HSE Chair calls for consultants to sign up to new benchmark register for health and safety
February 1st 2011 An important milestone has been reached in the process of implementing the new Occupational Safety and Health Consultants Register (OSHCR) with the register now open for suitably qualified professionals to sign up. I want to encourage all eligible health and safety consultants to sign up. By doing so, you will be part of what is intended to become the new benchmark for standards in the profession.
OSHCR has been established jointly by a number of professional bodies. It aims to increase employers’ confidence in accessing good quality, proportionate advice and also to address concerns, outlined in the Government’s commissioned report on the UK health and safety system, that some employers can find it difficult to know how and where to get external health and safety advice.
There are many very good health and safety consultants who give sensible and proportionate advice to employers, but there are also some who overcomplicate health and safety, miss important hazards or contribute to misperceptions about what is really needed to protect people at work.
This register offers a level of assurance to businesses that those consultants on the register have attained set standards of knowledge and application assessed by their professional body. It will be an independent way of demonstrating professional competence in occupational health and safety consultancy and should also encourage those who have not yet met these standards to do so.
In HSE, we supported the Government’s health and safety review and welcomed the report Common Sense, Common Safety; the recommendations were very much in line with our own thinking. That is because our Strategy, which we published in 2008, had stressed how important it was that we challenged the devaluation of health and safety as a synonym for unnecessary bureaucracy and an excuse for not doing things. It outlined the need for a refocus on the core aims of health and safety - helping risk makers and managers identify the real health and safety issues and discourage other types of risk averse behaviour that people mistake for health and safety. The Government’s report and recommendations reinforced these central messages and provided a substantial boost to the real health and safety agenda.
OSHCR is one of a number of initiatives underway, others include new quick and easy online risk assessments for low-risk workplaces. OSHCR will go live in stages; following the registration phase which starts now, it will become available to search in Spring, to identify with confidence, consultants who meet the highest standards within their professional bodies, and who are bound by a code of conduct. Don’t put if off – do it now – make sure your name is included on this important new register for competent health and safety professionals
Judith Hackitt
Chair, Health and Safety Executive
OSCHR Registration
Registration for OSCHR is voluntary, but eligibility criteria apply, including specified minimum qualifications. Application includes a check with the relevant professional body that an individual has met all requirements relating to their member status. Individuals must have achieved at least one of the following:-
• Chartered status with IOSH (Institution of Occupational Safety and Health); CIEH (Chartered Institute of Environmental Health); or REHIS (Royal Environmental Health Institute of Scotland) with health and safety qualifications
• Fellow status with IIRSM (International Institute of Risk and Safety Management) with degree level qualifications
• Member or Fellow status with BOHS (British Occupational Hygiene Society) Faculty of Occupational Hygiene
• Registered Member or Fellow status with IEHF (Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors).
Application costs £60, but applications received by 30 April will be discounted (£30).
The non-refundable fee covers the cost of processing and is payable annually on renewal of registration. Individuals who apply during the discounted period will be given a registration renewal date of 30 April 2012. The register will be freely accessible to employers from early spring.
To register, or for more information, visit: www.oshcr.org More articles from Health and Safety Executive: | 
