Did you know?
If you have an undertaking that employs or uses workers, then you have a legal duty to ensure that you have access to competent occupational hygiene advice.
Register of Occupational Hygiene Professionals
The Register of Occupational Hygiene Professionals is the UK’s regulated professional register of individuals competent to practice Occupational Hygiene and provide you with the necessary advice and expertise to help you protect the health of your workforce.
What is the Register of Occupational Hygiene Professionals?
The Register of Occupational Hygiene Professionals is administered by the Faculty of Occupational Hygiene, the Professional Standards Body for the British Occupational Hygiene Profession.
Whether you are employing someone to provide occupational hygiene advice in-house or have employed the services of a company, you need to check that the person giving you advice is competent to do so.
The Register enables you to check an individual’s level of expertise and to see whether they have been independently verified as meeting the requirements outlined in Regulation 7 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regs 1999'. If they are not on the Register, even if they are registered with another professional body, then there has not been an independent check of their training, experience and other attributes. It is your duty to ensure that you have undertaken appropriate due diligence to verify these matters yourself.
General Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
The Register consists of searchable fields which will enable you to check whether an individual is on the register, their status and location of operation.
The Register is being rolled out during the first half of 2023. Initially, the register will largely consist of fully-qualified Occupational Hygienists who are already members of the Faculty of Occupational Hygiene. These are individuals who are verified as being competent to undertake the full range of occupational hygiene tasks. Over coming months, the register will start enrolling trainees and technicians, as well as other professionals, all of whom will have some competence to provide occupational hygiene services, but normally within a restricted category of activities or subject to supervision by a qualified occupational hygienist.
If you need advice on how effective measures are in controlling workplace health risks, you need a competent occupational hygienist, and such individuals should be on the register. 'You should also consult the BOHS Buyers Guide for Occupational Hygiene Services, the use of which is supported by the HSE. If you do seek occupational hygiene services from other sources, it is your legal duty to check that they have professional qualifications and experience that will enable them to give you the advice that you need.
There is a complaints procedure here to enable you to complain about services received from a Registered Professional.
If a person is not on the Register, but providing occupational hygiene advice, you can let us know. We may not be able to take action, but may be able to provide further guidance on next steps.
Registration is subject to a check on the appropriate level of qualification, experience and other due diligence checks. Registrants have to commit to continuing professional development to stay up to date and to our Code of Ethics which binds them to professional standards.
The Register of Occupational Hygiene Professionals is the only register that verifies individuals and which specifically checks their professional competence status.
The Directory of Occupational Hygiene Services (bohs.org) is a paid-for directory of businesses providing occupational hygiene services, while the Occupational Safety and Health Register (oshcr.org) also includes some providers of commercial Occupational Hygiene Services. These should be used alongside the Register of Occupational Hygiene Professionals to ensure that current staff have the appropriate qualifications and experience.
When choosing a firm, you may also wish to refer to the BOHS Buyers Guide for Occupational Hygiene Services to help you make good procurement decisions. You may also wish to refer to the Good Practice Guide for Occupational Hygiene Consultants to determine the appropriate standards of service.
The Register is funded through the registration fees of the Professionals listed and is subsidised through the charitable work of the British Occupational Hygiene Society, an independent scientific organisation and the Chartered Society for Worker Health Protection. For more information contact membership@bohs.org
The Register is a voluntary statutory register. That means that the Register is maintained under strict conditions. It is possible for a person to provide services without being registered and without it being unlawful, but such an individual would need to be able to evidence their competence, training, and attributes. A user of their services would need to demonstrate that they undertook due diligence to ensure that they were a competent person in accordance with Regulation 7 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.