Top tips for choosing a competent health and safety person for your workplace

Posted one year ago

Who enforces health and safety laws within your workplace? If you want Health & Safety as a priority in your workplace, then choosing a competent person to manage this is the best way to start.

We’re here to provide you with reasons why this is paramount, and assist you in your selection with a number of tips.

Why you need a competent person

As an employer, Health & Safety in the workplace can be a complicated area to take care of. Without the correct knowledge or qualifications, it can be a challenge to identify and mitigate Health & Safety risks, putting employees at risk.

Who is the health and safety representative in your workplace? This is a crucial question for employers, to ensure a competent person is appointed as manager to oversee Health & Safety. The duty of this employee is to make certain that Health & Safety is kept at the forefront of the organisation's priorities, and to provide health and safety advice to your employees to make sure they are acting within the law.

How to choose a health & safety competent person

You might wonder how you will decide on a competent person for the role. This is a vital position in the workplace, and we're here to help you with our top tips:

Look at their qualifications

Have they undertaken relevant training for this role?
Are they an IOSH member?
Are they open to completing further training?

Consider their experience

Have they been involved with a similar role before?
Do they have any experience creating risk assessments, implementing and monitoring safe work procedures, or conducting accident investigations?

Assess their attitude

Are they proactive?
Are they capable of thinking about scenarios from multiple perspectives?
Are they confident in communicating to all levels and teams within your business?

Who enforces Health & Safety laws within your workplace?

A dedicated Health & Safety Manager can help prevent accidents and injuries in the workplace, ensuring that employees are working in compliance with legislation. A safety competent person be it, a health and safety executive or manager is a vital asset to any company as breaches to health and safety may be costly.

The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 (HASAWA) is the primary piece of legislation covering occupational Health & Safety in Great Britain. It is made up of a number of sections that establish the health & safety duties of employers, employees, self-employed, the public, and many others.

In the UK, the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) is the official body that enforces Health & Safety laws.

How we can help

Here at iHASCO, we offer a wide range of online Health & Safety Training courses fit for your workplace, which can be used to train/inform your chosen health and safety competent person. Some of our most popular courses include:

Each of our courses has accreditations and approvals from the likes of CPD, IOSH, IIRSM, and Citation, amongst many others. Upon completion, you will receive a printable certificate for confirmation.

Claim your free, no-obligation trial to any of our courses today! Alternatively, request a bespoke quote and a member of our team will be in touch to discuss your training requirements.