Qualifications vs. Competence: Is Health & Safety Really a Profession? (with Dr. David Thomas)

Are more letters after your name actually making you a better safety professional, or just better at collecting certificates? In this episode of the Safety Roundtable, Christian Harris is joined by Dr. David Thomas, Senior Lecturer and Programme Lead for Health and Safety Management at Middlesex University, for a candid and at times controversial look at how the industry qualifies, and misqualifies, its people.

Drawing on 30+ years of practice, including his time as a Section 98 appointee under the Mines and Quarries Act, David shares the story that first got him questioning "competence": a safety professional from head office who could flag a loose drainpipe but had no idea whether a 33,000-volt electrical supply was safe. From there, the conversation ranges across NEBOSH certificates and diplomas, degree apprenticeships, IOSH accreditation limits, the IIRSM competency framework, and the murky gap between what a Level 6 or Level 7 qualification is supposed to mean and what it actually delivers on the ground.

Topics covered include:

- Why "competent person" doesn't have to mean "health and safety professional"

- The mismatch between academic qualification levels and professional membership grades

- Why recruiters default to naming a NEBOSH award without understanding what it actually assesses

- Career ceilings in OSH; and why safety professionals rarely make it to MD or Chief People Officer

- How generative AI is upending assessment and forcing universities to rethink how competency is tested

- Advice for people starting out in safety, risk, and OSH careers today

With live audience questions from practitioners across offshore, construction, education, and consultancy, this is a wide-ranging debate about what it really means to be "qualified", and whether the profession has been chasing the wrong metric all along.

Got thoughts on qualifications vs. competency in health and safety? Join the conversation on LinkedIn and let us know where you stand.