetus and point to the register, encourage potential clients to use registered consultants and potentially remove some pressure from inspectors. It would be in the consultant's interests to keep the HSE informed of their client list-and would be a useful selling tool for consultancies. I can see there may be a problem with accident reporting-but the HSE already estimate that 50% aren't reported and there are legal sanctions available in any case to deal with this situation
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Rank: Super forum user
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Nobody (inspectors) left in the HSE to manage it - lights turned out when they left - you might find the accountants counting their FFI cash but they would have to be something in it for them!!
What about LA's who do much enforcement - you'll have to catch them fast too as they are thinning by the day.
DP
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Rank: Super forum user 
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"Those clients are then removed from the HSE's visit schedule"
Gordon. you have a very lofty view of the power of consultants. What about all those companies that employ competent in house IOSH qualified safety people. The HSE would only then inspect after an accident!
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Rank: Super forum user
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The concept assumes that all those on the OSHCR are comptent in all aspects of health and safety. I would question this assumption. Being on the register does not necessarily confirm competency to deal will all the possible risks in an organisation. HSE are concerned about all of these, including health issues, some of which require specialist knowledge and would best be dealt with by someone qualified in occupational health (who is unlikely to be on the register). Indeed, as someone with a special interest I find that one of the problems is that many with a qualification in general occupational health and safety do not always recognise when a situation requires specialist expertise and take action that subsequently turns out to have been counter-productive.
I doubt whether the HSE will itself have sufficient faith in the register providing a guarantee of competency to even consider this concept. Indeed, if you read the small print the register still requires the person requesting help to ensure that the consultant is competent (although how they will do that is something I wonder about.)
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Rank: Super forum user
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Gordon,
I agree with the comments from redken and Chris, being 'on the register' does not equate to a highly competent consultant whose clients are compliant with all important legislation.
Have you actually looked at who is on the register? Have you checked their websites? Sure, some of our finest are on the register, some of our members here who I regard highly, but there's also some very questionable people too, just look through their websites to see what they say/offer. I've mentioned before some offer 'mail-order' CDM-C service, like they never meet clients or designers, never visit sites, everything is done via e-mail and pdf's!
I'm not on the register but even if I was I know that some of my clients would never be 100% compliant with legislation. I conduct inspections and audits, but there are issues that are never closed to my satisfaction. Old problems recur, and I just have keep my own records in order and log all the non-conformances I see, log all the reports I made, all the reminders that were in our discussions, remind the client forever and ever.
With some clients I WISH an inspector would visit them; with some issues I know the inspector would have more success than I have had. A 'visit' would scare them into compliance.
JohnW
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Rank: Forum user
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Gentlemen
I don't have a lofty view of consultants and I'm not saying that all consultants are brilliant or that all consultants on the register are brilliant. but the register is meant to be an indication that a given consultant has reached a given standard. For example-no one bats an eyelid regarding Chartered Accountants or Chartered Engineers or the Gas Safe Register, but we as a profession seem to be hung up on this situation. The situation is the situation and we have to get on with it-therefore its in all our interests to make this thing work-I was merely suggesting a mechanism to get some value/benefit into and from the register. After all, being on the register is just the beginning-we still have to prove our competency via CPD etc. I'm not a great believer in registers or joining things for joinings sake, but the register exists-I'm just trying to make it work better and in the interests of a proportion of IOSH members. Don't forget-a mechanism exists to sort out incompetent consultants-its called the law and consultants do go to jail (without collecting £200)
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Rank: Super forum user 
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quote=gordonhawkins]Gentlemen
Don't forget-a mechanism exists to sort out incompetent consultants-its called the law and consultants do go to jail (without collecting £200) That is NOT an acceptable mechanism to sort out the incompetent 'safety consultant' - essentially, you are advocating an approach that, albeit widely used in other situations, is based on the premise that it is quite acceptable to wait until something goes wrong, and only then deal with it. What happened to prevention?
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Rank: Super forum user
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Gordon, I can not see the HSE taking a lighter touch just because a company has competent advisers, whether from consultants or in house. Perhaps though there might be some mileage in looking at the OSHA VPP scheme:- "The VPP recognize employers and workers in the private industry and federal agencies who have implemented effective safety and health management systems and maintain injury and illness rates below national Bureau of Labor Statistics averages for their respective industries. In VPP, management, labor, and OSHA work cooperatively and proactively to prevent fatalities, injuries, and illnesses through a system focused on: hazard prevention and control; worksite analysis; training; and management commitment and worker involvement. To participate, employers must submit an application to OSHA and undergo a rigorous onsite evaluation by a team of safety and health professionals. Union support is required for applicants represented by a bargaining unit. VPP participants are re-evaluated every three to five years to remain in the programs. VPP participants are exempt from OSHA programmed inspections while they maintain their VPP status." http://www.osha.gov/dcsp/vpp/index.html
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Rank: Forum user
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Redken:
Re: VPP - The Irish went down this route some 9/10 years ago & the HSA in Eire & HSE in NI were involved. I was heavily involved in their pilot scheme and helped attain the VPP star award for our site in Dublin & became a VPP auditor to boot.
IMHO it could be a great system if adopted similar to USA - but I don't think that the HSE has the resources to do this currently. A tripartite regime of HSE approval (audit) employee involvement & management commitment is a good recipe to success and the HSE should reward good performers.
Re: Original query - having sat either side of the fence in-house then consultant (& back) I would not advocate that having a consultant from the HSE register is proof that you have a good H&S management system. The advice of consultants can be ignored & the consultant rarely has to implement their recommendations. If I were the HSE I would want proof that employing a particular consultant is paying dividends for the company & the only way they could do that is to audit / inspect the company - which undermines the original proposal
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Rank: Super forum user
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The OSHA VPP requires significant resourcing and is by no means "light touch". Refer to the template used. http://www.osha.gov/dcsp...pp_report/site_based.pdfThere may be a case that organisations that have OHSAS 18001 certification by an accredited certification body will not be subject to routine inspections ( are there any now?), unless they arepart of the safety case regime.
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Rank: Super forum user
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The register does nothing to prove competency in my opinion.
Clienst are at liberty to ignore the advice of their consultants (and frequently do).
HSE inspectors generally have a less than desirable view of (us) consultants. Like many on this forum they tar all consultants with the brush of the few bad ones. Ironic when you consider how many consultants are ex-inspectors.
Personally I wouldn't be in favour of such a scheme. Too many flaws.
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