The Southern African Institute of Occupational Hygiene is committed to the concept of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) as a mandatory means of encouraging and upholding the highest professional standards of knowledge and performance among the qualified practitioners of occupational hygiene. Inclusion of CPD and formal audit of such is also a requirement of the International Occupational Hygiene Association – National Accreditation Recognition (IOHA-NAR) and the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) both of whom regulate our profession recognition internationally and nationally.

CPD stands for Continuing Professional Development. It refers to the process of tracking and documenting the skills, knowledge and experience that you gain both formally and informally as you work, beyond any initial training. It's a record of what you experience, learn and then apply. The term is generally used to mean a physical folder or portfolio documenting your development as a professional (1)

All registered SAIOH members are required to complete an annual return from the first full year of membership onwards. Retired members have a minimal point requirement, whilst unemployed or members on gap years are encouraged to try and attain some points towards the 5 year rolling average.

The CPD is an “honour” system. Each member is responsible for keeping his/her own records. Although the cycle period is five (5) years, all members are obliged to submit their CPD System Points Record before the end of January each year and to certify that it is correct. During submission, each member also has to again agree to the Professional and Ethical Code of Conduct of SAIOH (PECoC). A significant number of members will be sampled at random, and their points audited each year. The CPD System starts on the 1 January and ends the 31 December of each year.

If a member fails to submit a CPD System Points Record annually, does not keep a record of points obtained (i.e. receipt from courses attended, copies of membership certificates, etc.), or does not accumulate enough points, but pay annual Membership fees for a particular year, that member will remain on the Register, but will not receive a certificate because he/she will forfeit their SAIOH classification. However if this happens again in the year immediately thereafter (for the second year in a row), the member will automatically lose his/her registration.

SAIOH ANNUAL CPD RECORD AND ONLINE SUBMISSION GUIDES

• SAIOH Guide to Continuous Professional Development (CPD)
• SAIOH Guide to Online Submission of Continuous Professional Development (CPD)
• SAIOH Guide to Retrieving your SAIOH Membership Certificate
• SAIOH Code of Ethics

SAIOH MENTORSHIP AND PERSONAL LEARNING PORTFOLIOS

The SAIOH Council and Professional Certification Committee (PCC) would like to remind all members that the keeping of a Personal Learning Portfolio (PLP) becomes mandatory from the end of 2017.

The recent Continued Professional Development (CPD) audit and problems associated with completing this successfully identified the need for a more stringent method for members to keep proof relating to career development and associated activities for which our members claim CPD points.

Whilst this may seem to be another time-consuming activity, members who have actually started using this process confirm that in the long term the PLP saves time and is a strong evidential document to support their CV and job applications as well as the CPD process. Approved Inspection Authorities (AIAs) that have implemented this for their staff confirm it is a good way to keep evidence of training and development of their staff and supports the SANS 17020 accreditation system.

 Please read the SAIOH guide to your PLP BELOW to understand the concept and the requirements.

All applications, requests for upgrade and CPD audits going forward will request copies of your PLP as part of the process.

• SAIOH Mentorship & Procedure
• Mentorship Registration & Termination Forms
• SAIOH Guide to developing your Personal Learning Portfolio 

CHANGES TO THE CPD POINT ALLOCATIONS - 2016

In line with the requirement of the SAIOH QMS procedures and continuous improvement programme the CPD points system was updated.

Note 2016 *After several complaints and queries relating to the new allocations I realise that we rolled the new system out quickly with poor communication to our members. I apologise on behalf of myself and the PCC and detail the reasons for the changes and additional support and allowance we will make for the 2015 submissions. Please read the information and understand the new requirements that need to be implemented during 2016 to allow you to ensure that you claim all relevant points at the end of this year. READ MORE HERE