Description
The ability of personnel to perform tasks according to expectations, or the competency of personnel, is crucial to every organization because of the role it plays in ensuring tasks are carried out satisfactorily and safely. It is particularly important for the safety-critical tasks that are part of process safety.
Competency implies appropriate qualifications, training, skills, knowledge, understanding, experience, physical and mental capabilities, fitness for duty, behavior and attitudes in order to be able to perform tasks according to defined performance standards. Often assumptions of competency are made based on the adequacy of experience or training, possession of qualifications, or the availability of a procedure. Not only may such assumptions be incorrect, but they do not capture all the key aspects of competency.
Competency management should be planned, proactive and systematic. It involves:
- Identification of competency requirements
- Selection and recruitment of personnel
- Assessment of competency
- Certification of competency
- Maintaining, reassessing and monitoring competency
Competency management should be part of an organization’s overall management system. It should apply to personnel from the top to the bottom of the organization and include contractors and others who perform work within the organization.
Why Address Process Safety Competency?
If competency is not managed, poor performance and accidents may result. Indeed accidents have occurred when aspects of competency other than knowledge and experience were absent. Competency management is particularly important when an organization relies heavily on the skills, knowledge and capabilities of its personnel, such as in the process industries.
The importance of competency is compounded in the face of the re-engineering, downsizing, and multi-tasking that occurs. Personnel are often expected to take on a wider range of tasks with less supervision thus increasing the need to manage competency effectively.
Why Primatech?
Primatech has specialized in process safety and risk management for 30 years. We have developed management systems to address all aspects of process safety and our quality standards are unsurpassed.
Our experience in developing and implementing process safety and risk management programs provides insights into what competencies are required for a successful program. Primatech has extensive experience in qualifying people to perform work in process safety.
Services Offered
- Development of a Competency Management Program
Primatech can develop an entire program for your company and help you to integrate it with your existing management systems. We develop policies and procedures, train personnel, establish competency criteria, and help assess the performance of personnel. We provide documentation for all elements of the program and can assist with their implementation. - Review and Assessment of a Competency Management Program
Primatech conducts an initial assessment of existing programs to identify areas for improvement in both design and implementation. We document the assessment and help companies to improve weaker parts of their programs. - Improvement of Specific Elements of Competency Management
We help companies fine tune individual parts of their programs, such as competency criteria. We provide documentation of the work performed.
