CHAPTER 9: COMPETENCE AND AWARENESS (ISO 45001:2018, CLAUSE 7.2)

9.1 Understanding competence (ISO 45001:2018,
Clause 7.2)

An individual is considered competent if they are adequately qualified, suitably trained and have sufficient experience to perform the assigned task, correctly and safely. This may include not just knowledge, training, skills and attitude, but also the physical and psychosocial traits necessary for performance of a particular task.

Some examples of competence are:

•An individual responsible for carrying out OHSMS responsibilities would be considered competent if they are:

(i) Qualified because of that person's knowledge, training and experience to do the assigned work in a manner that ensures the health and safety of every person in the workplace;

(ii) Knowledgeable about the provisions of the HSWA and the regulations that apply to the assigned work; and

(iii) Have the knowledge about potential or actual danger to health or safety associated with the assigned work.

•An OH&S auditor would be considered competent if they:

(i) Have the knowledge and skills of using systematic, independent and documented processes for obtaining objective OH&S evidence and evaluating it in an unbiased manner to determine the extent to which the audit evidence meets the audit criteria: and

(ii) Possesses knowledge about applicable reference standards, the provisions of the HSWA and the regulations that apply to the assigned audit tasks; and

(iii) Is objective, unbiased and ethical.

It should be clear from the above two examples that ‘competence’ has many dimensions and may require far more than just knowledge and skills. Often it also requires the experience and attitude to perform a task in a consistent, safe and effective manner.

It is also important for an organisation to understand that the competence of an individual to perform a given task is not static or frozen in time. Skills and knowledge can increase or decrease with the passage of time. New processes and technology can make an individual redundant for newer tasks, although the same individual may have been perfectly adequate for the previous assignment. Hence there is a need to constantly rethink, reassess and reinvigorate the competence level of individuals at a workplace.

9.2 The requirements about ‘competence’

ISO 45001 defines a number of requirements about the competence of personnel performing OH&S assignments. These are discussed in the following paragraphs.

Determine competence: ISO 45001 requires an organisation to determine and provide the resources to establish, implement, maintain and improve its OHSMS. Competence of personnel is one such key resource. An organisation is required to determine the competence of workers whose tasks affect or can affect the OH&S performance of an organisation. This requires the organisation to begin by identifying the knowledge, skills and experience that are needed to perform specific OH&S assignments.

Let us consider, as an example, the factors that determine the OH&S performance for a supervisor who is responsible for issuing and authorising a PTW document for work in confined spaces. This document should be issued before an operator can begin to work in a ‘confined space’. What may be the competence criteria for this supervisor? The typical competence considerations for such a task are as follows:

•The supervisor must know the purpose of issuing a PTW document;

•The issuer must be well-versed with the PTW procedure of the organisation;

•The issuer must know all the potential hazards that may be encountered in a ‘confined space’, and the controls required to remove or reduce those hazards;

•The issuer must be familiar with the regulatory requirements relating to work in ‘confined spaces’;

•The issuer must know the PPE, the entry and exit mechanism, how the confined space environment is checked for the presence of harmful gases and the emergency situations that may be encountered;

•The issuer must know the potential consequences of compliance and noncompliance of instructions stated on the PTW;

•The capabilities of individuals involved in confined space work must be known to the issuer; and

•The issuer must be familiar with, and capable of, inspecting the equipment used for conducting work in confined spaces.

These may be some of the job-related requirements for a supervisor who is required to issue PTW for confined spaces. There are yet other requirements of knowledge, skills and training that are needed to be a ‘competent’ supervisor for confined spaces. These could be the ability to check for the presence of harmful gases, use of emergency equipment or providing emergency relief to a trapped person. The requirement of knowledge, skills and training thus evaluated, form the basis for determining ‘competence’ for a supervisor dealing with a PTW for confined spaces.

An example of competence criteria for a boiler supervisor is shown below:

Ensure competence: Having determined the competence required for performing an OH&S-related task, the next step for an organisation is to ensure that the workers meet the determined competence levels. Necessary education may need to be provided (formal or informal), as well as training (classroom or on-the-job) or experience (e.g. learning by working under supervision). The Standard requires the organisation to take actions to ensure that the relevant employees meet the defined competence levels. The next step is to ensure that the acquired competence levels are maintained and updated by frequent re-training and refresher training.

Effectiveness: Actions taken to provide, enhance or maintain competence levels should be evaluated to determine their effectiveness in producing intended results. This is often a difficult but certainly not impossible proposition, as there are numerous methods to undertake such an evaluation. It is relatively easy to evaluate competence for those actions that are based on performance of specific physical tasks, such as operating a machine, administering first aid, driving a forklift or installing equipment. Individuals can be asked to perform these functions and be critically observed to see if the task is performed correctly and effectively. Training and actions taken to develop knowledge and skills, such as the ability to conduct internal audits, identify OH&S hazards or exercise managerial skills, may be somewhat more difficult to evaluate. Feedback from trainers and participants is often used to assess the effectiveness of such programmes. Written, oral or practical tests are other techniques that can be used. On-the-job evaluation by more experienced individuals/supervisors could also be used for determining the effectiveness of training.

Retain evidence: The Standard requires the organisation to retain evidence, such as documented information (records) of actions taken to ensure that all personnel whose work may impact upon OH&S are competent. This also means evidence of competence criteria determined by the organisation. Records of training and an evaluation of the effectiveness of training need to be maintained as evidence.

A sample procedure for competence, training and awareness can be found in Appendix K.

9.3 Awareness (ISO 45001:2018, Clause 7.3)

Requirements: ISO 45001 requires that all workers are made aware of a number of OH&S issues. These are:

•The OH&S policy and OH&S objectives. Awareness of the OH&S policy ensures that all personnel understand the organisation’s vision and approach. Awareness of OH&S objectives is essential for individuals to know their respective roles and tasks towards meeting the overall OH&S objectives.

•How does the work of an individual contribute towards effectiveness of the OHSMS? What are the benefits that could accrue by improving an organisation’s OH&S performance? Workers also need to be made aware of how improved OH&S could benefit them in terms of reduced chances of injury and ill health.

•The Standard requires an organisation to provide awareness to workers on the implications and potential consequences of not conforming to the OHSMS. Workers must receive awareness about the harm, injury and ill health that may be caused by deviation from the defined methods and procedures.

•The Standard requires that all employees are made familiar with their roles, responsibilities and responses during emergency situations.

•In order for everyone to constantly remain informed about hazards and risks, an organisation is required to disseminate information about OH&S incidents to its workers. This must also include sharing the relevant results of incident investigations, so as to prevent similar hazardous situations in other activities and other locations.

•The Standard requires that workers be made aware of the OH&S hazards, risks and controls that are relevant to their work or to themselves. This is to forewarn them of potential hazardous situations, exercise due diligence and to adopt all recommended ill health and injury prevention measures.

9.4 Situations of imminent and serious danger

An organisation is required to give awareness to workers that they can and should remove themselves from work situations that in their opinion present a serious and imminent danger to their health and safety. An organisation must make it clear that it will support such voluntary removals from work, and will not consider them in a negative or unkindly manner. An organisation must also make workers aware of the arrangements made for protecting them from undue consequences or reprisals for doing so.