Health & Safety
External Competent Person Service
A named, qualified competent person appointed under Regulation 7 - with the time and the authority to actually do the job, which is the part most appointments miss.
From £250 a month. Appointment in place in two to three weeks.
Do you need a competent person? Yes.
Every employer in Great Britain must appoint one or more competent persons under Regulation 7 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999. It isn't optional, it doesn't scale down with company size, and there's no headcount threshold below which it stops applying.
But “competent person” isn't one appointment. It's at least five separate duties across five pieces of legislation, and the Regulation 7 appointment covers one of them.
What Regulation 7 actually requires
Regulation 7 requires you to appoint one or more competent persons to assist you in complying with your legal obligations. Three things follow from that, and firms routinely miss all three.
The appointment has to be real. Named, aware they have been appointed, and given the time and the authority to act on what they find.
Internal comes first in principle. The regulation prefers a competent person from within your own business where one exists. Where one doesn't, external appointment is entirely proper and explicitly provided for.
Competence is judged against your risks. A general certificate does not make someone competent for LEV, confined spaces, or a process handling hazardous substances at scale.
The regulations do define competence, and it's broader than a qualification list. Regulation 7(5) says a person is competent where they have “sufficient training and experience or knowledge and other qualities” to properly assist. “Other qualities” is doing a lot of work in that sentence — it's where authority, judgement and standing in the business live, and it's why a certificate on its own has never been enough.
“Competent person” is five different duties
Most businesses have one person in mind when they think about this, and one appointment on file. The law asks for more than that. These are five distinct duties, under five different pieces of legislation, and holding one does not discharge the others.
1
Assisting with health and safety
Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, reg 7
Someone to help you comply with your statutory duties generally — the appointment most people mean.
Advisory2
Fire safety
Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, art 18
A separate appointment for fire preventive and protective measures. Near-identical wording to Regulation 7, and routinely forgotten.
Advisory3
Thorough examination of lifting equipment
Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998, reg 9 LOLER
Every 6 months for anything lifting people or for lifting accessories, every 12 months for other lifting equipment.
Technical4
Inspection of work equipment
Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998, reg 6 PUWER
Inspection after installation, and at intervals where equipment deteriorates.
Technical5
Written scheme of examination
Pressure Systems Safety Regulations 2000, reg 8 PSSR
The scheme itself must be drawn up or certified as suitable by a competent person.
TechnicalAdvisorySomeone whose job is to help you get it right. The two appointments we can hold for you.
TechnicalCompetence specific to the equipment. Held by an examiner or inspector, not by an adviser — and not by us.
What we can be, and what we can't
Plenty of consultancies are vague about this. We'd rather be exact, because the distinction matters and because you'll find out eventually anyway.
What we can hold
Your Regulation 7 competent person, and your Article 18 fire safety appointment.
Both are advisory duties. They ask for training, experience, knowledge of your operation and the standing to act on what we find.
Named on your documentation, with a written statement of the arrangement for your files, your insurer and your customers.
What we can't hold
LOLER thorough examinations, PUWER inspections on specialist plant, and PSSR written schemes.
Those need engineering competence specific to the equipment, and normally sit with an inspection body or your insurer's engineer surveyor. A general safety qualification doesn't cover them, and anyone telling you otherwise is selling.
What we do instead is make sure they exist, that they're in date, and that the reports get actioned — which is the part that actually fails.
That's the honest shape of it. We hold two of the five, we coordinate the other three, and we'll tell you which is which in writing rather than leaving it implied.
Is your appointment real?
Most manufacturers we meet are covered on paper and thin in practice. Here's the test an inspector, an auditor or an insurer will actually apply. If you can't answer yes to all five, the appointment probably doesn't hold.
1
2
3
4
Can you name them?
The commonest failure. The name on the form left two years ago, or nobody can produce the appointment in writing at all.
Do they know they've been appointed?
Genuinely common. Somebody's name went on a document during an audit and was never mentioned to them.
Is their competence current and relevant to your risks?
A certificate from 2019 and a career in offices doesn't make someone competent for machinery guarding or LEV.
Do they have time in the week to do it?
The one that catches people out. Appointing your production manager and giving him no hours fails the test regardless of his qualifications.
5
Do they have the authority to stop something?
If raising a concern means being overruled by someone more senior, the appointment isn't real. This is where “other qualities” in Regulation 7(5) bites.
Why firms appoint externally
01
Nobody internally is qualified
Common below 200 staff, and normal in businesses that have grown fast.
02
Qualified, but no capacity
The certificate exists. The time doesn't.
03
Yours has just left
The duty doesn't pause while you recruit.
04
A customer or insurer asked
The answer needs to be better than a name on a wall.
05
A second opinion in the building
An internal person plus an external one is stronger than either alone.
None of this conflicts with the preference for internal appointment. Where you have a competent employee, they should be appointed — and the strongest arrangement is usually both: your person, supported by ours, which is how most well-run sites do it.
What we cover
- ✓A named individual whose details go on your documentation, not a call-centre rota
- ✓Reasonable access between visits for the questions that can't wait
- ✓Review and sign-off of your risk assessments and method statements
- ✓Legal register and compliance monitoring, so a change in the law doesn't pass you by
- ✓Health and safety policy and arrangements reviewed and kept current
- ✓Incident and near-miss support, including investigation and RIDDOR judgement calls
- ✓Attendance at HSE or enforcement visits where required
- ✓A written annual statement of the arrangement for your files, your insurer and your customers
Visit frequency is set by your risk profile rather than a standard template. A single-shift assembly operation doesn't need the same cadence as a two-site business running hot work and forklifts across three shifts.
What appointing us does not do
It does not transfer your legal duties. Those stay with the employer and with directors personally, and no consultant can take them off you. What the appointment does is give you competent assistance, which is exactly what the regulation asks for, and evidence that you took the duty seriously.
We also don't sign off things we haven't seen. Where a piece of plant or a process falls outside what we can properly assess, we say so and bring in a specialist rather than put a signature on it.
What it costs
Anchor
£250/ month
Named competent person, remote support, document review and two site visits a year, with an annual scored compliance review.
Suits: the floor for a genuine appointment rather than a paper one.
Active
£500/ month
Quarterly site days, an internal audit programme, risk assessment reviews and an annual Compliance Health Check.
Suits: most manufacturers with real process risk.
Common questions
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No, but the regulations do express a preference. Regulation 7(8) says that where there is a competent person in your employment, they should be appointed ahead of an external one - and the Fire Safety Order says the same thing in almost identical words at Article 18(8). Where nobody internal is competent for your risks, external appointment is entirely proper and explicitly provided for. In practice the strongest arrangement is usually both.
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None specified, which surprises people. Regulation 7(5) defines competence as “sufficient training and experience or knowledge and other qualities” to properly assist. In practice an inspector or insurer looks at relevant qualifications, experience of your kind of operation, understanding of your specific hazards, and - the one that catches people out - whether they have the time and authority to act.
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Almost never. There are at least five separate duties across different regulations. The first two are advisory; the last three need engineering competence specific to the equipment and normally sit with an inspection body or your insurer's engineer surveyor.
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Competent person is a legal appointment with a named duty attached to it. Health and safety advisor is a job description. Plenty of advisors are competent persons and vice versa, but they aren't the same thing - you can employ an advisor and still not have made a valid appointment.
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No, and be wary of anyone who implies otherwise. The duties stay with the employer and with directors personally. What the appointment gives you is competent assistance, which is precisely what the regulation asks for, plus evidence that you took the duty seriously.
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Usually two to three weeks from first call. The duty doesn't pause while you recruit, so if you're currently without one, that gap is worth closing quickly even if you intend to replace the role internally later.
Not sure your appointment would stand up?
If you can't say who holds the five duties, that's a twenty-minute conversation and we'll tell you either way.
Where we work. Greater Manchester and the North West as standard: Manchester, Bolton, Bury, Stockport, Rochdale, Oldham, Preston, Blackburn, Warrington and Trafford. Appointments elsewhere in the UK where the travel works for both sides.