Purpose

The procedure competency management serves the purpose to ensure that personnel involved in electrical work are competent and comply to the conditions for operational safety,  installation integrity and availability. Competency and competency management are conditional for designation of personnel performing electrical work. to show

Executioner of the procedure

The procedure is meant for:

• the acting installation responsible to control competency and competency management 
• the site focal point to provide instruction and training to personnel involved in operation and maintenance of electrical installations;
• the project manager or commissioning manager for the qualification of commissioning engineers.

Background

Personnel needs to be competent for the allotted tasks. The allotted tasks are related to field of operation. Job profiles again are set up to cover all critical elements related to the asset. 

Competence and competence management form the basic elements for total control of capital assets. Installation integrity, reliability and availability are only possible with competent personnel throughout the life cycle of installations. The asset holder must be aware that safety and quality are primarily the result of competent employees with awareness of the critical control points for the individual dedicated tasks. Dedicated tasks are related to the function, assignment and the discipline. These must be clearly described. 

Beside the dedicated tasks all employees working for the asset holder must be aware of the general principles on safety and quality. Safety and safety awareness is covered by compulsory safety training and safety awareness programmes. Quality and quality awareness is covered by compulsory quality training and quality awareness programmes.

Control of critical control points for realization, operation and maintenance of capital assets are enforced by legislation and covered by Rules and Regulations.

For individuals it is essential that knowledge and ability is related to the installations they work in and the tasks that need to be performed. Proof of competence is obtained by designation in writing for each individual with the scope of work related to the installation(s) concerned. 

Every person bears responsibility for the tasks to be performed. This applies to every person on every level. This requires professionalism, which is based on competence, motivation, ambition, awareness and behaviour.

Excellent Technical Competency is the ability to perform as an individual, cooperate as a team and realize corporate goals.

Competence is function and task related. When we know the tasks to be performed in relation to the installation, we are able to define the competence required to fulfil the tasks in a responsible manner.

All tasks together need to cover all the activities of the operations. It is therefore of vital importance to define per function the tasks, authorities and responsibilities, related to the installation people are assigned to. This is a sound basis for a balanced competence profile. When a task contains a critical control factor, procedures and instructions make up part of the training programme.

Relation competency and safety
Deployment must be based on competency and competency management in combination with safety and safety management. 
Competency concerns knowledge and skills in order to keep installation reliable and available while safety is conditional for the access to the installations in order to prevent unwanted events. Only compliance with both make employees deployable. 

Competency and competency management go together, we learn every day. Learning by doing. The first thing we must do when we encounter incidents or non conformities is to analyze how to improve our operation. Is it lack of competency or must we make adjustments in our installation itself. Will this not solve the problem than a procedure should be made.

A sound operation is distinguished by few procedures, high availability and designated competent staff. 

Safety and safety management go together as well. It is a fact that people make mistakes. Routine is our worst enemy. People think they know, are not alert for a moment or are just not motivated. There is no training or instruction being capable of dealing with this.

Managing safety goes with managing competency. Deployment should be based on this.

No incidents mean no accidents!    

Field of application

The chain is as strong as the weakest link! For electrical compliance we must cover all critical aspect in the life cycle of an installation. Competency and competency management covers the design of electrical installations, the installation works, the commissioning, operation and maintenance. This counts for all levels of competency. 

Execution

All personnel working for, with or in the vicinity of electrical installations as well as personnel inspecting electrical apparatus must be qualified for their allotted tasks. For this qualification, disregard the education, personnel needs to be trained and certified. Upkeeping the qualification means re-certification where a certificate has a validity of a cetain period. 

The scheme below shows a matrix for training requirement.

Vocational chart.xls

Steps to be taken:

1. For the present situation determine personnel that is involved in the electrical operation
2. Per person determine the function 
3. Is for the person a job profile 
4. What is the person's involvement in electrical work
5. Determine person's designation regarding electrical work
6. Decide upon the demanded training and qualification
7. Consult with the person which training might add to the person's performance
8. Set up a training schedule. 

The system that facilitates the training will automatically reminds the person on requalification. 

Reference

Procedure designation of personnel.
Directive electrical safety management