Table 4

Prioritisation of competencies of OPs by all respondents and by subgroups

Training area	Competency	Mean scores
		All respondents	By company size			By representative category				By company type
		All respondents	Small	Medium	Large	Employer representative	Employee representative	Health and safety representative	Trade union representative	Private EEF	Private other	Public	Trade union
Communication	Reading, writing, and speaking clearly	1.78	1.65	1.82	1.81	1.71	1.83	1.91	1.73	1.80	1.81	1.75	1.73
	Applying law and ethics for confidentiality	2.10	2.14	2.05	2.06	2.08	2.20	1.99	2.19	1.98	2.10	2.14	2.21
	Communicating with other health and safety professionals	2.11	2.21	2.13	2.14	2.21	1.97	2.11	2.08	2.22	2.09	2.10	2.06
Fitness	Advising on disability and fitness for the job (including the Disability Discrimination Act)	1.53	1.61	1.51	1.53	1.60	1.57	1.38	1.41	1.52	1.57	1.45	1.51
	Advising on rehabilitation and ill health retirement	2.02	1.95	2.17	2.01	2.03	1.98	2.08	1.86	2.13	2.04	1.98	1.81
	Evaluating sickness absence	2.46	2.44	2.32	2.46	2.37	2.46	2.54	2.73	2.34	2.38	2.58	2.68
Law	Being well informed about the law, and codes of practice	1.70	1.64	1.76	1.65	1.70	1.70	1.68	1.84	1.77	1.64	1.68	1.92
	Being able to advise managers and employees about their legal obligations	1.99	2.10	1.99	2.01	2.01	1.95	1.95	2.08	1.85	2.02	1.98	2.06
	Being able to evaluate compliance with new legislation	2.31	2.27	2.25	2.34	2.30	2.35	2.36	2.08	2.38	2.33	2.34	2.02
Hazards	Assessing risks at work and advising on control measures	1.90	1.84	1.93	1.86	1.83	1.99	2.00	1.68	1.85	1.92	1.94	1.78
	Monitoring the health of people exposed to hazards at work	2.08	2.08	2.01	1.97	2.03	2.13	2.11	2.11	2.09	2.03	2.12	2.19
	Providing expert assessment and advice on health problems	2.02	2.08	2.06	2.16	2.14	1.89	1.89	2.22	2.07	2.05	1.93	2.03
Promotion	Assessing needs for health promotion	1.47	1.55	1.54	1.41	1.48	1.55	1.39	1.33	1.60	1.50	1.35	1.44
	Organising, providing, and evaluating health promotion activities	1.53	1.45	1.46	1.59	1.52	1.45	1.61	1.67	1.40	1.50	1.65	1.56
Exposures	Differentiating between work related and environment related health problems	1.45	1.52	1.45	1.35	1.43	1.55	1.39	1.43	1.43	1.42	1.50	1.56
	Assessing and advising on the impact of environmental discharges from the workplace	1.98	1.91	1.94	1.99	1.95	1.90	2.13	1.92	1.91	2.01	2.02	1.86
	Liaising with other environmental specialists	2.57	2.57	2.61	2.66	2.62	2.54	2.47	2.65	2.66	2.57	2.48	2.59
Research	Investigating a workplace problem through research	1.88	1.97	1.90	1.79	1.83	1.99	1.89	1.73	1.95	1.85	1.85	1.95
	Investigating clusters of disease, e.g. cancer in a work force	2.09	1.98	2.10	2.11	2.10	2.05	2.07	2.22	2.12	2.09	2.04	2.10
	Analysing and explaining scientific data and research reports	2.04	2.04	2.00	2.10	2.07	1.96	2.04	2.05	1.92	2.05	2.10	1.95
Management	Identifying the occupational health needs of an organisation	1.43	1.41	1.30	1.49	1.44	1.47	1.36	1.38	1.37	1.38	1.55	1.44
	Setting and achieving the objectives of the occupational health service	2.10	2.14	2.17	2.03	2.10	2.09	2.09	2.14	2.21	2.07	2.02	2.21
	Evaluating the quality of an occupational health service and carrying out audit	2.48	2.45	2.53	2.48	2.46	2.44	2.55	2.49	2.42	2.54	2.43	2.35