Health and Safety Competent Person in Blackpool
Every employer needs a competent person to help them manage health and safety. Marksafety can be that person for your Blackpool business, with a Chartered practitioner you can actually talk to and no long contracts.
- Chartered practitioner with 20+ years' experience
- Named competent person from £125 a month
- No long-term ties, just one month's notice
Book a Free Virtual Coffee With Mark
What Is a Health and Safety Competent Person?
The law says every employer must appoint someone competent to help them meet their health and safety duties. It’s one of the rules small businesses miss most often, usually because nobody ever told them it existed.
What the law says
Regulation 7 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 requires you to appoint one or more competent persons. That means someone with enough training, knowledge and experience to give you sound advice. It applies whether you employ two people or fifty. Sooner or later, an insurer, a client or an inspector may ask who your competent person is. You need a clear answer.
What a competent person does
Put simply, they help you spot the hazards in your business and put sensible controls in place. That includes keeping your policy and risk assessments up to date, advising on training and helping you respond after an accident. Formal qualifications aren’t a legal must, although they’re strong evidence that your adviser knows their stuff.
Why most small firms use an outside adviser
According to the HSE’s guidance on appointing a competent person, you can appoint yourself, a member of staff or someone from outside your business. If nobody in house has a safety background, an external adviser is the sensible choice. You get expert support when you need it, without paying a full-time salary. Just remember that the legal duty itself always stays with you as the employer.
Your Local Competent Person in Blackpool
Marksafety is an award-winning Chartered health and safety practice based in Poulton-le-Fylde, just a few miles from Blackpool town centre. We support small businesses, charities and projects across the Fylde Coast and wider Lancashire.
Qualified and registered
Mark Prince is a Chartered Health and Safety Practitioner with over 20 years in the industry. He’s a member of IOSH, listed on the Occupational Safety and Health Consultants Register (OSHCR) and accredited by the IFSM. Every OSHCR consultant holds chartered-level membership of their professional body, carries professional indemnity insurance and keeps their training up to date. Mark is also the author of Six Essential Elements, a simple blueprint for managing safety in a small business. You can even hear him talk about it on Real Life Radio.
Who we work with
Our clients include cleaning firms, property and maintenance businesses, tradespeople, charities and solo founders. Whether you’ve just started out or you’re taking on your first employees, most have no one in house to look after safety. That’s exactly where we fit in.
Close by and easy to reach
Because we’re local, site visits in Blackpool, Lytham St Annes, Thornton-Cleveleys, Poulton and Fleetwood are easy to arrange. Plenty of our work happens online too, so video calls and shared documents keep things moving between visits. We’re open 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday, with out-of-hours appointments available. For quick questions, you can message Mark directly on WhatsApp.
What Our Competent Person Service Includes
Our monthly safety subscriptions are designed for new and small organisations. You choose the level of support that suits you, and you can change or stop with one month’s notice. No long contracts, no hidden costs.
Reactive, £59.95 a month
Certification showing you have access to professional safety advice. You also get an emergency consultation if you face a claim, incident or enforcement visit, plus an annual Directors’ Review.
Active, £125 a month (most popular)
Everything in Reactive, with Marksafety as your legal named competent person. We draft key documents tailored to your business and hold a monthly online check-in with you. Your first “can you just” request each month is covered too.
Proactive, £245 a month
Everything in Active, plus a bespoke safety programme with monthly action prompts so nothing slips. We’ll also carry out an annual desktop audit and help you put things in place where practical.
How it works
It starts with a free 30-minute call, so Mark understands your business before recommending a plan. Once you’ve chosen, you pay the first month upfront plus a one-off joining fee of £100 to £150. After that, payment is by monthly Direct Debit. Each plan covers one contact, one business and one site. All members also get 10% off our other safety services and 20% off accreditation support. Starting from scratch instead? Take a look at our safety set-up packages.
Why Blackpool Businesses Choose Marksafety
Health and safety has a reputation for jargon, paperwork and people in hi-vis telling you what you can’t do. We do things differently, and our clients notice.
Simple, practical safety
Our approach is built around Mark’s Six Essential Elements: policy and planning, risk assessment, records and review, training and competence, emergency management, and support and coordination. Together, they cover what a small business needs without the overwhelm. In short, we help you do the basics brilliantly rather than fill folders nobody reads.
Advice, not orders
Mark talks you through your options and lets you decide what’s right for your business. He won’t bury you in rules that don’t apply to you. Blackpool Carers Centre told us he took the time to understand how their charity works. Meanwhile, Estuary Cleaning in Blackpool praised his jargon-free, tailored programme. Read more of our reviews or see what clients say on Google.
More than a certificate
A certificate alone won’t help you if something goes wrong. What counts is proof that you manage risk day to day, from signed risk assessments to training records. That’s the evidence an insurer or inspector will ask for, and we help you build it as you go. Furthermore, CHAS, SafeContractor and other SSIP schemes ask for your safety adviser’s details. Having us on board makes it easier to apply for accreditation, where we have a 100% success rate.
Health and Safety Competent Person FAQs for Blackpool Businesses
Not sure where you stand? You’re not alone. Most of the business owners we speak to in Blackpool have the same handful of questions before they get started. Here are straight answers to the ones we hear most. If yours isn’t covered, Mark is always happy to talk it through on a free call.
Do I need a competent person if I only have a few staff?
Yes. The duty applies to all employers. Businesses with fewer than five employees don’t have to write down their health and safety policy, but they still need competent advice.
Can I be my own competent person?
You can, if you have enough training and experience to manage the risks in your business. Most small business owners prefer to appoint an adviser so they can focus on running the company.
Do you cover fire safety and construction too?
Yes. Alongside our competent person service, we carry out fire risk assessments and act as CDM coordinator on building projects.
How quickly can you start?
Book a free 30-minute call with Mark. Once you’ve chosen a plan and paid the first month, we can get started straight away.
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Based in Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire
Practice hours 09:00-17:00 Mon-Fri
Out of hour appointments available