Maintain Knowledge of Improvements to Influence Health and Safety Practice
ProQual Level 6 NVQ Diploma in Occupational Health and Safety Practice
Health and safety practice continues to evolve through changes in legislation, guidance, standards, technology and industry best practice. This unit of the ProQual Level 6 NVQ Diploma in Occupational Health and Safety Practice focuses on developing the practical skills required to maintain professional competence, stay informed about developments and use knowledge and influence to improve health and safety practice.
Learners completing this unit will demonstrate competence in identifying reliable sources of information, evaluating new developments, contributing to the profession, maintaining continuous professional development and influencing colleagues and professional groups on health and safety matters.
Unlike traditional classroom-based qualifications, the ProQual Level 6 NVQ Diploma in Occupational Health and Safety Practice is a competency-based qualification assessed through workplace evidence. This means learners demonstrate their ability to apply health and safety knowledge in real workplace situations rather than sitting written examinations.
This unit is particularly relevant for:
Health and Safety Advisors
Health and Safety Officers
Health and Safety Managers
SHEQ Professionals
HSE Managers
Compliance Managers
Operations Managers with health and safety responsibilities
Individuals progressing towards Certified Membership of IOSH (CertIOSH)
By successfully completing this unit, learners will demonstrate their ability to maintain up-to-date health and safety knowledge, contribute to the profession and influence improvements in health and safety practice.
What Does This Unit Mean?
This unit is about ensuring that you remain up to date with developments in health and safety and use that knowledge to influence others and improve health and safety practice.
Health and safety is continually evolving through changes in legislation, guidance, standards, technology, industry practices, research and lessons learned from incidents. Effective health and safety professionals must maintain their professional competence, stay informed about developments and actively share knowledge with others.
In simple terms, this unit is asking:
“Can you keep your health and safety knowledge up to date, contribute to the profession and use your knowledge and influence to improve health and safety practices?”
What Competence Does This Unit Require?
You are expected to demonstrate that you can:
Identify reliable sources of health and safety information.
Evaluate new developments in legislation, guidance, standards and industry practice.
Assess the relevance of new developments.
Promote the adoption of improvements and best practice.
Contribute to professional groups and technical discussions.
Maintain your own continuous professional development.
Participate in professional reviews and discussions.
Share knowledge and experience with others.
Influence colleagues and professional groups on health and safety matters.
Promote the adoption of industry best practice.
Critically evaluate health and safety practices and developments.
The focus is not on attending a single training course or conference.
The focus is on demonstrating that you actively maintain your professional competence, contribute to the profession and influence improvements in health and safety practice.
Evidence Requirements: Unit 10
How do you keep your health and safety knowledge up to date?
Maps to AC 1.1
Evidence Examples:
CPD records, webinar attendance records, conference attendance records, professional membership records, technical articles reviewed or training records.
A short note on which sources you rely on and why; for example why you treat HSE guidance, professional body updates or particular journals as trustworthy for your industry, and how you judge whether a source is reliable.
Evidence showing how the information was accessed or reviewed.
How do you evaluate the relevance of new health and safety developments?
Maps to AC 1.2
Evidence Examples:
An email, briefing note, presentation, management report or meeting minutes discussing a new legal requirement, guidance document, standard, technology or industry development.
Evidence showing how its relevance or impact on the organisation was assessed.
How do you promote the adoption of new developments and best practice?
Maps to ACs 1.3 and 2.6
Evidence Examples:
A presentation, toolbox talk, briefing, email, newsletter or meeting record where you shared new developments or best practice with others.
Evidence showing that recommendations or improvements were considered or implemented.
How do you contribute to the development of the health and safety profession?
Maps to AC 1.4
Evidence Examples:
Evidence of participation in a professional institution, professional group, technical forum, industry event or professional discussion.
Evidence showing your contribution, such as meeting minutes, presentation slides, discussion records, articles or event participation records.
How do you maintain your own continuous professional development?
Maps to AC 1.5
Evidence Examples:
A CPD record, professional development plan, training record or professional learning log.
Evidence showing completed development activities and learning achieved.
How do you identify opportunities to participate in professional discussions and reviews?
Maps to AC 2.1
Evidence Examples:
Evidence of participation in webinars, conferences, committee meetings, professional forums, networking events or technical discussions.
Evidence showing your attendance, involvement or contribution.
The same activity may provide evidence for questions 4, 6 and 7: you do not need different events for each; what matters is showing how you found the opportunity, that you took part, and what you contributed.
How do you contribute to professional groups, committees and forums?
Maps to AC 2.2
Evidence Examples:
Meeting minutes, committee records, forum records, working group records or event records showing your participation.
Evidence showing actions, recommendations, presentations or contributions made by you.
How do you influence the policies and practices of professional organisations and industry groups?
Maps to AC 2.3
Evidence Examples:
Evidence that you contributed to shaping something beyond your own organisation; for example a response to an HSE or industry consultation, a proposal or comment that fed into a trade association's or professional body's guidance, a contribution to an industry working group's output, or a motion or proposal at a professional branch or committee.
Evidence showing what happened to your contribution; for example the published consultation response, updated guidance, minutes recording your proposal, or acknowledgement received.
How do you share and critically discuss health and safety best practice with others?
Maps to AC 2.4
Evidence Examples:
A presentation, toolbox talk, training session, professional discussion record, article, newsletter or briefing that you prepared or delivered.
Evidence showing that the information was shared with others and discussed; for example questions raised, points debated or feedback received, not just one-way delivery.
How do you influence colleagues and others to adopt improved health and safety practices?
Maps to AC 2.5
Evidence Examples:
An email, coaching record, meeting minutes, presentation, action plan or improvement initiative showing that you encouraged or supported others to improve health and safety practices.
Evidence showing that actions, improvements or changes resulted from your involvement.
How do you ensure that your professional development and influence activities remain effective?
Supports AC 1.5 (supplementary; reflection on your CPD strengthens your Question 5 evidence, and review evidence of this kind is assessed in Unit 09)
Evidence Examples:
A CPD review, annual appraisal, professional development review, committee review or feedback record evaluating your professional development activities and contributions.
Evidence showing improvements made, feedback received or future development actions identified.
Some of your evidence against one Assessment Criterion may also be used to meet the requirements in other assessment criteria (Where applicable).
Important Note for Learners
The competence requirements outlined above describe the practical workplace activities, systems, processes and records that may be used to demonstrate competence against this unit.
As this is a competency-based qualification, learners are expected to demonstrate that they can apply their health and safety knowledge and skills within their own workplace or working environment.
In addition to the competence-based assessment criteria, this unit also contains a number of knowledge-based assessment criteria. These are typically assessed through:
Written responses
Professional discussions with the assessor
Assessor questioning
In most cases, the knowledge-based assessment criteria relate directly to the same workplace activities, systems and processes described above. Learners will therefore often find that the workplace evidence gathered to demonstrate competence also helps them prepare for and satisfy the knowledge assessment requirements.