A critical review of occupational safety and health practitioner competence frameworks

The value proposition for OSH professionals as summarised by key studies prove that the employment of safety professional in the construction industry led to improved Accident Incidence Rate or reduced number of workplace fatalities. Studies of the competencies required of OSH professionals however are limited and focus mostly on professionals in USA. One recent study of Chinese safety professional found that Teamwork, ‘Personal traits’, Communication & Decision-making, Problem solving and Professional EHS knowledge are key (grouped) competencies for professionals. The requirement for UK employers to appoint a competent person or persons to assist them in undertaking the measures needed to comply with statutory health and safety requirements imposed upon them is a cornerstone of UK health and safety regulation. Competence, here is defined as sufficient training and experience or knowledge and other qualities. The INSHPO Capability Framework outlines in more detail the requisite knowledge. However, as IOSH have recognised, this did not go far enough to describe those other qualities and so launched Blueprint 2.0 in 2022, developed through consultation with selected focus groups of OSH professionals, recruiters and senior leaders. More recently, some recruiters have developed their own competency models which sought to identify those competencies associated with best candidates. Overall, there appears to be little consideration to those competencies that lead to superior performance of professionals. This paper provides a critical review of existing literature associated with competence frameworks for OSH professionals to allow researchers and professionals to adopt current understanding of this topic.