Health and safety consultants for ongoing, competent support
A named adviser who knows your business, keeps your safety paperwork current and is there when a question comes up, from a Wigan-based consultancy working across the North West.
Many employers need health and safety consultants on call rather than for a single visit. Resilient Consult provides retained support: we act as the competent person you are required to appoint, write and maintain your core documents, visit your sites and answer questions as they arise. You get one adviser who learns how your organisation works, so advice fits the jobs your people actually do. When the law or guidance changes, we tell you what it means for you and update the paperwork, instead of leaving you to find out at an inspection.
The arrangement suits organisations without a full-time safety professional on the payroll: contractors, property managers, schools, charities and growing firms. It also works alongside an in-house lead who wants a second opinion and someone to share the load. We agree the scope at the start, including how often we visit and what we produce, and review it as your work changes.
Ask for a proposalWhat retained health and safety support covers
Competent person appointment
We are named as your competent person for health and safety, with the role and its limits written down so everyone knows who to ask.
Policy and arrangements
Your health and safety policy, responsibilities and arrangements kept up to date and signed off, rather than written once and filed away.
Risk assessments
General and task risk assessments, COSHH assessments and RAMS written or reviewed as your activities change.
Site and premises visits
Planned visits to offices, sites or premises, with a short written note of what we saw and what needs doing.
Advice when you need it
Questions answered by email as they come up: a new contract, a near miss, a tender question or a letter from an enforcing authority.
Legal and guidance updates
When regulations or HSE guidance change, we explain what applies to you and update the affected documents.
Why the law asks you to have competent help
Regulation 7 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 requires every employer to appoint one or more competent persons to help them meet their health and safety duties. Competence means sufficient training and experience or knowledge and other qualities, and the employer must give those people enough time and means to do the job. Where someone suitable already works for you, the law prefers them, so we are happy to support an in-house lead rather than replace them.
The same regulations require a suitable and sufficient risk assessment (regulation 3) and arrangements for planning, organising, controlling, monitoring and reviewing your safety measures (regulation 5). Section 2(3) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 requires a written policy statement, which HSE says must be written down where you have five or more employees. HSE is also clear that using an outside adviser does not transfer the duty: it stays with you, and our job is to help you meet it.
What you receive under a retained arrangement
- Written competent person appointment and agreed scope
- Health and safety policy with organisation and arrangements
- Register of risk assessments, COSHH assessments and RAMS with review dates
- Visit notes with actions, owners and target dates
- Written advice on specific questions, kept on file
- Briefing notes when relevant law or guidance changes
- Periodic summary of open actions and progress
How it runs
Initial conversation
We talk through what you do, how many people you employ, where you work and what is already in place.
Baseline review
We look at your existing documents and visit at least one site or premises to see how things run day to day.
Agree the arrangement
We set out in writing what we will produce, how often we visit and how you contact us, then fix any urgent gaps first.
Ongoing support
Visits, reviews and advice continue on the agreed cycle, and the scope is revisited when your work or the law changes.
How we run retained support
You deal with one adviser at Resilient Consult, led by director Adrian Heaton, who keeps track of your documents, actions and review dates. The same contact can pick up related work in fire safety and construction compliance, so a question about a fire door or a CDM duty does not mean starting again with someone new.
Some tasks need specialist equipment or certification, such as asbestos surveys, legionella risk assessments, workplace air monitoring or training courses. We arrange those through vetted specialist partners who hold the relevant qualifications and third-party certification for that work, and you see the certificates. We scope the job, check the report and fold the findings into your records.
Who we do this for
Related health and safety services
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Questions about health and safety consultancy
All questionsDo we have to use an outside health and safety consultant?
No. The law requires you to appoint competent help, and if someone in your organisation has the right training, experience and time, they should be your first choice. Outside consultants make sense when nobody in house has that competence or capacity, or when the work is varied or higher risk. We can also act as a sounding board for an internal lead, which often works better than handing everything over.
Does appointing you make you responsible for our health and safety?
No. As HSE puts it, managing health and safety remains your legal duty even when you use an outside adviser. Our role is to give you competent advice, prepare documents, carry out visits and flag what needs doing. Decisions and day-to-day management stay with you and your managers, and our written appointment makes that division clear so nobody assumes the other party is covering a task.
How often will you visit?
That depends on your activities and risk. An office-based organisation may only need an occasional review visit, while a contractor with several live sites may want regular site inspections. We agree a visiting pattern at the start, write it into the arrangement and change it if your work changes. Extra visits can be arranged around a new contract, an incident or an inspection.
Can you help with things like CHAS, training or fire risk assessments as well?
Yes. Retained support sits alongside our other services, so the same contact can arrange SSIP accreditation support, training courses through our partners, fire risk assessments and asbestos or legionella work. Each of those has its own page explaining the detail. The advantage of a retained arrangement is that the results all end up in one set of records that we keep current for you.
Who actually carries out the surveys and works?
We scope, manage and check every job ourselves. Specialist parts, such as fire surveys and remedial works, asbestos surveys, legionella assessments, training and alarm installations, are carried out through vetted specialist partners who hold the relevant qualifications and third-party certification for that work. You see their certificates. We remain your single point of contact and check both the work and the paperwork before it reaches you.
Do you work with contractors?
Yes. We help contractors with risk assessments and method statements, COSHH assessments, written policies and preparation for SSIP schemes such as CHAS, SafeContractor and Constructionline. On projects we can support clients and principal contractors with CDM duties, and we work alongside main contractors when managing fire remedials, so the people on site have clear information and the right paperwork before they start.
Tell us what you need.
What it is, where it is and what you need checked, fixed or managed. You get a scope and a written proposal back.
- adrian@resilientconsult.uk
- Based
- Wigan-based, working across the North West