Competent Person Role - Health and Safety Support and Advice - Management (Health and Safety at Work) Regulations, Regulation 7

Every employer is required under law to appoint a Competent Person (or Competent Persons) to assist them in meeting their legal health and safety obligations. This means an employer must appoint someone competent to provide sound advice on all matters of health and safety - see below for information directly from the HSE on this.

Quote from HSE; "You must get help from a competent person to enable you to meet the requirements of health and safety law."

The appointment of a person or safety consultancy to take on the Competent Person role is probably the most significant and important step that an employer takes when it comes to managing their health and safety effectively. Without someone in the competent person role, providing competent health and safety advice, it is difficult to see how any organisation can effectively manage health and safety.

Within the UK it is a mandatory legal duty to appoint a competent person or persons under the Management of Health and Safety At Work Regulations. An employer who has not made an appointment of a suitable person to fulfil the competent person role is in breach of a statutory duty under health and safety legislation and therefore becomes for criminal prosecution.

The appointed Competent Person may be an internal appointment supported by external expertise or an external appointment such as a safety consultancy. In either case as professional health and safety consultants we can provide a competent person scheme or competent person support scheme to enable you to meet this fundamental obligation.

Competent Person Scheme

In the Competent Person Scheme the employer appoints us as their retained health and safety consultants and to act as their competent person and fufil the competent person role as defined under the Management of Health and Safety At Work Regulations. This is often the most suitable option for small businesses who do not have the resources, or who do not have someone sufficient competent in health and safety, to make an internal appointment or larger businesses who prefer the flexibility, support and independence of an external safety professional to assist them in managing health and safety.

Your retained safety consultant will then liaise with you as the employer and provide competent health and safety advice on an ongoing basis.  It is essential that you as the employer then keep your retained safety consultant informed of all aspects of the companies activities - the easiest way to achive this is by opting for regular audits (an integrated part of our Safety~net scheme).

Competent Person Support Scheme

In the Competent Person Support Scheme The employer makes an appointment of one of their own employees who has suitable competence in health and safety management. The employer identifies the areas where their internal appointee requires specific support in the competent person role with respect to health and safety matters such as health and safety advice on a specific topic such as management systems, asbestos, construction work, etc. The employer’s competent person then liaises with our health and safety consultants who provide competent advice on specific topics on an as required basis.

Advice from the Health and Safety Executive (extracted from; http://www.hse.gov.uk/involvement/competentperson.htm)

A competent person

"You must get help from a competent person to enable you to meet the requirements of health and safety law.

A competent person is someone who has sufficient training and experience or knowledge and other qualities that allow them to assist you properly. The level of competence required will depend on the complexity of the situation and the particular help you need."