Additionally I am finding that employers [and especially volunteer areas] are using in house people more and more who have no real [if any at all] competence however they cost little if anything.  And more and more I see questions put on this site which are obviously from people who are not competent but have been given a role by their employer and are picking brains for nothing and good people are being left at the road side

Upturn or not; either way H&S is under more and more real pressure especially so as less and less real enforcement is undertaken

I see no up turn in the economy. It remains a figment of the governments imagination.

H&S salaries remain poor. Recently saw £280/day in central London..... get real.

I recently had some electrical work done at my house, 1/2 day £325 - fair enough there were some new lights included, which I estimate would have left the electrician with about £200 or £400/day.

As an experienced safety engineer/adviser - I'm worth at least the same as a skilled sparky. The economies/cost of living also dictates this.

And people want to move over & work in h&s..... I don't advise it. The market is flooded with people with basic NEBOSH and the economy is weak. All driving down pay rates.

I've tended to see more specialised H&S positions appearing as opposed to bog standard Office based PAYE positions. Jobs mainly in Construction (london) and even offshore Oil Rigs and Windfarms.

I for one am happy with the construction situation as i'm based on sites all around London, but it shows that if you really want to get ahead you need to narrow down your ideal position and see if you can specialise in a particular niche.

I've seen so many people passing exams and not being able to get jobs its heartbreaking and i feel for them, but it really does pay to specialise in a particular areas and gain a reputation for it out in the field

I have noticed more driving work, but my pay has gone down by a half in 8 years.  Currently driving a truck for £9.00 per hour - just to get work. 

Originally Posted by: Ian Bell2

My sympathies.

Remember according to the government we have a bright strog economy.

We are all in it together....

Yes, in it up to our necks ;-)

John

I have found there to be a number of jobs available but recruiters will mostly try to shoehorn people into interviews. I really don't know why companies use recruiters as the effort put in to "selecting" the best candidates is laughable.

As for salary it appears the best paying jobs are niche/specialist which is not unexpected, but a standard HSE Manager job in manufacturing is £35k? Specialist or senior management £45k+?

My two main contracts have just ended, suddenly, losing me 3 days a week, over £35k a year. All I have right now is occasional 1/2 days from a few smaller clients. In fact my next working day is 7th December! It was like this back in 2009 when I earned just £11k ! 

 Employment Agencies are many times worse than most of us imagine.

In addition to the posts above research published this week in the Guardian [Weds 16th] finds that they are ripping off the country via racketeering. It appears they are costing more than 100 million GBP by using unacceptable tax avoidance schemes [this according to an insider].

Further to the other problems of precarious workers like Uber, etc and self emplyed people who are anything but.

Not to mention zero hours etc etc 

Should IOSH campaign for Decent Jobs? [As per OZ and the ILO] What say the council members are you ready to take up the challenge?

THis should probably be a separate post, eh?

Regards

​​​​​​​Mike

Yes JohnW, unfortunately I have.

The Administrator laughed at my wife in the creditors meeting, when she asked how much we would get, and ignored our course of dealings with the company in question, and our T's & C's that gave us redress under course of dealing, as having been accepted, which meant we still had title to goods supplied, and where services were supplied, we had written in a retention of title on the equipment.

Trouble was we had no money to take the administrator on.

Unfortunately for you, I doubt you'll get anything.

It's an appalling situation, no organisation gets more than monthly terms these days, and if they don’t pay on time, they don’t stay a customer, I don’t run a bank, just get tough with them.

This won’t help I realise with the company in administration, and I really do sympathise, as I’ve been both sides of this divide, and it was other companies going through owing us money, that was a big part of us losing our business.

John, one of my clients did the same owing me some money. When I spoke to them they said they would find a way to pay the outstanding fees as they wanted to continue using my service. They did, they are still clients but I am now much more diligent in chasing late payment!