A H&S consultant is someone with the competence to provide advice and guidance on compliance with H&S legal requirement. When we talk about competence we mean someone with the appropriate skills, knowledge, attitude, training and experience relevant to the situation they are advising on. They should be able to give advice on adequately managing work place risks and hazards to keep employees and 3rd parties safe, all within the boundaries of complying with Health & Safety law. Health and safety consultancy Advice needs to be specific to the workplace, the work activities and the people that are affected. A health and safety consultant’s role can also involve coaching, support and mentoring for a customers employees who have H&S responsibilities to fulfil in their roles.
What should I expect from a consultant
A health and safety consultant should be approachable, understand the risks and hazards they are advising on and very importantly know their limitations. They should be able to give sensible and practical solutions tailored to each specific workplace, its activities and its hazards.
The end result is safe (hopefully happy and valued) employees and legal compliance – all of which is very good for the business owners and leadership team.
We have worked with Safewell for many years and are retained clients, so we have developed an excellent working relationship with the team. However, this really came into its own when Covid 19 appeared.
As a Plumbing and Heating business, we were able to carry on working during the lockdown but only for responding to emergencies. We were obviously very concerned about the health and safety of our employees and before we even had chance to get in touch with Safewell, they had emailed us offering their assistance. It is hard to put down on paper how that made us feel - we like everyone else felt totally at sea, which way to turn, what to do? But Safewell were there guiding, supporting and being totally brilliant. Their attention to detail is very impressive and reassuring and we feel able to ask lots of questions without feeling silly.
During the pandemic Safewell helped us to write risk assessments, safety procedures and protocols. They kept in touch regularly, issuing new guidance as soon as it appeared and checking in with us. They held group Q&A sessions over Zoom which were helpful, and knowing other businesses were facing the same challenges and having the opportunity to discuss issues was invaluable. Their help during the preparation for a full return to work was brilliant, they enabled us to be fully prepared and feel in control, and when we had our first case of Covid within the team, because we had planned our response it felt ok.
I think our team felt very reassured by our robust approach and that our office was Covid secure. We are extremely grateful to all the team at Safewell
