Continuing

professional
development
Summary guidance
Your self-assessment
Plot your professional development with Blueprint
Do you want to be more effective in your role? Do you want to progress your health and
safety career?
Assessing your capability is the first step on your enhanced professional journey.
Our Blueprint self-assessment tool is mapped to our competency framework, which covers
all the skills, knowledge and behaviours needed to excel in your occupational safety and
health (OSH) career.
You’ll complete a self-assessment for each of our three competency areas – technical, core
and behavioural. It’s easy to do – just follow the instructions on screen. This will help you
identify your strengths along with areas for improvement.
The next step is to build your personal development plan (PDP) based on the results of your
self-assessment, career stage and/or aspirations. You may want to maintain existing skills,
develop new ones or both. The whole process will take around two hours.
You can access your plan any time via the Blueprint tool. Click on the different development
areas to discover all the IOSH CPD resources that can help you.
The final step is to add relevant activities to your CPD record, to reflect on what you have
learnt and achieved since taking the self-assessment.
Take your self-assessment now
This self-assessment tool is part of IOSH’s new and enhanced Blueprint package, which
also includes CPD resources, your CPD record and IOSH Ethical Practice in OSH e-learning
and assessment. Read more about Opportunity starts here, our programme of work to
support your professional journey.

Your CPD
What is continuing professional development (CPD)?
CPD is an investment in yourself. It’s a career-long process of improvement, keeping your
skills and knowledge up to date through development activities and then recording and
reflecting on what you have gained or achieved.

It’s about testing the limits of your competency and recognising that you have more to learn.
And it works best when it is relevant and personal to you.

IOSH’s CPD gives you the opportunity to create a structured career path and safeguard your
professional status. Use our self-assessment tool to identify any skill gaps (technical, core,
behavioural). You’ll then complete a personal development plan to refresh or expand your
knowledge and experience.

You’re probably already doing your CPD without realising it! Check out our examples, which
are all recognised ways of learning and count towards your CPD:
• meeting with colleagues to get a better understanding of a particular issue
• attending webinars to fill a gap in your knowledge
• reading up on the latest developments in the profession
 • shadowing colleagues to gain fresh insights and approaches.

Your learning activities will vary according to your role, sector and experience as well as the
areas you need to develop.

But wherever you are in your career, and whatever you want to achieve, your CPD should
enable you to develop your skills and knowledge and build on and learn from your
experiences.

How IOSH CPD works

There are four stages in IOSH’s CPD process.

1. Assess and plan

As a member, you are required to assess your current knowledge and skills level, your future
goals and how CPD learning activities will enable you to achieve these goals. You can do
this by using IOSH’s Blueprint self-assessment tool and completing your personal
development plan.

2. Learn
You can do this through a variety of CPD activities. Our Blueprint system will suggest
development options, based on the outcome of your self-assessment.

3. Record
You should record your activities and the total number of CPD hours. Technical, Graduate
and Chartered Members and Chartered Fellows must complete and record 30 hours of CPD
each year – a requirement of membership at these grades. Anyone who does not comply will
revert to Affiliate status, a level of membership where CPD isn’t mandatory. We recommend
30 hours of CPD as good practice for our Affiliate and Student Members.

4. Apply and reflect

An important part of CPD is reflecting on what you have learnt and how you have put this
into practice. You should capture this in reflective statements, which also identify any
strengths or areas for further improvement or learning to enable you to continually grow. This
reflection will inform the next cycle of planning, action and reflection.

Continuing professional development (CPD)

1 Assess and plan 2 Learn

Assess your capability Undertake your planned
and develop your CPD and acquire your
professional plan skills and knowledge

4 Apply and reflect 3 Record

Apply your knowledge Log and provide
and skills and reflect evidence of your CPD
on your learning
How CPD benefits you

The world of work is rapidly changing and it’s important that occupational safety and health
(OSH professionals) keep their knowledge and skills up to date. Qualifications can only take
you so far – but CPD ensures you keep pace with the evolving demands of the OSH
professional.

CPD enables you to:

• build confidence and credibility
• respond to change by keeping your skills and knowledge current
• meet your career goals by addressing gaps in your personal development plan
• create a professional impression at appraisals and job interviews
• benefit from greater career choice and employment mobility
• maximise your earning potential
• show your employer that you are maintaining and developing your skills.

By recording your CPD, you can track your learning and progress. And, by using IOSH’s
CPD framework, you can set yourself apart from other OSH professionals.

Remember, to get the most from CPD, activities should address your individual personal
development needs.

How CPD benefits your organisation

We’ve highlighted how CPD can help you, but it also benefits the organisation you work for.
It does this through:
• improving workplace performance
• building skills and confidence
• boosting morale and motivation
• unlocking talent and potential within the organisation.

It is particularly valuable to organisations when the CPD choices you make support your
contribution to business plans and objectives. Plus, by undertaking CPD, you demonstrate
your commitment to self-development and competence, adding real value to your
organisation.

Find out more about ‘your CPD’ and check out our FAQs in the Blueprint help and support
section. If you need further support, our dedicated CPD Team will be happy to help.

CPD learning activities

Individual members are best placed to determine their CPD needs and how to meet them,
using IOSH’s Blueprint package.

We recommend members engage in a mix of formal and informal learning activities and
below are some examples.

Work-based learning
Experience gained in current role through:
• on-the-job training
• work shadowing
• secondment
 • job rotation
• coaching
• writing reports
• projects out of scope of role
• peer review of own work
• discussions with colleagues.

Professional activity

Participating in the work of a professional body, which develops the skills and knowledge of
other professionals, such as:
• mentoring (mentee/mentor)
• delivering presentations
• professional committees/panels
• writing/authoring
• lecturing/teaching (non-role)
• job promotion
• attending exhibitions
• reading professional journals
• professional networking
• being an expert witness.

Formal learning

Taking part in activities leading to academic/professional qualifications:

• qualification
• training course
• e-learning (assessed)
• e-learning (not assessed), eg webinars
• attending conferences
• attending seminars/presentations
• writing articles or papers.

Self-directed learning

Individual taking the initiative to boost skills:

• general reading
• research on the internet
• informal networking (eg social media).

Other

Activities that may not require health and safety expertise, but help develop valuable
transferrable skills:
• voluntary work
• public service
• acquiring non-work-related skills.

CPD audits
Why does CPD matter?

CPD is a commitment to continuous learning and development. It helps members maintain

and progress their skills and knowledge, as required by the IOSH Code of Conduct.
CPD completion is mandatory for Technical, Graduate and Chartered Members and
Chartered Fellows, as stated in IOSH’s membership terms and conditions.

IOSH undertakes audits to verify that members remain compliant. These take place on a
quarterly basis, ie January, April, July and October in every calendar year. An ‘audit point’
starts when a random sample of members is selected for that quarter’s audit.

Who will be selected for a CPD audit?

Anyone at the following grades – Technical, Graduate and Chartered Members and
Chartered Fellows – can be selected. This is because CPD is mandatory at these levels.

Members who have had a career break – eg for redundancy, parental leave or retirement –
and not completed their CPD within the 12-month period will be required to provide evidence
of their career break as part of the process.

Why am I being audited?

There are three possible reasons:

• you have been selected as part of a random rolling audit
• you are progressing towards another membership grade
• you are about to attend a Peer Review Interview (for those following the IPD route to
Chartered Membership).

Auditing enables IOSH to verify your CPD compliance by reviewing the evidence in your
CPD record.

How will I pass the CPD audit? (For members using Blueprint who aren’t on the IPD
scheme)

First, you need to complete your self-assessment in Blueprint, which will help you to identify
gaps in your skills and knowledge. The next step is to complete your personal development
plan, also sitting in Blueprint. You will be able to identify areas for development based on the
standards set in IOSH’s competency framework as well as select topics that you want to
learn more about.

You should provide details of at least one CPD activity every other month, including a title,
description, number of hours you wish to log and a meaningful reflective statement. Your
reflection should include how useful your learning has been, how you have put this into
practice, any strengths or areas for improvement and any further learning to enable you to
continually grow.

You can add as many activities as you want, however you need to log a minimum of six
activities/30 hours over each 12-month CPD cycle.

How will I pass the CPD audit? (For members on the IPD scheme using the CPD
platform)

You will need to complete a development plan, showing how you have either maintained or
improved your skills, and provide information/make notes that cover the following:
• a job description, highlighting your main duties and responsibilities
• your career aims and objectives
• details of your strengths and weaknesses
• a summary of the skills, or areas of expertise or knowledge, you want to update.
You should provide details of at least one CPD activity every other month (minimum six
activities per 12-month period) along with a meaningful reflective statement, which covers:
• what the activity was
• why you did it
• what you learnt/gained from the activity
• how the knowledge/skills will help you going forward.
An activity is anything you undertake that you feel updates, maintains or enhances your
knowledge, skills or expertise. It should also contribute to the goal(s) set out in your
development plan. We advise each activity should take up a minimum of 30 minutes of your
time.

How do I know that the audit process is both fair and robust?

The process is administered by IOSH’s Professional Development and Standards Team and
undertaken by CPD co-ordinators who are also trained assessors. The CPD co-ordinator will
make a professional judgment as to whether the member’s CPD record meets IOSH’s
requirements. The member will be informed of the outcome and receive written feedback.

What type of evidence will be considered during the audit review?

As a minimum, the following evidence will be checked.

• A minimum of six activities or 30 hours’ CPD has been logged across the year.
• A reflective statement has been completed for each logged CPD entry.
• Reflective statements clearly describe the new or consolidated learning and how this
will be applied to future working practice.
• A valid IOSH Ethical Practice in OSH e-learning and assessment has been held
continuously for the prior 12 months with no breaks (mandatory for Chartered
Members and Chartered Fellows).

How will I know an audit is taking place?

A colleague from IOSH’s Professional Development and Standards Team will notify
members that their CPD records are required for audit as well as communicate the outcome
by email.

What happens if I have not updated my CPD record in either the current CPD platform
or Blueprint?

You will be asked to respond promptly to a request to submit your CPD evidence and
provide a date for doing this. If you do not reply, you will be advised via email that you have
two more weeks to respond. At the end of this period, a colleague in our Professional
Development and Standards Team will contact you to confirm the start of the withdrawal
process – ie reverting your membership to Affiliate level – if CPD is mandatory for your
grade.

How will my CPD evidence be graded?

Your CPD will be marked as follows.
• Accepted – no further input is required.
• Accepted only with further information – the member will be re-entered into the
sample pool within the cycle for the calendar year (to provide them with an
opportunity to evidence continued CPD activity and recording in the required way).
 • Rejected – the member will be offered the opportunity to appeal against the decision
of the CPD Audit Panel and provide further NEW information within two weeks for
consideration. There is a fee to appeal, which will be refunded if the appeal is
successful.
If you need further help, please email the team, putting CPD audit help and your
membership number in the subject line.