If you’re wondering how to demonstrate that your engineers have the right depth of skill for the job (and avert a potential incident while you’re at it), then read on…
Skills and competency
It all comes down to identifying the difference between skills and competencies. A skill is a specific, learned ability, gained through targeted training, but a competency is a broader, more abstract trait that can be applied across a whole range of situations. It’s achieved by applying the skill regularly across various environments, scenarios, projects and complexities.
It’s a concept that can be difficult to understand, but here’s an example that we use frequently to explain how it works.
Hands up who used to be able to speak French pretty well at school, but can’t remember any of it now?
Like anything in life, it’s difficult to maintain a certain level of competency when you simply don’t use it enough. Those skills are still there but they need to be used and applied regularly. If you were to go and live in France for a year, you’d soon be fluent. But would that level of fluency continue if you moved back to the UK and never used it again?
It’s like the old analogy of riding a bike. If you haven’t ridden one for a while, you won’t have forgotten how to do it, but you may well be a bit wobbly at first and will definitely need to practise!
If you don’t flex your skills regularly then your competency levels will decrease. FACT.
When you learn to drive, your instructor won’t take you on the motorway immediately – it takes time, confidence, a certain level skill (and an extremely courageous instructor). And even when you’ve passed your test and you venture out on your own (possibly having had a motorway lesson), it will still take a good 12 months, possibly longer for you to become a competent driver. You will need to experience every kind of weather (and let’s face it, some years we don’t even see any snow in the UK), and master driving at night (and on the motorway) before you can consider yourself a competent driver.
On the job competency
In the engineering industry, competency is required at every single level. If you were to put an employee in a job, without first carrying out the necessary checks and identifying whether they have the right skills for the role, then you could have a potential incident on your hands.
So how do you know that the engineer you put on the job is fully competent and can use their skills and judgment to assess a project rather than just blindly following a checklist? A competent engineer must have good judgement and the right level of training to consider the specifics of each job.
Each project must be treated individually. The roles, skills and level of competency required on one project will be very different to what’s needed on another. Take for example, an engineering project on an oil platform – it will be very different to the one before it and the ten following it. There are so many variables to consider, and conditions will change depending on the specific location of the platform, the weather, the depth of the rig and the water temperature etc. What you need is a competent engineer who can apply their knowledge, experience and training to the exact circumstances and crucially, adapt.
Competency assured
If you’re keen to avert an incident, then our eSQEP competency management system is the tool for you.
eSQEP is a robust Competency Management solution; a framework to recruit, develop, engage and retain your employees and give your business a competitive edge.
It gives you visibility of assured competencies through a built-in workflow and allows you to see how the skills and competency levels within your teams match what is actually required. It also enables you to strategically understand where the gaps are today and compare them against the future skills and competency needs of your business.
We’re here to help you prove that your employees are the best people for the job and have the correct depth of skill. If you can successfully demonstrate that your employee is competent, then you’re less likely to go to court for manslaughter.
If your problem is not recruiting the best engineers, but demonstrating their judgement and level of skill, then we can definitely help.
Competency management identifies, develops, and maintains the skills of employees, whether they’re needed for their current role or roles that the business will require in the future.
Competency assurance works hand in hand with the competency management processes. This process assesses and verifies that staff have the necessary know-how at the appropriate level of skill – and the experience and judgement to perform their roles effectively.
By implementing both competency management and competency assurance, you can prove that your employees have the necessary skills and abilities to perform their jobs effectively and contribute to the success of the business.
If you’d like to find out more about how eSQEP can help your business, get in touch.
