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Health and Safety Assistance (Management Regs)
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Posted By Ron Young
I've got my own ideas why Regulation 7 Para 8 states;
"Where there is a competent person in the employer's employment, that person shall be appointed for the purposes of paragraph (1) in preference to a competent person not in his employment". What do you guys think? Could it be/has it ever been used as a defence to keep a job?
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Posted By Ian G Hutchings
I think it helps to develop a perceived preference for having an internal resource. One that is more in touch with the culture and running of the organisation and can support but not lead, thus ensuring that safety is core to the management role, rather than being seen as something else we can throw money at to sort out.
As an external resource, I think where I fit in is in getting an independent viewpoint and providing added assurance and direction for the executive team. I find more and more that work I do with in-house safety professionals is as coach and mentor, as sometimes they feel isolated and do not always have access to the range of good practice examples I may have. Something I am doing with one in-house resource is seeing whether I can take them along to another clients operation for half a day. To see what others are doing and see what can be transferred to their business.
Sometimes safety support has to be outsourced by very small companies purely for financial reasons. In general for medium to large companies I have yet to see outsourcing safety support totally to be successful. Though you could argue that if there is no full time safety pro to turn to, the line management may take on more in their role, with the right support from the top.
Bit long winded for a Friday morning!
Cheers
Ian
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Posted By Chris Packham
May I suggest that the competent person is in a similar role to a GP. He is the first line of response and can deal with many of the problems that will present themselves. However, just as with a good GP, he (or she, of course!) needs to have an understanding of when specialised expertise is required, i.e. with a GP referral to a consultant. Health and Safety is such a broad topic that no one person can have an in-depth knowledge of every aspect. In some areas it is easy to take action that may appear logical, but that, in reality, can make the problem worse.
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Posted By mrs.seed
I've not heard of it being used to keep a job, but with my company threatening redundancies it may be useful! ;)
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Posted By Jeffrey Watt
Didn't help me. The laughter could be heard down the corridor as the door hit my butt on the way out.
Might work for you Ron, don't know.
Jeffers
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Rank: Guest
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Posted By Ron Young
Hopefully my job is OK but it was a discussion point with a good "Turkish" friend of mine and it meant different things to us. My thoughts were that it was the Governments,HSC/HSE preference for in-house assistance because research showed stats tended to show it was a better service. I wanted to know of any evidence either way and for others opinion. Thanks for the interesting comments so far.
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Posted By Maya
I would use more "legal" approach - if your employer allows internal competition or reviews you as a candidate, then (if you can) please demonstrate your achievements and competence, better backed up by certificates, etc. If employer is not offering you job – he might not have thought of you or does not consider you being good enough. If he is making you redundant, he probably can not employ for the same position someone with the same qualification for 6 (?) months (that is so in certain European countries, not sure about UK). Just referring to the above mentioned part of regs will lead you into conflict, try to sell yourself. I have been in situation where two of us had to compete for one internal position and employer chose anonymous test, but as his decision was made already, led to his preferred result.
Good luck!
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