Health and Safety Competent Person
complete health & safety
with a retained competent person
Health and Safety Competent Person Service
Health and Safety Competent Person Definition
A person with the right level of skills, knowledge, attitude, training and experience (SKATE) in the field of health and safety. It is also important for a competent person to know and be aware of their limitations. One is not enough; a competent person must have a combination of these attributes, and that is what defines competent.
Other terms ‘Health and Safety Competent Person’ can be known as are Retained Health and Safety Adviser, Outsourced Health and Safety, and Competent Health and Safety Adviser. They all mean the same thing – a person competent in health and safety. Our Health and Safety Competent Person service (also know as Retained H&S Adviser) will provide advice to your company on an ongoing basis, giving you peace of mind that you are compliant with health and safety law and keeping people safe at work. We do this with a risk-based package of work that is bespoke to your company health and safety needs.
If this is what you are after, you have come to the right place.
Safewell’s Health and Safety Retained Packages are perfect for you if you need a competent health and safety adviser for an accreditation (CHAS, SMAS, Safe Contractor etc), you need to take your health and safety to the next level, you don’t have time to do it all yourself, or you just want to get your health and safety right and compliant in an honest way.
There is a common theme to all our retained customers – we clearly understand the hazards and risks that are relevant to their work activities because this is where accidents and injuries to employees can occur, and that is where our advice needs to begin. Find out more below.
- What is a retained health and safety service?
- When do I need retained health and safety advice?
- Safewell's retained health and safety package
- Safewell's retained health and safety training
A retained health and safety adviser is a person or company that provides ongoing competent person health and safety support to your business over a period of time. Our Retained health and safety services is more than having Safewell named as your health and safety competent person. It is having a person (and back up of a full H&S team) competent in health and safety proactively understanding your business to ensure you have the advice on how to keep your workers safe and remain compliant with health and safety law.
The support always starts with a risk evaluation of your business activities to surface any immediate areas to improve. Thereafter could simply be health and safety advice in person or over the telephone, but may also include other elements of health and safety. These could include risk assessments, health and safety policies and procedures, health and safety training, site visits, coaching, mentoring, safety inspections, to name a few.
A good Retained health and safety adviser will always get to know your business and the risks and hazards your employees are exposed to – then provide advice matched to your specific risks and hazards.
It is a legal requirement under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations for an employer to have competent health and safety advice. This advice should always be relevant to the hazards and risks their employees are exposed to during their work activities, whether that is through an employed person or an external health and safety competent person.
Some typical situations where having external Retained health and safety advice is more necessary than others:
- You are seeking accreditation to one of the contractor schemes such as CHAS, SMAS or Safe Contractor. They specifically ask who provides Competent health and Safety advice
- Your company has grown to an extent where health and safety is taking up too much time for one of your employees
- Your health and safety risks and hazards are beyond the skill of the employees ‘doing’ health and safety and you are seeking specialist health and safety help
- You simply want to be better at health and safety; look after the health and welfare of your employees; be compliant with health and safety law and have someone to advise you on new legislation, and what you need to do to work safely
Here is a summary of our Retained health and safety adviser package:
A competent health and safety person employed by Safewell
Telephone and email advice
Regular visits
Risk assessment review and risk based advice
RIDDOR help and support (What is RIDDOR)
Access to template forms (including Risk Assessments and OH&S Policies)
Email newsletter (including news, legislation and OH&S tips)
Discount on additional occupational health and safety services from Safewell
If you want to know more about having Safewell as your competent health and safety consultants or our Retained Health and Safety packages, click the button below or complete a contact form (below or on the side bar).
- We offer various open training courses at our offices in Royal Wootton Bassett for Retained Customers to attend
- Places will either be part of a customer’s existing retained health and safety package or there is a discounted cost per delegate
- Each health and safety course is certificated and typically lasts half or one-day
Courses can initially include:
- Directors Health & Safety Awareness
- Contractor and Sub Contractor Management
- General Health and Safety Awareness
At times, we organise other courses and communicate these to retained health and safety customers via our newsletter and email.
See our full list of face-to-face and online training here.
Contact us about our Health and Safety Competent Person and Retained Services
Book your free face to face meeting with one of our Health and Safety Team now to find out how our retained service will help keep your business compliant with health and safety legislation, and help employees have a safer and healthy working environment.
Complete the contact form, call us on 01793 852951 or email info@safewell.co.uk.
How the Retained and Competent Person Health and Safety Service Works in More Detail
- Our basic retained service includes telephone and email support, plus 2-4 visits per year (with a documented meeting summary). You’ll also receive discounts on additional Safewell services during your retained period.
- At the start of a new retained agreement, we carry out either an umbrella risk assessment or risk-based questionnaire. This helps us to understand the specific hazards and risks in your business so we can provide the most relevant and competent health and safety advice.
- When you sign up to one of our retained health and safety packages, you can name Safewell as your health and safety competent person (a requirement for CHAS, SMAS, Safe Contractor and other accreditations).
- We prefer to meet face-to-face at the outset, so we can get to know you, see your workplace, and tailor our advice accordingly.
- You will be assigned a main health and safety adviser from our Safewell health and safety team, and also benefit from the collective expertise of the full team throughout the retained term.
- When you contact us, you will speak with one of our consultants or office team members, who will connect you to your adviser or another qualified team member if they are unavailable.
- Most of our retained customers have a number of health and safety services bundled into their retained package such as an umbrella risk assessment, task, process or equipment risk assessments, health and safety policy and manual, director health and safety awareness training, employee health and safety training, manual handling training, fire risk assessment and more. Each retained package is completely tailored to your business, based on your needs and the time required to deliver the work.
- The great thing about the package is the cost is spread over 12 or 24 months, which is perfect for cash flow management.
We believe our retained service is one of the most comprehensive, transparent, and supportive health and safety competent person packages available – and we think you will agree.
