Posted By Paul Craythorne Steve, Regulation 7 of the Management of Health & Safety at Work Regulations 1999 requires that every employer (with certain exceptions to the self employed and business partners)appoints one or more competent persons to assist him in undertaking the measures he needs to take to comply with the requirements and prohibitions imposed upon him by, or under, the relevant statutory provisions and by Part 2 of the Fire Precautions (Workplace) Regulations 1997. Firstly, the HSE would expect to see a person/or persons(there is no definite number) within your organisation who has/have the necessary training, experience, knowledge and other qualities to enable them to properly assist the company in discharging their duties under H&S law. Secondly, where there is no relevant employee, then the company should enlist external assistance, this may be in the form of a consultant. Even if you appoint from within your organisation, it may still be necessary, from time to time, to enlist external assistance as any appointed employee/ees should be aware of their own limitations. Hope this helps. If you need further advice, please e-mail me on PCrayth@aol.com Regards, Paul Craythorne