Quick answer
Choose help with the skills, knowledge and experience needed for your risks, and give the role suitable authority, time and resources. Use specialist advice where the subject requires it. A certificate or consultancy contract alone does not establish competence or remove the employer’s responsibilities.
Why competence depends on the work and decision
A person may be competent for a routine workplace check and need specialist help for a complex exposure or engineering issue. HSE’s competence guidance connects knowledge, skills, experience and the role.
Start by identifying what the business needs help to do. “Manage health and safety” is too vague if the real gap is a particular assessment, technical control or review.
Check capability and the conditions needed to use it
| Check | Evidence or question |
|---|---|
| Relevant competence | What knowledge and experience apply to these activities and risks? |
| Limits | When will the person seek specialist assistance? |
| Authority | Can they obtain information and escalate action to a decision-maker? |
| Time and resources | Is the workload realistic and is support available? |
| Practical output | Will advice explain suitable controls, owners and checks? |
| Role-specific requirements | Are any particular statutory qualifications, appointments or registrations required? |
Choose internal and external help proportionately
In Great Britain, where an existing employee is competent for the relevant assistance role, management regulation 7(8) requires the employer to appoint that person in preference to a competent person outside its employment. HSE’s appointment guidance explains this preference and the employer’s continuing responsibility.
Use suitable additional or specialist external support where the work exceeds the competence or capacity available internally. Check the particular subject rather than assuming one adviser can cover every clinical, engineering, fire or occupational-hygiene question. The GB preference described here must not be automatically treated as the wording of NI law.
Give an external adviser a clear brief
HSE’s adviser-selection guidance recommends checking relevant evidence, experience, suitable insurance and practical advice. Explain the activities, concern, required scope, deliverables and timing.
Agree how site information will be gathered and how the advice will be handed over. Ask how recommendations will be explained, uncertainties addressed and implementation checked. Avoid a long contract simply because the business has not defined a one-off need.
For NI, use the NI framework and HSENI resources and applicable requirements.
Example: recognise the limit of general management knowledge
A supervisor can organise routine inspections but is uncertain whether a process control adequately limits exposure. The business identifies that technical question and seeks relevant specialist support rather than asking the supervisor to certify it from general training alone.
The brief requires a practical explanation of findings, controls and verification. Management assigns action and checks the result.
Common mistakes
- Choosing solely by a certificate title or low price.
- No time or authority for the appointed person.
- Generic paperwork without a site-relevant solution.
- Assuming the employer’s duties have been transferred.
Next steps
Define the decisions and risks needing support, assess the competence already available and identify the gaps. Agree authority and resources internally and a focused brief for any external help.
Check HSE’s adviser-selection guidance — The official criteria help assess relevant capability and practical scope; a course certificate alone cannot settle workplace competence.