Keeping an up-to-date CPD record is a requirement of NZISM Accreditation. Assessors need to see evidence that you’re maintaining and improving your skills and knowledge.

Our industry is self regulated. Accredited NZISM members make up the assessors on our Accreditation Panel.

Your CPD record should reflect your professional development and career pathway. A focused and up-to-date CPD record helps you identify where you’ve been, where you are, and where you’re heading in terms of your career. The Knowledge Assessment tool is designed to help you identify any skills gaps and support you in creating an action plan to expand your knowledge and experience.

Assessors will look at your Development Plan/s and activities in conjunction with your self-assessment, so please ensure they’re up to date. Make sure your recorded activities include a self-reflection statement - it is this reflective statement that forms the most important part of CPD.

Here's an example of a strong reflective statement.

We recognise that members may occasionally face extenuating circumstances that mean they need to defer their review. For example, illness, family crisis or maternity leave.

In such circumstances, 'deferral' offers those who cannot complete their CPD profiles the opportunity to stay accredited. Members who wish to defer must submit their request in writing to cpd@nzism.org as soon as possible, giving their reason for deferring.

If your request is accepted, you will have 12 months to prepare your CPD record for review, and you will be assessed the following year.

Your Development Plan should be an honest assessment of where you are in your professional development journey and show how you are planning to move forward.

Don't worry if, having used our online Knowledge Assessment tool, you discover you don’t meet all of the competency levels identified for your current NZISM accreditation level. You cannot lose your current accreditation because of gaps in knowledge. The self-assessment tool is designed to help you identify areas for improvement and where your own personal development is required.

Here are some questions for you to consider when developing your plan - you can also use the self-assessment tool to guide you.

• What are my current main duties and responsibilities?
• What knowledge, skills and expertise am I expected to demonstrate?
• What are my career objectives?
• Which skills, or areas of expertise or knowledge, do I need to update?
• Do I need any formal training?
• Is there anything that may affect my ability to carry out this CPD plan?
• Are there any sections of the plan I should concentrate on?

An activity is anything you’ve undertaken that updates, maintains or enhances your knowledge in an identified area. A documentable activity could be training, a webinar, listening to a podcast, attending a branch meeting with a specialist speaker, personal reading/research or participation in a workplace project. Whatever genuinely supports you in your learning journey and feeds into the goals set out in your Development Plan/s.

It is important that all activities are supported by a reflective statement. You need to not only describe what you’ve done but also reflect upon how it’s been useful and what learnings you have taken from it. Reflective statements form the most important part of CPD.

When you record or update a completed activity, a reflective statement must be added to the notes section of the record to outline what you have learned.

Self-reflection is a personal attribute and as such there is no right or wrong way to complete it. Reflective practice can help you gain a valid insight into why something went well or was unsuccessful. The act of reflection helps you to maximise the benefit you gain from development activities and recording those reflections provides evidence that development has taken place.

When writing a reflective statement, you should consider:

• your professional objectives in undertaking the activity
• the approach and the reasons for it
• details of the completed activity including, where relevant, the contribution of others
• the results of the activities and the extent to which your objectives were achieved
• the strengths and weaknesses of the approach taken, and learning points for the future; and
• an explanation as to how you think it may impact on your future role as a Health and Safety practitioner/professional.

Make sure you take time to organise and structure your writing. There is no set length for a reflective statement, but it should be proportional to the size of the activity and what you have gained from it.

Here's an example of a strong reflective statement.

The OHS Knowledge Assessment is our online self-assessment tool available within myCPD. It is based on the Occupational Health and Safety Professional Capability Framework – A Global Framework for Practice developed by the International Network of Safety and Health Professional Organisations (INSHPO).

The assessment identifies the core activities and knowledge base required for health and safety practitioners and professionals and is accessed through the myCPD page of the NZISM website. It allows members to identify gaps in their knowledge against their current or aspirational accreditation level. This assists in creating a development plan and highlighting which CPD activities need to be undertaken to strengthen those knowledge gaps. Your Knowledge Assessment submission for review should be completed using your current accreditation level.

If you are not satisfied with the outcome of your review, you can lodge an appeal.

Email cpd@nzism.org for more information regarding the appeal process.