Better business, safer staff IOSH gets Chartered status
October 1st 2005 Chartered status for health and safety practitioners will lead to better business decisions and safer workplaces, according to IOSH (the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health).
To receive the new designation, practitioners will have to undertake Initial Professional Development (IPD) as well as enrol on mandatory Continuing Professional Development (CPD). An open book assessment and professional interview ensure that their skills and knowledge are fresh and kept up to date.
A recent IOSH/Macmilllian Davies Hodes Survey found that 40 per cent of health and safety professionals believed CPD would help them do their jobs better.
By requiring mandatory CPD, IOSH is ensuring that standards within the profession are raised to new heights. The survey also highlighted the growing number of safety and health professionals currently reporting directly to their board or governing body, now at 49 per cent. Health and safety professionals are increasingly required to make ‘the business case’ for their recommendations, with 21% required to substantiate all of their recommendations, and only 9% receiving funding automatically. This suggest the need for highly skilled, highly trained professional people - Chartered practitioners.
IOSH President, Lawrence Waterman, said: "You wouldn’t employ someone who wasn’t CORGI-registered to deal with a faulty boiler, and you wouldn’t want an accountant dealing with your finances who wasn’t Chartered. The same rule should apply to health and safety.
"We’re raising our game so that business and industry can reap the benefits. The days when a health and safety practitioner could go around a workplace with just a checklist and pen have long gone. Chartered safety and health practitioners will be a different breed, providing practical solutions to everyday problems in the workplace and communicating in the language of business."
For more information on chartered status and the IOSH CPD scheme visit www.iosh.co.uk/corecompe tent More articles from IOSH: | 
