It is the employer’s duty to ensure that whoever carries out the risk assessment is competent to do so. They should also have suitable training and the time and resources to carry out the assessment. The TUC says it is better that the competent person is employed directly by the organisation rather than being an outside consultant. Indeed, regulation 7(8) states: “Where there is a competent person in the employer’s employment, that person shall be appointed … in preference to a competent person not in his employment.”