Could you focus on the 'Bad Habits' ? ie: Risk Assessment Refresher course or is that still too general?

Certainly a concern, and the lack of H&S knowledge/management will likely become apparent only when the company has a serious incident. :o) I suggest the management should consider getting OHSAS18001 (or the ISO soon replacing that) and then the H&S manager will find out from the ISO consultant or the auditor how much he knows about H&S. I can't think of any other way to tell the man that he is not a competent H&S manager JohnW

I wonder how many more people there are out there in a similar position? Without effective HR / management I imagine this could and does easily happen. We don't of course know the extent of the problem in this case I good advert for IOSH membership though!

So swift to judge .. We don't know how long ago he obtained his NEBOSH Cert, what bad habits he has developed, what he seems to have forgotten, the size / nature / hazards associated with his employment, or even if the poor beggar is combining H&S with Quality, Facilities and Fleet Management (a bizarre combination I came across a while ago whilst looking for work) All we know is the few lines in the original post - the rest is guess work.

I don't know what the OP's role is in this but surely this H&S manager's own line-manager needs to have a heart to heart discussion on what gaps there may be and how best to fill them. If the OP is a consultant they may be a useful resource to offer guidance & suggestions if the line manager is not able to do what's needed on their own.

So, in order to answer the question posted at the outset, one should focus on his competence. HSE guidance has indicated that competence can be quite broad and in addition to comprising appropriate knowledge, skills, and experience, also requires health, strength, mental ability and physical stature suitable for the work. In terms of knowledge, we know he has obtained the NEBOSH certificate. If he has more than 5 years experience, he might even qualify for Tech IOSH. Would this be good enough to fulfil his current role, which he might have appropriate experience for in addition to the other qualities outlined above. So where to now? It might be that he has sufficient experience to complete the NVQ Level 5 and obtain Grad IOSH. That is certainly a better option than IOSH Managing Safely. It would also help establish whether he meets a now industry recognised standard for those who have the title H&S Manager. My feeling though, is that his job description needs to be clearly outlined identifying what level of competence is required for the role. This might also help identify gaps in his competence, from which a plan for personal development / timeframe can be put together. There might come a point where he fails to meet the criteria and appropriate action needs to be taken which might include performance improvement, discipline and worst case dismissal.

Couldn't agree more. I remember obtaining my NGC many moons ago and thinking, I knew it all - now wrong was I. Point to note: NEBOSH do not recognise their own qualification if it is over 5 years old. To clarify if you have NGC1 and it is over 5 years old it cannot be used as a common core module for other certificates i.e. fire - construction. NEBOSH state that it would need to be done again.

It might be the lowest rung but if your company doesn't invest in you then you will lose the skills, do people keep up with the changes if it is an additional to your role and your not supported. Gramted in alot of industries H&S doesn't change that much but miss out on something and it's lost. I do believe the CPD is a good option. Can he not sit the cert again and then build from there? I got stick for telling someone to look on the 'world wide web' prior to posting on here, but it seems acceptable to tell someone it's because he has sat on his lazy arse (well in so many words). I am not against people saying it as they feel but we have to be open to others postings if we put it out there.

As the NVQ is based on work that you have completed evidence based then not sure that's the best way is you have already forgotten the cert, I would go back to the cert and then move forward.

Really not sure how having the Diploma would suddenly make someone a better safety manager?

Because I know plenty people who have. The Diploma is great if you want to increase your own understanding, but it wont give you the skills to be a Safety Manager. It should be someone you do because of a personal choice, not because its what has become expected or because you cant be a Safety Manager unless you have it.

Thanks for all the replies and although no-one has identified a specific course (As said, I wasn't aware of any) it has confirmed some ideas I'd had and helped clarify a way forward. Having visited the company again and spoken with the person concerned, I'm more convinced now that the company needs to re-define his role and then provide some support, either internal or external to help the chap develop further knowledge and understanding.

As I said earlier, he needs an auditor to come in and identify his areas of weakness - but would he or his boss be interested to do that? They should be, they need a competent source of H&S guidance or an inspector will discover this omission when investigating an incident.