Time to root out rogue traders
April 3rd 2007 The health and safety profession needs to do more to “root out the rogue traders who sully its good name,” the president of IOSH, Lisa Fowlie has said at IOSH 07 in Telford.
During the conference, Lisa Fowlie launched a new campaign, called ‘Get the Best’, aimed at making clear to employers and recruiters what quality health and safety advice looks like.
“As the law stands it’s too easy for anyone to operate as a health and safety practitioner regardless of the skills, experience and qualifications they have. Giving bad advice threatens lives and costs business a fortune. It’s up to us to do something about it – and Get the Best will be our response,” explains Lisa.
IOSH will continue to lobby government to produce a competency statement on health and safety, explains Lisa “It’s important that in such a critical profession as health and safety, there is some way of rooting out the rogue traders who sully the good name of the profession. We hope to persuade the government to produce a statement that outlines what a competent practitioner looks like.”
There’s also a need for the profession to prove its worth. That’s why IOSH will lobby employer’s organisations and has commissioned research to demonstrate the value of competent health and safety advice in keeping workplaces healthy, safe and sensible.
“Health and safety practitioners still have to prove they are giving ‘The Best’ to their employers. That means committing to giving competent advice, maintaining skills and knowledge through continuing professional development (CPD) and knowing when you’ve reached the limits of your competency.”
The Get the Best campaign will encourage IOSH members to get more involved with their professional body, through volunteering and making more use of the benefits they get from being an IOSH member. Lisa added: “We need more members to get involved, to tell us what they think about IOSH and to help us spread our message. And we also want more members to get more out of their membership – and this campaign will aim to show you how you can!”
The campaign will involve the creation of a microsite on the IOSH website where members can ‘sign up’ to being the best professional they can and to providing sensible solutions.
Lisa concluded: “It’s time for our profession to move into top gear. Getting Chartered Status really was just the beginning for IOSH – now is when we have to make our hard work pay off to ensure we get the recognition we deserve.”
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