Posted By Paul Hill
As a training provider for government funded training we have a duty to carryout Health & Safety Vetting of local employers, to ensure their suitability as a placement provider for young persons, and to develop and monitor an action plan. We have previously put our staff through the NEBOSH general certificate, in order for them to gain the knowledge required to carryout the vetting process effectively. Many believe this is not the most appropriate training course. Could anyone suggest something that maybe more suitable.

Posted By Alex Watts
Paul,
I did the BSC 5 day general health and safety course many years ago and know of someone who attended a recent one. It is not specifically what you want, but is an excellent course for gaining general knowledge of all aspects of safety.
enquiries@iirsm.org should be able to help you.
Alex

Posted By peter gotch
Dear Paul,

Putting my long in the tooth hat on (FIOSH RSP) with 12 years experience as an HSE Inspector, and 10 years since, (including as vettee being vetted by people whose highest H&S qualification is likely to be a NEBOSH General Certificate):

I think you are putting yourselves in the firing line when you vet eg an engineering factory but do not have the knowledge and experience to recognise key deficiencies on machinery with which your vetters are not familiar.

Think you should be looking to put together a team in which you have people with much higher H&S qualifications / experience, so that they can monitor the standard of vetting, and deal with issues when vetters are not sure about the premises / activities in vettees' establishments......

You could achieve this either by in-house employment or by getting a suitably qualified consultant to help you out (eg by accessing IOSH's Register of Safety and Health Consultants - see relevant page on this site)

Otherwise, I think you are in danger of prosecution and/or civil action when something goes wrong. Accidents to young people in training programmes have a long history of being emotive and resulting in legal action.

Good luck, Peter

Posted By Richard
Paul

Sorry for the late reply, but I'm just back from hols.

I am in a Scottish FE College and we carry out the same procedure. While some of our field officers have the certificate, some do not. All are provided with comprehensive induction, and use a yes/no vetting checklist when visiting placements. This has the advantage of a applying a similar standard across all employers, and also ensures that nothing is missed.

They are fully supported by me, and can call me at any time, including out of hours since they someimes cover evening/weekend employers such as clubs, football grounds etc. We also provide advice and support to employers on how they can come up to standard cost effectively - it's no good asking a one person business to spend £5,000!!

I have only been called to premises twice in four years, and on both occasions my views suported those of the field officers (both places were fit!), tho' I will frequently answer queries from my desk.

It works for us,

Richard