The institute of occupational Health and Safety (IOSH) is the chartered body for health and safety practitioners in the UK. They offer different levels of membership depending on the level and experience of health and safety practitioners, with the level of membership often being used as a gauge of competency for employers and companies looking to engage health and safety consultants.
On the 24th of August 2022, IOSH have announce the new membership structure and new requirements for members. These changes will effect more or less all IOSH members, so we have provided a breakdown of the changes below.
What are the changes in IOSH Membership structure?
Associate IOSH membership will no longer exist.
Associate membership was previously the step between Affiliate/Student membership and Technical Membership and was open to anyone who had completed a EQF level 4 qualification e.g. Nebosh NGC or a course approved by IOSH. However, IOSH states that majority of members at this level are eligible for technical membership or higher and as such the category is being discontinued.
This change will leave novice health and safety practitioners in a position where they will remain at affiliate or student membership levels until they have sufficient practical experience in health and safety. However…
It will be easier to earn Technical IOSH membership.
Under the current requirements to become a Technical member of IOSH, you must have 2 years of full time or 5 years part time experience working as a health and safety practitioner in addition to an EQF level 4 qualification. However under the new requirements only 1 year of full time experience is required.
This will mean that it will be quicker for newly qualified practitioners to reach this level provided that they can gain the required experience. Which is good news for people who have complete EQF level 4 qualifications but not so great for people who have completed degree or masters level qualifications, because…
Graduate IOSH membership is no longer awarded following completion of a degree.
Under the current membership structure, people who have completed a level 6 qualification or higher are eligible to apply for graduate membership. However, under the new structure Graduate membership has been replaced with Certified membership. This requires graduates to have at least 2 years of full time experience in a health and safety role or completion of IOSH’s Accreditation of Prior Experience Learning Assessment (APEL).
This will mean that new graduates will have to remain at affiliate level for a year, them move up to technical membership for a year, before they are eligible to become a certified iosh member.
The road to Chartered membership becomes even longer.
Becoming a chartered member of iosh is the goal for most health and safety practitioners, however under the new membership structure this may have become harder to achieve. Under the old structure chartered membership was granted if a person had completed a level 6 qualification, submitted a portfolio which demonstrated they met IOSH’s charter and were successful during a peer review interview.
However under the revised structure, prospective chartered members will have to have undertaken an EQF level 7 qualification (equivalent to a masters degree), as well as 3 years of experience in a health and safety leadership role and completion of an ethics assessment. These requirements are in addition to the peer review interview and submission of a portfolio. The portfolio will have to be compliant with IOSH’s revised Continual Professional Development (CPD) blue print.
Current chartered members will not have to complete additional training, so don’t book onto a masters course just yet! However, you must maintain your chartered status as you will have to complete a level 7 qualification and go through the revised process if you are kicked out and need to reapply. The requirements of CPD have changed too and you will be required to complete 30 hours of CPD per annum (as opposed to the 6 activities a year under the current system) and complete the Ethics assessment on an annual basis.
Chartered Fellows.
Not many health and safety practitioners go for the top level of membership as it is not required for most roles and takes a significant amount effort to attain and maintain. However, if you are hoping to achieve this prestigious accolade, you will be required to have served 5 years in a senior leadership role related to health and safety. This is in contrast to the 5 years of general experience required under to current requirements.
When will the changes come into effect?
According to IOSH, the changes will come into effect in 2 Phases:
Phase 1 – November 2022
The revised iosh CPD blueprint will officially come into effect, meaning members at levels where CPD is mandatory, will have different requirements for completing and submitting evidence of their continual professional development.
In addition, the IOSH Ethical practice in OSH e-learning and assessment will be released. This will have to be completed by members who are currently chartered prior to the change in membership structure, if they want to maintain their Chartered Status. FYI you will not have to pay extra for the ethics assessment as this will form part of your membership fee.
Phase 2 - Spring 2022
This will be the point where membership levels change, so new applicants or members looking to change levels will have to demonstrate they meet the new requirements by this point.
What's the verdict?
The revised membership structure, makes career progression more linear and easier to understand. The old system had a few grey areas which made it a little confusing on what the next steps may be.
It also gives a better picture of a persons competency. Under the old system a graduate member ranked higher than a technical member, however in practice the technical member may be a much better practitioner than the graduate. This was due to graduates not needing any actual experience to gain graduate membership. However the revised requirement for certified membership levels this playing field.
The revised blueprint has a much greater emphasis on ethics, innovation and reflective practice which we believe will drive positive change in the field of health and safety. So the changes get the thumbs up from iSAFE!
Looking for a Competent source of safety advice?
The team at iSAFE are ready for the changes in iosh membership and will happily demonstrate the high level of competence we hold. So if you are looking for a competent safety consultant, look no further than the team at iSAFE.
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