Posted By PAUL UNWIN
A lot of valid comment relating to experience and status, STATUS, some are a little more fortunate than others, we all learn a little each and every day, don't we??
I know I do.
I was 39 before I got involved in health and safety, I paid for my NEBOSH Certificate with my redundancy pay, in the belief that it would help me into a full time Health and safety career, whoops, 1st mistake. When I gained employment, I was still a shop floor worker, still fighting management on Health Safety and welfare issues, why? because I, did not have a Bsc or a Ba or Hnd in some discipline.
What I do have however, in plentiful supply, is commonsense and the discipline to back away from a task I cannot handle and pass it on to someone more qualified in that field.
If H&S professionals talk down to people as it seems some do in these threads, they deserve to be prosecuted for their failures because H&S is a 360degree subject requiring input from all who may be affected by their actions. As a temp HGV driver in my past, I witnessed many incidents of poor H&S assessments because the person in the cab was really incidental.
Poor assessment, be it by safety manager, RSP, MIOSH,or AIOSH, if shown to be lacking and instrumental in failing to prevent, a preventable accident, should see that person held to account.
We all have a duty of care to ourselves and others.
ps, I am only AIIRSM, AIOSH, but can still be prosecuted for manslaughter if I accidentally kill another person!