Health and safety has changed a lot in the last decade or so. Well before COVID, it was increasingly recognised as a core business function. As a result, health and safety practitioners at all levels need a broader range of skills and competencies; in addition to being technically competent, they need business skills, to enable them to influence, plan and implement change in the workplace. As IOSH
sets and maintains the professional standard through its Membership Grades, it’s important that the requirements for each grade are aligned with the needs of employers today and in the future. In 2019/2020 IOSH therefore conducted a review
of its grades through consultation with members and other stakeholders. What we did
The business needed additional capacity and expertise to lead a year-long communications campaign that would inspire all stakeholders to engage in the consultation and compel members to vote on a number of changes at the end of the
process.
Working in a quasi-interim capacity with the Communications, Professional Services and Governance teams, Marcie Bell’s role involved:
- Developing strategy and a phased communications plan
- Producing content for Board papers, presentations and iosh.com
- Writing copy for a wide range of stakeholder communications, from email campaigns to magazine articles and FAQs
- Briefing and managing a design agency to develop creative campaign materials to drive member engagement
- Advising on strategy to drive engagement in social networks/forums
- Up-skilling and mentoring members of the communications team
- As well as leading communications for the Membership Grades Review, Marcie
identified opportunities to strengthen IOSH’s approach to digital communications: - Briefed and managed a specialist agency to conduct an audit of social media engagement and develop a social media engagement strategy
- Identified issues affecting the performance of IOSH content in search engines and triggered an audit of search engine optimisation (SEO), which led to corrective measures
Results
- At the Annual General Meeting, members voted in favour of the changes to IOSH’ Byelaws following the Membership Grades Review
- IOSH’s Board of Trustees praised the project team for its approach to consultation, engaging communications and disciplined working
- Two online surveys achieved significantly higher than average member engagement
- The SEO project improved visibility of IOSH content in search engines and guided a more disciplined approach to maintaining the website
- A comprehensive social media engagement strategy is ready to be implemented by the restructured Communications Team