Branch review
Dear colleague
Thank you for your very valuable contribution to the work of the
branch review. Your involvement was instrumental in ensuring that
the report was a robust and credible reflection of the work
undertaken by the Working Party over the last two years. We're
delighted to inform you that the final report submitted to the
Board of Trustees (BoT) on 25 March was approved and the
recommendations made were unanimously accepted in their
entirety.
The full report will be available to all branch officials
via the branch officials' forum. A summary of the
recommendations is given below.
1. There'll be a significant increase in the support provided by
the professional team at IOSH. The most visible evidence of this
will be an increase in the number of staff who directly support
branches. It will take some time to achieve this, but when the
recruitment is completed, each branch should have a defined contact
person who will support the branch.
2. The BoT reconfirmed its commitment to the definition of
the role of branches which was developed over the course of the
consultation.
3. A training programme will be introduced for branch
officials.
4. An electronic branch handbook will be made available,
and work on this has already started.
5. The BoT recognised the need for the branch voice to be
more strongly heard within IOSH and agreed to the formation
of a co-ordination committee, with between 8 and 12 members,
which on an interim basis will report to the Communications and
International Committee. Based on feedback from the consultation
exercises, a straight election will be adopted among branch and
district officials, with the proviso that any branch (including
their districts) may have only one representative serving on the
committee at any one time.
6. Changes to the funding structures were agreed, which
will give branches the flexibility to make ambitious plans if they
wish, but which deliver the reassurance of a simple process and a
contingency fund. Precise details of how these arrangements
will work will be communicated shortly, but I'll be working
with a small number of branches to pilot the new arrangements.
7. The BoT accepted that more effort needs to be made to
recognise those who make a significant contribution to the
effective functioning of our branch and district structures.
8. The BoT also agreed that our international branches
operate in a different environment to those in the UK and therefore
need a different support structure (as they have now).
9. Finally, the BoT agreed that up-to-date imagery should
be purchased for any branch or district that doesn't currently have
it.
A letter updating all branch officials with the news of the
report and outlining the recommendations is being sent out in the
next couple of days.
Yours sincerely
Neil Budworth – Chair, Branch Review Working Party
Sarah Hamilton – Networks & International Director