It depends on your back ground, i am a Health and Safety advisor for a demolition company and would probable be uncomfortable to be a Health |& Safety Advisor for someone like, say, a diving company, or oil rigs etc, i have 29 years experience in Demolition, during which time i have operated Excavators, Supervised demolition contracts, been certificated to remove Asbestos, managed the reclamation yard, and then moved into the office to prepare Method Statements, Risk Assessments, Health & Safety plans etc, i feel very comfortable in my environment and would like to feel that i am competent. With regards to your question, how do you define competence? As someone with competencies as those measurable skills, abilities and personality traits that identify successful employees against defined roles within an organisation.

You know better than anyone your shortfalls. That said, if you are not careful it is easy to get into areas that you are not so familiar with, not that is all wrong either, it's good to learn as you earn. I have often said to a potential client that it is not an area that I am overly familar with and then research on the subject. Knowledge is a very powerful tool but don't be frightened of it.

I guess when you seek quotes for Public and Professional Liabaility insurance you may find that an indicator as well, as I suspect premiums will more costly for those whose qualifications don't measure up to expectations.

Good luck.

As the previous posts have mentioned there are a number of factors you are going to need to consider. A good definition of competency that I utilise is that is made up of skills; experience; attitude and knowledge (SEAK).

I became a sole trader 4 years ago and personally wouldn't have considered it until I had become a CMIOSH because I knew the industries and locations I worked it would expect that as a minimum in relation to knowledge and qualifications.

In saying that I know some really clued up people who have the technical knowledge and experience and are now working their way through the qualifications side of things.

The key thing to remember in consultancy is that what your market is - if you are going to offer your services as the "competent" person as per Reg 7 of MHSWR then you are going to need a wide knowledge of H&S areas.

E.g small and medium sized businesses may not have a requirement for a full-time H&S person and wish to employ you as their competent - worst case scenario if they have a serious accident they are going to be looking at you to do the investigation; guide them through the potential enforcement process; liaise with legal team if proceedings go further. Not only that but you are realistically going to have to be the "doer" and not just give advice to them.

You also need to consider what contacts you potentially have. No single H&S person can profess to be an expert in everything and indeed there are now 2-3 of us who work in our business who have different industry experience and different strengths (e.g. those who can go out and do the shop floor/workforce type aspects and those who can deal with management/strategy/objectives/client facing, etc) And even with this variety of strengths there are still other areas where we would bring in other specialists (fire risk assessments; work at height training, etc.)

So I guess what you need to decide is what H&S areas you want to work in - have you considered getting involved with a local consultancy - maybe that is a stepping stone prior to setting up yourself.

I would just echo the point that professional indemnity and public liability insurance are absolute definites and as part of this process you normally need to submit your CV and qualifications when they considered the costing and the level of cover. Note - offshore and some construction activities (e.g. demolition) always hike up the price so again, you need to be clear in what areas you are targetting.

Hope the above helps.

Donna