Over the last few years health and safety consultants have been put under the spotlight as concerns had been raised that the industry was not regulated sufficiently.  In truth we were all concerned that just about anybody could set themselves up as a consultant; qualified or not.

We know that today many businesses will understand the importance of employing suitably qualified consultants,  but how many actually measure the results the consultants achieve?  Since the Lord Young review of Health & Safety, the profession has responded by creating the OSHCR; this register includes 2700+ consultants that will know what Health & Safety legislation requires.   But does this mean they will have the ability to make a positive contribution to your business?  We remain cautious that having the right health and safety qualifications is enough.

We have found all too often that poor consultancy advice leads to wasted time and expenditure that could have been put to better use.  So why is it that if you seek out a consultant with the right qualifications, they might not be able to make that positive contribution?  We believe that it’s because interpretation of the legislation is the key and that one approach does not fit all.  This coupled with an in-depth understanding of how to implement what improvements might be required; is what makes the difference.

We would urge any business to look at what previous and current clients are saying about the consultancy and if appropriate seek references.  Certainly it’s what we provide; as we did last week for a large Aerospace company based in the Midlands. They had previously employed Bureau Veritas to provide both PUWER and DSEAR assessment services but were left disappointed by the results and had decided to seek further help.

After visiting the site and quoting on the work we provided a number of client references which they took up and received excellent feedback on the work MESH had done.   We now look forwards to establishing a long term working relationship with this client.

Remember that the key things to check when employing consultants will include interpretation (not everything is black or white) and implementation (can they walk the talk, not just talk the talk?).