If any prospective employer is too blinkered to recognise your charetered status regardless of what route you took then maybe they're not really up to your standard !! My personal view of course and I am doing the Nebosh route. Generally Nebosh is requested more than any other and different employers have different views, usually based only on limited knowledge of the varying course content, but I stand by my intial statement.

I recently attend a branch meeting to see a presentation entitled "Legal Update" delivered by a Solicitor. This was an excellent presentation covering the major reforms planned to reduce the burden of HS legislation on industry following the Young Report. The HSE budget to be cut by a 1/3 so reducing the number of inspections and inspectors also proposals to focus inspections on the Hazardous industries eg molten metal, chemical ie COMAH sites and Nuclear. Major changes to HS Laws will reduce the burden by elimination of some industry specific legislation that can be effectively covered by general legislation. Low risk or less hazardous industries will have very few interventions. Logically this has to have a knock on effect to other HS Careers The Solicitors view was that only the higher hazard industries would need a HS Practitioner and these would be at degree level; the less hazardous industries only needing a technician assisting with the HS basic duties. His view was that we can expect a 50% reduction in HS careers in the future. Go for a degree. Steve

I think your solicitor needs a think a bit harder. Even if the government manages to withdraw protection from workers (in just the same way that it's managed to 'reform' the NHS, introduce plea-bargaining & sell off the forests and national nature reserves) in 'low hazard' industries this won't stop the courts from prosecuting employers for workplace deaths and serious injuries. As has been pointed out, any UK review also can't easily rescind EU legislation (MHSW, MHOR, PUWER etc etc), and I don't know about you, but me and my team have enough work on with just the RRFSO, let alone evrything else, and nobody's talking about reducing fire officers inspections. Don't take up the tree surgery yer, John

Just a minor point on this, the NEBOSH diploma is the equivalent level as a degree but is not the equivalent of a degree.

I regularly employ H&S professionals from NEBOSH Certificate level up to Masters. What I am looking for, first and foremost, is the right attitude, experience and team fit. If the job role is at an entry level I will look for a TechIOSH level qualification, which could be via NVQ, NEBOSH or British Safety Council. At Practitioner level I might specify CMIOSH level, but will consider people with NVQ, Diploma or Degree at the correct level. I am looking for someone who is educated to the correct standard regardless of route. If they are part-qualified or on the way to achieving their qualification they may get through to the next round if their other characteristics described at the beginning are there. I get very irritated when people with NEBOSH Certificates apply for jobs that are advertised at Diploma/Degree level. So in brief, as a major employer of H&S practitioners I don't get too bothered about the diploma/degree/NVQ argument. It's an indicator but not the sole criterion.