Hey all, I am looking into the viability of signing up to Barbour EHS but was looking for some feedback from anybody who uses it (especially those working in construction management). Does it offer good value for money? Many thanks in advance Stern

HI Walker, Thanks for the reply. I'm pretty sure that's not the case.

I've just had my annual sales call from them, while the product looks good, it is expensive, and most of the information can be found elsewhere on the internet if you are willing/have the time to look, therefore I can't justify the expenditure IOSH members can receive free updates, usually a toolbox talk type thing, but I think they are only quarterly

Thanks for the reply all. So general consensus seems to be that it is a good tool, just a bit on the pricey side. That was pretty much as i expected! Out of interest, what sort of money are we talking? (Just a ball park figure). I don't want to go to their sales dept and ask as i know these kinds of places are usually reluctant to give these sorts of answers over the phone and you inevitably end up embroiled in an hour of sales pitch!! Business size we are a small construction firm, 1 office/small warehouse, 5 PAYE office based admin staff, approx 40 PAYE guys on the tools with another 40 or so regular(ish) CIS guys who we can call upon as and when needed.

I don't need Barbour - I know it all! ..........and you folks fill in the gaps

Both Barbour EHS & IHS Technical Indexes provide " Full Text" EHS information, including the guidance & codes of practice from industry bodies. It is fairly expensive and if you subscribe to the British Standards as a supplementary module, it is prohibitively expensive. Now that you get ALL the Health & Safety and Environmental guidance/ACoP etc free online ( although the discontinuing of the "England "Environment Agency Website", in my view has been a retrograde step!) . Unless you use the resource to that extent, it may not be value for money. I had been using either Barbour or Technical Indexes since 2004 in my current role ( and previously with another employer from 1999 to 2004) . Once HSE decided to provide free online its priced material, there was no justification and for the limited use of the BS-EN-ISO standards I had, it is far cheaper to buy them directly from BSI, even at the non-discounted cost. (Membership of BSI for organisations is based on employee numbers etc!) Ultimately only you can judge or estimate what it provides that cannot be either obtained free or at a cheaper cost compared to the annual subscription. It is strange that despite the so called digital revolution, the costs are prohibitive for most of us. The suppliers quote "copyright"royalties etc they have to pay and also the dominant position of BSI as far as the Standards are concerned. Did they offer you a free trial for say a week so that you could evaluate it properly. It is almost impossible to do a proper evaluation when they do a demo face to face or via the web--not enough time to get information . Last but not least, yes, it has so much, but realistically, depending upon your company's activities, how much are you going to use?