Health and Safety Chat

How do you choose the right health and safety consultant for your business

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Steve Schroder

28th Feb 2017

As the new health and safety at work act 2015 come into force, the question of how business managers their health and safety management should be at the forefront of every manager’s mind.

Do you have the expertise within the business to manage the risks? Do you have the resources within in the business? How much time and effort do we put into out health and safety? All these sorts of questions are being bantered around in the boardroom meetings.

The problem arises for managers when they don’t have people within the business who can provide competent and adequate advice on the risk associated with the business. For example, if you are introducing a new process into the business and don’t have the expertise to assess the risks within the business.

This is when you would need external health and safety advice. But how do you go about choosing the correct health and safety advice for your business?

The simple answer is to make sure that the health and safety advice you do engage fits with you business and can provide you with the appropriate advice you need. For example don’t get someone who knows nothing about hazardous good to set up the controls for your hazardous good store!

you do need to be able to do is be able to prove that you are taking all reasonable and practicable steps to manage the health and safety risks in your business.

Five Quick Questions you could ask yourself before deciding to go with a health and safety consultant could be:

  1. Does the consultant belong to a professional association? An example of this could be the NZISM.
  2. What qualifications or certifications does the consultant have? Are the NEBOSH accredited or similar?
  3. What relevant skills and experience do the consultant have that are both relevant to your business as well as the for the job you are asking them about?  
  4. Can or is the consultant able/willing give examples of similar work that they have done recently?
  5. And lastly; is the consultant happy for you to contact their previous clients about the work done for them? If not then ask yourself why not!

Remember that when choosing a consultant cost is not the only consideration. The adage of “cheap is expensive” can often ring true when seeking health and safety advice. Remember, do your research! There is plenty of information out there. Ask other business what they do and who they have used!

At smart safety solutions, we specialise in customised safety systems for businesses, to make them relevant to both your business and your employees. If you think that your systems need work or you simply want a second opinion, then give Steve or Susan a call today and see how we can help you.

Remember safety just doesn’t have to be that hard!