We strongly recommend taking care and time to choose the right company to help you develop your safety management systems and culture. This is not only good sense, but is a key element of fulfilling your due diligence duties.

So how do you select a consultant and what can you believe about their claims?

The answers are relatvely simple. Here is our guide to help you:

1. Decide whether you need someone with experience in your field, or someone that can bring experience from another field. Some activities are very specialised and need expertise. Others will benefit from learning from other industries. If you keep doing the same things but expect a different outcome, you are probably not going to achieve the changes you seek. We can offer broad industry experience backed by aviation and process safety knowledge. These are some of the safest working environments.

2. Make sure their ‘consultants’ are actually professionals. They should have post graduate qualifications and, for H&S, be listed on the HASANZ Register. Copies of some of my certificates can be found via the About Us/Qualifications menu.

3. If you want to undergo a SafePlus Assessment, make sure any provider you are considering is actually able to provide this service. Again, my certificate can be found via the Qualifications link. SafePlus is a thorough review of your company that offers genuine value for money, but can seem slightly expensive to small businesses. I strongly suggest calling me to discuss your needs before paying for an assessment that may not give you what you want. I have several ways to help and will tailor our services to suit your organisation.

4. Check the company actually has people that actually have recent experience in the fields they say they do. Do they have testamonials to back up their claims?

5. Understand the Terms of Engagement. Mine are standard and can be found on the Services/Get a Quote menu.

6. Lastly, check they have Professional Indemnity and Public Liability Insurance. HASANZ only checks this on the day of registration, not after. Mine can be found on the Services/Get a Quote page.

UPDATE:

There are some implications on health and safety investigations and audits arising from a recent review of the Private Security Personnel and Private Investigators Act 2010 (the Act).
If any business engages a non-registered/certified Private Investigator or non-HASANZ registered consultant for health and safety investigation or audit services, there are potential implications for them.
Furthermore, if an external consultant is offering health and safety investigation or audit services, without being registered/certified as a Private Investigator or registered on HASANZ, they are potentially in breach of the Act too.

SHEQ Limited is now a registered Private Investigation business and the Principal Consultant, Mike Impey is both a certified Private Investigator and a current member of HASANZ. SHEQ can therefore provide all your external, independent safety investigations and audits without putting your business at risk of enforcement action under the Act.