Hi I am looking to start up as health and safety consultant and wondered if anyone could give me any tips/suggestions in terms of raising my profile. I have listed on the OHSCR and created a website.

Thanks for your feedback.

My goodness - is that what h&s consultancy is considered to be worth - £10/hr. That is simply not commercially viable. Even assuming every working hour in a year was chargeable (assume 47wks/yr and 40hr per week = 1880hrs) The company turnover would be £18800 - less business tax approx 22%, insurances etc would give a Gross salary probably in the region £13k. Try getting your car serviced for £10/hr! I would suggest the going rate is more like £45-50hr looking at current contract rates for guaranteed full time hours. If you search the forum I think you will find that the general consensus is that OSCHR is a waste of time and generates very little business for consultants. It has been discussed quite a few times.

Caroline, yes take on the advice above re charge rates, maybe for start up £40/hr for local businesses with no additional charge for travel. Remember that rate is to help pay for time you spend at home writing reports and researching. Is your website compiled so that keywords are searchable? With your business address on the main page etc. Try google your 'home town + safety consultant' to see if it appears on page 1 (might not if your site is new). DO NOT pay for a Google account at £250 per month, don't need it. I have never paid google anything and my site always comes up on page 1 search, and on the little map e.g. google 'Coventry safety consultant' and you'll see me there (Wright). 34 out of 36 customers have found me over the last 9 years, (and I have turned away work as some building contractors are time-wasters).

Caroline I've not looked at your website but I can almost guarantee that you've filled less than half the home page. Think about all the key words that people would google when looking for a service, then add these words in the same colour as the webpage. We then can still see a nice clean page, but what we can't see is that it's says COSHH, LOLER, method statement, investigation, policy, procedures etc etc etc - i.e. the words that are filling up the page which would look like a complete mess if these words were not invisible. Good luck!

A consultancy group needs to charge £75 per hour? Silly money but I expect you have lots of overheads like accountants, IT person, training materials, and lease company cars. If I put that rate on my webpage then I would have no business. My main customer, who gives me regular weekly work, 1 or 2 days a week, I charge just £36 an hour. If I had wanted even £50 I would not have got their business. Over a period of seven years they alone have earned me over £150,000. On their site they give me a desk, computer and training facilities, I have no overheads with them just 8 miles a day in the car. So, a lower hourly rate has its benefits.

Zyggy, Yes that is really what I do too. The loyal customer I mentioned just above appreciate the variety of work that I do for them and provide me with all the facilities I need. I probably don't need to go on their site 2 days every week but they are happy for me to do, and there is always work I can do. If there's a lull in activity I make myself useful by doing some of the H&S admin work which the operations manager appreciates, so we are all happy, and for such a loyal customer I wouldn't dream of saying I now want £50 an hour. Another customer expects me to visit different sites to do inspections, so my mileage on a day might be 100 miles or 200 miles, the time I spend working and travelling might be 4 hours, 6 hours, 8 hours. As I can't do work for any other customer on one of those days, they appreciated my suggestion of a single day rate, whatever I did in a day for them. So, no hourly rate, no mileage/fuel calculation, just a flat day rate. My only expense is fuel and buying my lunch. I do one day a week with that customer, he's happy and it's very profitable for me. Over the years that has been >£10,000 a year earned with them. So, in both cases the customer has appreciated negotiating a payment rate, rather than just me saying it's £40 an hour. I do quote a rate on my website but make it clear there would be negotiation. As for consultancy groups charging £75, well maybe they get business with top companies who might think I am rubbish if my rates are much lower. JohnW

Ian, Yes I can see consultancy groups have to find high value industrial sectors/customers so that each consultant can earn the company £500+ a day. But out of that the consultant may get less than £200 (£1000 a week) of that as a salary, because there are overheads to pay and the managing director wants to earn £2000 a week for sitting in his office. The original poster of this thread, though, is a one-man (one -woman) band hence the advice and income rates I and others are talking about apply to her circumstances. For me if I earn say £35k a year after expenses and after paying my tax I'm still going to clear about £25k a year as after-tax profit. OK I'm fortunate as we have no mortgage, our kids have left home and I do have other income, but for a young aspiring H&S person clearing a profit of £25k is good income, where I live anyway. JohnW

I think things would be much clearer if there was a differentiation between consultant and 'freelance safety advisor.' It's not going to happen, but it explains why rates can vary so much. Both are very worthwhile services, but are a different offering to the client. If you turn up to a company premises for 2 days a week and do what is required, you are not (in my opinion) providing a consultancy service. The way I would differentiate is what your advice is based on. If there are clearly defined regulations, guidance and good practices you are advising the client which apply and what they need to do. Hence you are an advisor (in-house or freelance) using your knowledge of the regulations etc. If there is nothing so clear, you need to determine the best course of action for the client essentially from 'first principles.' You are then working as a consultant and providing your professional opinion. Good examples of this are work under COMAH or Offshore Safety Cases. I believe any consultant needs to be charging at least £500 per day to have a viable business. This is because for true consultancy work you are very lucky if you can achieve more than 50% utilisation. Bear in mind that you need to provide your professional opinion, which means you will need a high level of competence and integrity.