Good morning all, I'm after some specific advice with regards to the education sector and also the healthcare sector. I'm after some advice on areas that are specific to both areas that are not general H&S But specific to each area, I've got to present to each sector to try and gain contracts, so I want to elude to specific areas of concern in each area. As always any advice and guidance would be appreciated.

Hi Bob, Looked at Safeguarding, I appreciate both areas are massive, i appreciate the General H&S in both areas, i'm looking at specifics, i.e. healthcare, I believe the points highlighted below are specific to healthcare: Casualty Evacuation in an Emergency training and guidance Clinical waste management Entanglement injury prevention (Bed rails etc.) Medical Gases safety training and guidance Slips, trips & falls within a medical environment (non-clinical) Medical safer sharps awareness PPE Radiation Limits & Exposure (X-Ray, Gamma & MRI) COSHH etc etc They are looking for General Consultancy, GAP Analysis and a training needs analysis. Cheers Gareth

Ian, Your right, I don't specialise in these areas, hence the reason I'm asking for advice. My Company is pitching for a contract in these areas, and if successful, we will probably bring in a specialist in these areas. What else is this forum for other than to share experience and offer advice and guidance? Gareth

Gareth When you qualify your enquiry by indicating the tender apparently refers to 'General Consultancy. GAP analysis and training needs analysis', you may be able to differentiate your offer by showing evidence of competence in relevant use of inferential statistics (e.g. multiple regression), survey management and safety coaching and applied ergonomics Provided you can show evidence of validdated methodologies in these areas you may be able to compete credibly both with general consultancies who don't employ H & S specialists and with H & S practices without state-of-the-art knowhow in these specific areas of competence.

Gareth Have PMed you.

Gareth Those with whom you hope to contact will be expecting good quality advice on a range of tops. Some here have provided help in adding to that list. I can't help but remind you that in some of these areas, the implications of getting it even not quite right can be the heavy, and very costly, hand of regulation. Though as a consequence you may find yourself in the firing line there will be a far greater impact for your client(s) and for the taxpayer. Even worse, along with twisted ankles and the like are some dramatically life changing and potentially fatal incidents and infections that demand a level of expertise in prevention and management, and in training, that you may not be able to provide. I hope you can recognise that and will act accordingly.

With this forum there some that consider themselves to be the be all and end all of all knowledge on a subject. Some have thrown teddies out of their cots because they believed at the time, (and clearly still do), that they and only they can answer a question. That in itself does wind me up. However what gets my back up more are the constant stream of so called health and safety professionals who do not practice what they should preach to others. There are far too many coming onto this forum site without the necessary training, knowledge, skills, experience, and also not knowing their own limitations. Some of the posts should be entitled “I don’t have a clue on the subject but if you send me a PowerPoint I can blag it.com” IMO it’s about time IOSH started to get hold of this issue and clapping down. This post deals with an area where you want people without the skill sets delivering advice or giving advice on subjects they know nout about. Watch the news re NHS at the moment and think before posting. Would you want someone with medical experience delivering a course to hospital cleaners on the subject of klebsiella pneumoniae bacterium. I can hardly spell it, let alone risk assess it. Likewise, if you work on an oil/gas rig. Do you want someone puffed up with their own self importance because they have a Diploma, delivering the NEBOSH oil and gas course that has only seen an oil rig on TV, but has a PowerPoint given to them by the bloke in the pub. They think that hydrates is a drink that you take after the gym session, but they will take your pennies for delivering the training they think that you need. What is worse is that a number of IOSH members don’t actually seem to see the problem. So for my two penny worth, I fully endorse the posts submitted by Ian B. and could not agree more.…………rant over. Crack on.

I can’t believe how condescending some people are when offering there opinions, I was in the Army for 23 years and we had a saying there, “if in doubt, ask”, I thought that this forum was about sharing knowledge and expertise, not acting as a spell check!! If some of these comments had been said face to face, the outcome would’ve been total carnage, why do certain people think that they come on this forum and use it to vent their spleen at all and sundry? I have SME’s (subject matter experts), joining my team as part of the projects, what I was after was an overview of the common HSE failures within Healthcare & Education, so that as the old saying goes, fore armed is fore warned. Thanks to those who offered sensible solutions to problems.

Gareth, to a point, I'm in full agreement with you - "if in doubt, ask" is entirely correct. But, "If in doubt, teach" sends shivers down my spine.