Is the National Association of Safety Professionals (NASP) Legit?

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by jimwe, Jan 18, 2006.

Loading...
  1. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

    A valid criticism of many organizations
     
  2. Vonnegut

    Vonnegut Well-Known Member

    The Board of Certified Safety Professionals (BCSP) is the gold standard for professional safety credentials. Their credential holders serve on the ANSI boards, OSHA advisory councils, and are utilized by industry, government, and educators as the credentialing agency for the profession. Their credentials are also the one's that are looked for in the peer review journals, such as Professional Safety, published by the American Society of Safety Professionals (ASSP), formerly known as the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE). The National Safety Council (NSC) even just published their annual 40 Under 40, which was filled with BSCP credential holders.

    Unfortunately, there are several organizations which market themselves online as training programs that issue credentials. That doesn't mean that they have bad training, but they're not the industry standard and are often marketing themselves to those that do not know better. There's also inherently a conflict of interest when a private company offers to provide training in order to pass their own test, to obtain their own credential. Last time I encountered a person with a NASP credential, they mentioned that they marketed themselves to those without formal educations and experience in the field. As the BCSP absolutely requires formal education and documented professional experience, in order to be approved to sit for their independent exams. The BSCP also provides several different levels of credentials, including more entry level credentials that do not require degrees, which negates one of the main defenses of the NASP. On a personal note, I find it highly suspicious that the NASP models their name so similar to the BCSP.

    On a related note, while I've never looked into it, is it true that the owner of the NASP also used to own another mail order company offering credentials by correspondence for a completely different field? Not sure if that's even relevant, but it would be suspicious.
     
  3. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

    I want to clarify that despite my little back and forth with Imposter I actually know nothing about NASP and have no opinion either way as to its legitimacy. I remain skeptical about NASP partly due to the fact that these shills all registered to promote the organization and then simply disappeared despite expressing an interest in distance learning and degreeinfo. I might be more convinced if they were to reappear and offer some viable explanation regarding the charges leveled against them. This seems unlikely though and so I will probably have to continue with my current post-modern unresolved questions.

    [​IMG]
     
  4. Vonnegut

    Vonnegut Well-Known Member

    I’m not sure I’d call them illegitimate. I don’t think there’s anything illegal that they’re doing, nor do I suspect them of doing anything illegal. I do think they market themselves a bit deceptively, although that is subjective, and overstate their status within the profession.
     
  5. Vonnegut

    Vonnegut Well-Known Member

    It appears that NASP is now issuing credentials that are attempting to mimic legitimate OSHA credentials. These are credentials which can only be issued by OSHA authorized trainers, and are often required for work by major employers or under contractual obligations. The fact that NASP is again patterning their credentials after a legitimate agency, is concerning. I'm not sure what purpose they serve either, as the NASP pricing scheme appears significantly higher than the legitimate OSHA pricing scheme.
     
  6. Morvaldin

    Morvaldin New Member

Share This Page