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Is IOSH technical support enough or do we need a consultant anyway?
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Posted By Fer
This is the story:
200 employees, 3 sites in a half sq kilometre area and only one H&S appointed person plus 1 external H&S practitioner.
The Director stops the consultant contract and tells to the H&S coodinator (you're right, that's me) to find a OSH technical information service which allows me to carry on with the job but he doesn't want to pay for I to register as IOSH member because then IOSH services are nominal (a company cannot register in IOSH)
The question is: do you know any other OSH technical information service where a company can register, aiming to replace the typical H&S consultant and be auto sufficient?
A hot one: is this policy viable or it’s too risky?
I do appreciate in advance any post
Thanks!
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Posted By Glyn Atkinson
What level of qualification and how much experience do you have?
This should give the Forum a chance to give answers within parameters of expected expertise.
To have a specialist practitioner on call suggests that there are needs of a nature ie construction or technical that you have not otherwise encountered - hence the need for an on line technical help line or service?
More info would give those reading this thread more chance to make a sound judgement from their own experiences and practices.
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Posted By Jonathan Breeze
Fer,
That would depend on where your organisation is based and any local law and regulations in force.
In the UK, the law states that a "competent person" is required. However the law does not actually prescribe what a competent person is.
This can (and often does) lead to confusion and arguement.
Where is your organisation based?
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Posted By Charley Farley-Trelawney
Can't offer anything that would be free, other than the known sources but you could consider:
Peninsula Business Services
Barbour Index
Kroner
There are others of course, and all the above make a charge, some more than others.
Good luck
CFT
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Rank: Guest
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Posted By Fer
Thank for your quickly answers.
My company is a light remanufacturing industry based in London. I am a MEng Chemical Engineer and I finished last July a Master course in Occupational Safe and Healthy Management in Spain (this fact increase the cost of registering myself just £60).
My job description states that i am responsible for Environment (actually I’m implementing a ISO 14001 system) and some duties within the Quality Department, which means that, unfortunately, I cannot spend more than a 40% of my time in the H&S area, hence my concern.
Thanks again
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Posted By Jonathan Sandler CMIOSH
in the event of an accident which becomes a riddor this will be investigated by either of the enforcing bodies.
if a PACE interview is to be conducted, the some of the questions could be 'please state who is the competent nominated health and safety person as required under reg 7 mhasawr99.'
this could then lead on to other questions, for example, if the accident investigation was a manual handling issue, please provide the competent persons risk assessment, staff training records.
If the questions can not be answered and the accident is serious enough, then, in most cases this could end up in court.
basicly the company could be in breach of section 2 of the 74 act and reg 7 man regs, but this is basic stuff, who is the competent person carrying out dse, manual handling, COSHH, noise assessments.
The list goes on.
Tech support is NOT enough.
Regards
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Posted By anon1234
As I see it from the information provided, one person should be able to cover this sort of activity even when having responsibility for some other issues i.e. environment/quality. ASSUMING they have the right level of competence (training and experience).
Obviously they would need the back up of technical information - whether this be hard copy documents, on-line system (such as those mentioned above), or something else. It is worth noting that with some of these on-line systems yopu can also get the additional feature of a helpline to ask questions.
So in summary the real question is do you have the right level of competence for this role? If not, you must discuss this with your employer and agree how you get this - I'm not talking about membership of IOSH or other body, but about skill sets.
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Posted By Steve B
My personal opinion........ 200 employees with varying jobs, various risks and 3 different sites? Full time adequately qualified and competent Health and Safety adviser as a minimum. then again this may not be enough if you do not already have a H%S Management system in place.
Good Luck
Steve B
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Is IOSH technical support enough or do we need a consultant anyway?
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