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60 Organisation of supervision arrangements should ensure:
an appropriate span-of-control;
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that supervisors are accessible and have the time to actively supervise (ie they are not
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overloaded with administration and meetings);
that supervisors have appropriate inter-personal skills and competence to be effective in the
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supervisory role.
61 Dutyholders should monitor risk control systems. HSG65 is clear that organisations need to
decide how to allocate responsibilities for monitoring at different levels in the organisation, and
what level of detail is appropriate. Managers and supervisors responsible for direct implementation
of standards should monitor compliance in detail. Further guidance on monitoring with regard to
fuel transfer is given in ‘Measuring Process Safety Performance’, paragraphs 260–284.
Guidance on competence
62 HSE Briefing Notes No 2,
90
CTI
91
and Energy Institute Briefing Note No 7 provide useful
summaries of requirements for competence management. They specifically identify the need to
link the competence assurance process to control of major accident hazards.
63 Competence is a combination of practical and thinking skills, experience and knowledge. It
means the ability to undertake responsibilities and to perform activities to a recognised standard
on a regular basis.
64 Training and development seek to create a level of competence for the individual or team,
sufficient to allow individuals or teams to undertake the operation at a basic level. Over time, as
practical experience grows, operations can be carried out at a more complex level. Training is
required not just for normal operation but also for abnormal/upset and emergency conditions etc.
65 Training alone is not sufficient. Dutyholders need to recognise the difference between merely
recording a person’s experience and training, and assessing their competence (see RR086).
66 The purpose of a competence management system is to control, in a logical and integrated
manner, a cycle of activities that will assure competent performance. The aim is to ensure that
individuals are clear about the performance expected of them, that they have received appropriate
training, development and assessment, and that they maintain or improve their competence over time.
67 A key issue is to make sure that on-the-job training is sufficiently well structured, and that the
training and assessment is by competent people. In practice this relies heavily on the quality of
the procedures for safety-critical tasks. A key piece of evidence for this would be a well-structured
plan for training and assessment. (‘Guidance on procedures for control’ and monitoring of fuel
transfer’ is included in this appendix).
68 Ongoing assurance of competency (eg through refresher training), is also important, as is
validation of the understanding of the training provided.
69 The Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) guide
Developing and Maintaining Staff Competence
92
is
a particularly useful text on competence management. (This supersedes HSE’s HSG197, which
had the same title.) It was written for the rail industry, but it is equally applicable to many other
industries. The competence management system (CMS) described consists of 15 principles linked
under five phases, as follows:
Establishing the requirements of the CMS.
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Designing the CMS.
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Implementing the CMS.
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Maintaining competence.
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Audit and review of the CMS.
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