IOSH praised by Lord McKenzie

07 April 2011

A House of Lords debate on Monday (4 April) commended IOSH for its campaigning for a consultants register.

The short debate was lead by Lord McKenzie of Luton who questioned the Government about how their proposed changes to the health and safety system will encourage safer and healthier workplaces.

When talking on the Occupational Health and Safety Consultants Register (OSHCR), Lord McKenzie said: “The health and safety professional bodies which have co-operated with the HSE in bringing it to fruition are to be congratulated, especially IOSH, which has long campaigned for an accreditation scheme.

“It will provide better reassurance for purchasers of services, helping to tackle the problem of unqualified or unscrupulous consultants who overcharge and overprescribe, adding costs for business and adding to a culture of unnecessary risk aversion.”

Prior to the debate Lord McKenzie requested input from IOSH on the recent and proposed changes to health and safety. IOSH provided detailed information on policy and issues that the Institution feel need to be addressed by Government.

Within the debate Lord McKenzie raised a number of IOSH’s key messages including:

• Concern over focus on health and safety being a burden to business
• Not enough focus on the ‘health’ in health and safety
• Good health and safety is good for public health and business success
• Concern over ‘low-hazard’ definitions

Lord McKenzie referred to IOSH when talking about the Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) Infoline, he said: “IOSH points out that the HSE Infoline is to be terminated later this year, which has provided a valuable source of information as well as a translation service.

“This has been particularly valuable to SMEs. What is to replace it? The demise of the Incident Contact Centre, which simplified the process of reporting and reduced admin burdens on business, would seem at least premature.”