Branch
Report:
17th October 2005 -
John Crabbe Memorial Lecture
Competency – Can You Prove You Know What
You Are Doing
The annual John Crabbe
Memorial lecture was held at the Heronston Hotel on 27th
October with an attendance of 47 delegates. It was organised in
partnership with the Health & Safety Executive and was titled “Competency
– Can You Prove You Know What You Are Doing”. The seminar was aimed at
all levels of employment within the quarry environment, who are involved
with the decision making process and discussed the importance of
Continuous Professional Development.
The welcome key note speech
was delivered by Rob Pearce of the HSE, he reminded everyone that
competence has to be demonstrated at all levels on site and that the
appointment of incompetent persons was no longer acceptable. The training
aspect of competency can be addressed with the completion of various NVQ’s
and courses. They all have to be recorded to prove that you have been
trained and have the relevant knowledge and understanding of the subject.
It was noted that the workplace is safer today than yesterday but there is
still a long was to go to achieve zero accidents and being able to prove
the competency of an employee helps to enhance a safe working
environment.
Dr. Mike Smith, General
Manager of the Institute of Quarrying, gave a presentation on the
Institutes CPD scheme and the reasons why every member should participate.
Apart from the fact that in Regulation 9 of the Quarries Regulations.,
the ability to demonstrate competency is required, the HSE are also
seeking proof that companies and employees are competent to undertake the
work required. Whether it is operators or contractors, competency has to
be demonstrated. He went on to outline the various types of learning
experience that count towards CPD for the scheme. The scheme recommends
30 hrs of CPD per year to keep skills current.
The delegates were then split
into groups and Rob Pearce went through a workshop scenario with the
groups concerning competency which enabled information to be shared and
discussed. This was followed by a feedback and discussion session on the
workshop.
A presentation was then given
by John Sedman, who is a Senior Engineering Geologist for Hanson
Aggregates. He spoke on geotechnical and excavation rules and the
relevance of competency with regard to this. He outlined the training
required for a person to be deemed competent to undertaken geotechnical
design and inspection and the training that is delivered to site employees
regarding tipping and excavation rules at Hanson sites.
The final presentation of the
day was delivered by David Allen, Senior Training Advisor E.P.I.C.
David described the importance training has with regard to proving
competency and the service that E.P.I.C. can provide in meeting the
training needs of companies.
Following a question and
answer session, the day was closed by a summary from the branch Chairman,
Mike Winterbottom, who thanked all of the presenters for their time and
effort, particularly Rob Pearce, who helped organise the event. Mike also
thanked all of the delegates for attending and said that he hoped that the
day had provided some valuable information and clarification on the HSE
requirements for competency.
