What is competence?
Competence can be described as the combination of training, skills, experience and knowledge that a person has and their ability to apply them to perform a task safely. Other factors, such as attitude and physical ability, can also affect someone’s competence.
As an employer, you should take account of the competence of relevant employees when you are conducting your risk assessments. This will help you decide what level of information, instruction, training and supervision you need to provide.
Competence in Health and safety should be seen as an important component of workplace activities, not an add-on or afterthought.
If you use contractors, you have a responsibility to make sure they are competent. For guidance on this, look at using contractors: A brief guide and managing contractors: A guide for employers.
Someone’s level of competence only needs to be proportionate to their job and place of work. You would not need, for example the same health and safety competence to work in an office as you would on a construction site.
Judith Hackitt, HSE’s Chair said:
‘The essence of competence is relevance to the workplace. What matters is that there is a proper focus on both the risks that occur most often and those with serious consequences.
Competence is the ability for every director, manager and worker to recognise the risks in operational activities and then apply the right measures to control and manage those risks.’
Competent person
As an employer, you must appoint a ‘competent person’ to help you meet your health and safety duties.
A competent person is not someone who simply has the competence to carry out a particular task safely. In general terms, the definition of a competent person is someone who has the necessary skills, experience and knowledge to manage health and safety. For more details on appointing a competent person, go to – Decide who will help you with your duties.
Some health and safety law describes the training, skills and experience, that someone should have to be a competent person to perform a specific task in a particular industry or work environment.
A range of HSE guidance, including information that will help you to understand the competence required to work in specific industries or work environments, can be found here – industry-specific guidance.
Information on the competence required for different industries and work activities can also be found at the National Occupational Standards website or at the Federation for Industry Sector Skills and Standards (previously known as the Alliance of Sector Skills Councils) which is the designated Certifying Authority for Apprenticeships in England..
Industry specific competence
The competence required can vary depending on the work or workplace involved. To find competence-related guidance for a specific industry, task or working environment, please select from the alphabetical list below.
If you cannot find what you are looking for here, try the drop-down menus for Topics or Industries on the HSE Home page.
Information on standards for different industries can also be found on the following websites:
- National Occupational Standards (NOS)
- Alliance of Sector Skills Councils
HSE competence-related guidance
- Confined spaces: Safe Working in Confined Spaces Regulations 1997
- Construction (Design and management) Regulations 2015
- Diving qualifications
- Driver competence
- Driver recruitment
- Electrical safety at work
- Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 (memorandum of guidance)
- Gas safety: Safety in the installation and use of gas systems and appliances
- Human factors: Training and competence
- Lift truck training
- Pressure systems: Safety of pressure systems
- Safety related systems: Managing competence for safety-related systems (Part one – Key guidance) (PDF)
- Safety related systems: Managing competence for safety-related systems (Part two – Supplementary material) (PDF)
- Quarries: Competence (general)
- Radiation : Radiation protection advisers
- Vehicles at work
- Woodworking: Safe use of woodworking machinery
- Work equipment and machinery: Training and competence
Health and safety conformity assessment schemes
Overview
One way an organisation can demonstrate competence in health and safety is to be assessed by a third party. This is also known as conformity assessment. Health and safety conformity assessment schemes originated in the construction sector, but are now used more widely.
The law does not require conformity assessment, and it’s only one way of meeting prequalification standards, whether you are supplying or buying goods and services.
For construction work, assessment against a scheme (whether under Safety Schemes in Procurement or otherwise) is not proof that an organisation can properly manage the risks presented by the work on site. So, buyers will also need to check a supplier can meet project-specific site requirements.
Before asking a supplier to start work, check their skills and track record, too.
Buying low-risk goods or services
If you’re buying goods or services, consider if the risks of the job justify insisting that a supplier registers with a scheme, including certification against health and safety management system standards.
For low-risk goods or services, suppliers can demonstrate their health and safety capability in other ways. You could ask for evidence:
- that they hold a health and safety policy;
- of how they control risks
Or, you could ask:
- for information on accidents or near misses;
- if, in the last 3 years, the organisation, or any of its directors or executive officers have:
- received enforcement notices from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) or equivalent body;
- been convicted of a breach of health and safety legislation.
Bear in mind that businesses with fewer than 5 employees don’t need to write down their health and safety policy or the findings of a risk assessment.
Mutual recognition between assessment schemes
There are various schemes buyers (procurers) can ask suppliers to be assessed against.
Safety Schemes in Procurement (SSIP) is an organisation which enables mutual recognition (known as the ‘deem to satisfy’ provision – see Mutual Recognition of Certificates via Deem to Satisfy (DtS) between health and safety assessment schemes, particularly within the construction industry.
SSIP member schemes apply core criteria approved by HSE – see SSIP core criteria threshold standard. The core criteria describe what it means for a construction business to comply with basic health and safety law, but they can also be applied to other kinds of business.
This means that:
- as a buyer, you do not need to ask for evidence of assessment against more than one SSIP member scheme;
- as a supplier, you should only need to be assessed against one of the SSIP member schemes, as the valid (in-date) assessment information for your organisation will be available via the SSIP portal to assist both current and future buyers.
If a buyer insists a supplier registers with more than one SSIP member scheme, the supplier can apply for a deem to satisfy certificate. This provides full recognition of the health and safety elements of the first scheme the supplier has been assessed against, and will be valid as an alternative to registering again under a new scheme. This should save you time and money.
Mutual recognition should lead to savings for buyers and suppliers and help deliver more proportionate implementation of accreditation.
Find out more on the SSIP website.
Want help with assessing competence of your contractor? Please get in touch info@complisafe.co.uk or call 0333 577 2700
