Consultancy

IOM's research has helped to set standards and inform regulatory processes over the years, and this created the opportunity to offer consultancy services to customers in industry and elsewhere, to help them achieve best practice and comply with the law. Over the years, this advice has often been based on knowledge gained during our research work.

We have provided consultancies to a wide range of customers since the mid 1970's, initially through the building up of capabilities in occupational hygiene and laboratory analysis in Edinburgh and in our regional offices(then in South Wales, the Midlands and Tyne and Wear).Then, as now, a substantial proportion of the work was related to asbestos sampling and analysis in buildings,industrial plant and contaminated land. We were amongst the first to introduce asbestos clearance indicators - a practice later endorsed by the HSE.

We went on to develop our occupational hygiene business in a variety of other directions. Countless surveys of occupational exposures to hazardous gases, liquids, fumes, dusts and fibres have been undertaken. We have advised on control methods for hazardous agents, from elimination or substitution, to organisational changes or the introduction of personal protective equipment. Through the 1980's our consultancy work developed to include ergonomics and occupational medicine. By the time IOM became independent from British Coal in 1990, the consultancy work accounted for about 45% of the business.

The consultancy work grew steadily after independence,increasingly centred on the Edinburgh office. In 1998, the IOM's Board of Management decided to expand this sector of the business. A key element of the business plan was to expand geographically, and we opened regional offices inChesterfield, London and Stafford; all have been successful.By the end of 2008-9, this type of work had grown substantially, accounting for over 70% of the IOM's turnover.Our consultancy work now covers asbestos management,occupational hygiene, occupational medicine, stress management, ergonomics, advice on the safe use of nanoparticles, expert witness reports, environmental studies and many laboratory analyses. We work for government agencies, universities, the NHS, local authorities, private healthcare providers, large industrial concerns and small businesses, mainly within the UK but also across the world,from Chile to Kazakhstan, from Zimbabwe to the UnitedStates and from St Helena to Montserrat. All of our consultancy work is aligned with our mission of health protection, and is complementary to our research tradition. We believe in delivering pragmatic solutions,expressed in plain language, underpinned by scientific evidence and our core values of independence, impartiality and integrity. Any profit from our consulting activities is used to support other areas of our work.