Do you think that the Safety Professional should have a management qualification. The reason being, with soley H&S qualifications the H&S professional gets "pidgeon holed" as a specialist and sometimes does not get the recognition that they are part of the "management" team. With a management qualification it would give the H&S Professional an overall view of how a company is run. Apologies if this sounds long winded. I look forward to your responses.

It dpends very much on the company structure, for example I have authority over people on H&S matters but not on others. Although I do think it important that H&S professionals have some kind of people management skills as communicating with people on all levels is an important part of the H&S professionals job.

I'm partly with Steve; they should have management competence. However, management (beyond supervisory management) does benefit from knowledge, which can be gained by studying for a qualification. I think part of me feels that the NEBOSH Dip (and equivalent) and BSc courses ought to include some management skills; but then many management courses (including MBAs) don't include any H&S. I had management training in bite sized chunks through in-house provision and I thought I was doing OK, but for the last couple of years I've been doing the IRM's International Dip in Risk Management, which is very clearly set out to give weight to both the words in the title. My theoretical understanding of what management does and why has improved greatly as a result, and I think it has made me a better manager. It also has helped me to think more like my general manager colleagues. So yes, I think management qualifications can help with delivering H&S, and help H&S practitioners engage with their colleagues, and hence get taken more serioulsy; it's a way out of the pigeon hole (you know, pigeons don't live in holes, that's Owls, or Woodpeckers), John

I would say that a safety professional who has management qualifications has the advantage of understanding general business process and procedures. I came from a management background at diploma level before entering the respected profession of H & S and have found that my former training and experience has been of immense help in developing my career.

I think it is a good idea, but not necessarily essential. I have been known as a manager for the last 21 years but without any relevant qualifications - most managers at our place have grown up with the organisation and moved into the management role as a progression without any management training. Some people fit in naturally but I do think some people need coaching and guidance on what it means to be a manager. When we were making redundancies a while back I decided to got for L4 NVQ in Management - purely so I can show my competence in this area through a qualification. Can't say I leaned much, except that I now have lots of evidence and a piece of paper to say that I know what I am talking about - not sure it makes me a better manager though. To summarise yes, I think Management skills are important in delivering health & safety however you come by these. Ang.

Interesting question, just to mix it up a wee bit. Are we all aware of what 'formal quals' the management team have! Using my experience as a guide, not very much. But does this mean bad or incompetent management practices... TBH I don't think that we need to know 'how the company is run' in all aspects, but do require an insight into how the company intends to run the business safely. This is all about adopting good communication practices and liasing between departments such as HR and Finance etc. I would recommend that all 'management team' members are provided management level HS training and of course training in their own disipline as appropriate. The days of hiding away the HS people should be consigned to the dark past. BTW has the spell check gone! Gary

Blossomway; your MBA will undoubtedly give you more insight but it may be a bit too general to say that 'I can also couch my arguments in ways that are appreciated better by other management professionals' . Does this imply that without and MBA I cannot I huv bean mostly suchseful so fur an I unerstand bizniz as i uwn one.... Sarcastic Steve