April 30, 2001

Guidelines for Selecting an Occupational Health and Safety Consultant

Peter P. Greaney , MD
Board-Certified Occupational Physician
President, WorkCare

Health and safety professionals find themselves wearing many hats and handling a multitude of responsibilities. Their work encompasses the span of corporate health and wellness--from directing safety-training meetings, overseeing risk management to ensuring compliance with state and federal agencies. Their duties have become increasingly complex due to expanded governmental regulations, identification of new workplace hazards/exposures and environmental risks, science and technology advancements and new standards in occupational health and safety. To assist in managing these duties, health and safety professionals periodically employ consultants to support them in projects that fall outside their area of expertise or require additional resources. This article discusses guidelines to consider when selecting an occupational health/safety consultant.

The Need for an Occupational Health or Safety Consultant

Employers may use occupational health and safety consultants for a number of reasons, which may include:

Identification of new health, safety or environmental problems which require technical, professional resources beyond what is available in house
A management initiative to redesign, streamline and enhance current health and safety processes and programs
A directive to outsource non-core company functions
Regulatory-driven standards requiring new and/or additional compliance measures
Correcting deficiencies in health and safety programs

Define the Job Before Selecting a Consultant

The company should clearly establish the exact nature of the problem or project, as it will assist in determining the type of consulting required. Discuss the issue with key front-line employees who can provide useful insight on work process opportunities and challenges. Document your findings about the problem and establish the goals and results you are seeking to resolve your problem. This advance work will assist you in narrowing your search for a consultant. Through this process, you may determine that you need a consultant with specialty expertise.

Occupational Health and Safety Consulting Resources

Whether you are seeking an industrial hygienist, certified safety specialist or corporate medical director, ask your colleagues for a "word of mouth" referral. Trade associations can also be a valuable resource when conducting a consultant search. Many of these organizations have consulting referral services which list pre-screened and credentialed consulting members. These agencies include the American Industrial Hygiene Association and the American Society of Safety Engineers. NIOSH also provides an extensive listing of trade associations at http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/00-148e.html . Consulting listings may also be found in the yellow pages and web portals, under the category: Occupational Health, Environmental and Legal Services and Safety Consultants. If applicable, it may also be helpful to visit your competitor's web site to determine whom they are using.

Establish Qualifications Criteria

After you selected a few potential consultants, interview them and use the following checklist to evaluate and rank their qualifications and services.

Review credentials and qualifications to determine their experience and expertise. Health and safety experts should hold proper credentials.
Determine if the consultant is a current member of related trade organizations; determine their status and activity in such organizations (is the consultant considered a leader in their field?).
Review scope of services offered to determine if the consultant has the expertise required for your job assignment. If they have not worked on projects similar to yours, be cautious about entering into an agreement in which the consultant may have to "get up to speed" on the issue. This learning curve may require additional consulting hours-and thus be more expensive than using someone who is familiar with the issues.
Ask the consultant to list and describe case studies similar to your project assignment, and seek references for those clients. This method is more objective and useful than receiving a "preferred" list of referrals from the consultant.
In addition, ask for a list of five current references.
Determine years of experience, competency and retention of staff.
Consider customer service delivery system. Does the consultant have the administrative resources to meet project expectations?
Does the consultant have sufficient technological and business resources to deliver services cost-effectively, efficiently?
Evaluate the financial stability of the company/consultant-as financial performance can affect delivery of services.
Evaluate their work processes. Do they utilize nationally recognized standards for testing methods?
Evaluate their vendor support structure to determine quality control. If laboratory work is a component of the project, determine whether the laboratory is accredited by the American Industrial Hygiene Association.
Consider any possible business relationships that would pose a conflict of interest.
If the project involves sensitive corporate or industry information, determine whether legal council will be required to ensure confidentiality and protect against inappropriate use of data.
Determine renewal rate of contracts and client retention record. What is their rate of repeat client business?
Determine the rate structure-some consultants may offer a project-specific flat rate, versus hourly.
Make sure it's a right fit. The consultant will mostly likely interface with employees, so consider whether the consultant's approach is compatible with those involved from your company.

Project Specifications

Once you have narrowed down the field of consultants based upon your interviews, request a proposal that contains the following information.

Estimated cost of project and variables that would alter original estimate
Scope of Services. This section of the proposal should outline the contracted services to be performed. The methods and action plan to carry out these services should also be detailed with a corresponding timeline for each component, as well as an estimated completion date for final project. Quality control processes should be described as well in this section.
Reporting Standards. This section describes how the results will be measured and reported with a corresponding timeframe.

Final Expectations

Your discussions with the consultant should communicate the exact nature of the project and expectation of results. If the project involves the resolution of a health and safety problem, the consultant should outline the variables that may affect the outcome. Factors influencing a consultant's impact on a project include: How much the client is willing to spend, internal obstacles, depth of problem, and integration of the consultant's work in the client's daily business operations. Because these factors may be out of the consultant's control, a consultant may project anticipated results-and not provide a guarantee of result outcomes. Once the conditions of the proposal satisfy your requirements, both parties will sign a contract according to your agreement. This agreement is usually accepted as a binding contract in a court of law. Implementation and Management: Decide who will be the key liaison with the consultant. If you are not overseeing the consultant, create a process in which you can monitor and evaluate the consultant's performance, identify key issues or roadblocks and resolve issues quickly and fairly. This process in selecting and working with a consultant will streamline the selection process, and define project expectations so that you can obtain maximum results from your consultant.