Assessing the competence of the workers can provide direct support to maintaining compliance and to achieving the business goals.
Aligning the workplace competencies to the national competency standards, as defined in the Manufacturing Learning Australia’s Training Package, for the specific sector, provides a nationally agreed industry standard as a reference point and building block.
Risk management
Assessing the competence of the personnel can be targeted to areas of identified risk - such as tasks requiring regulatory compliance, new products or processes, which require new skills or areas where skills need ‘refreshing’ to ensure safety is maintained.
Evidence can be collected and held on file demonstrating that candidates have been assessed as competent to undertake particular tasks or to provide particular services.
This evidence may be useful, for example, in meeting Major Hazard Facility requirements, or in investigations into workplace accidents or injuries.
Continuous improvement
Defining the standard for work performance is a valuable part of continuous improvement, which can be achieved by reviewing the existing practices, checking them against the national competency standards and implementing improvements people think would add value.
Benchmarking
The national competency standards provide a nationally agreed standard for the skills and knowledge required to perform competently in the workplace. These also provide a ready basis for the organisation’s skills analysis, performance standards and role definitions.
Quality assurance
Assessing to the national competency standards establishes a standard for work performance, which is known, applied and documented. This can be used as a foundation for ongoing performance management and quality assurance systems.
Regulatory requirements
A rigorous assessment process will be well documented and therefore provides a range of evidence of competence and a sound evidence trail for the regulatory compliance or accreditation systems such as ISO 9001.