Health and safety advisers 'should be accredited'
July 10, 2009
The Chair of the HSE, Judith Hackitt, has said that health and safety advisers should be accredited to ensure they meet the appropriate standards of professional competence.
Speaking at an International Institute of Risk and Safety Management event, Ms Hackitt said that the HSE had identified a need for an accreditation system within the competency framework for health and safety professionals, but stressed that the HSE had no plans to run such a scheme itself.
She said that the HSE is keen to ensure that any body establishing such a scheme does so in a way that measures competence, not just acquired knowledge. Competence is one of the key principles of the HSE’s new health and safety strategy for Britain, and the safety body wants to see increased competence as the basis of a more sensible and proportionate approach to managing risk.
Ms Hackitt said that those involved in health and safety needed to be competent to assess and manage risk by applying "common sense", and exercising judgment about what is "reasonable".
She added, "Accreditation must include continuing professional development as a requirement as well as a means of sanction, with real teeth, for anyone who acts unethically in their professional activities — including providing inappropriate advice or guidance."
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