Competent person organisations

Construction clients may appoint one or more competent persons to assist them to fulfil the requirements of the regulations. A competent person can be either an employee or a specialist organisation. Such persons should be given sufficient time and resources to carry out their duties. The appointment of these assistants does not absolve constmction clients of their responsibilities under HSWA. 

Engineer surveyors - insurance company personnel undertaking statutory inspections of boilers, pressure vessels, lifting tackle etc. They are employed by the organisation as competent persons. ... 

The competent person need not necessarily be from an independent authority, but can be an internal appointment of a suitably qualified person by the company concerned, but in exercising his responsibilities for carrying out examinations he must be separated from any other functions that might cause a clash of interests. The competent person, whether employee or from a specialist organisation, must be allowed to act objectively and in a professional manner. 

It may be that appointments are made from outside the organisation, e.g. a consultant, if this is the case adequate information must be provided by the responsible person to enable the competent person/s to undertake their role. 

An important factor is that the standard of reasonable care owed varies dependent upon the skill, experience and competence of the person so that the standard of care owed by the skilled, experienced, competent person is greater than that expected from the unskilled, inexperienced, less competent person. The same can be said for an organisation, namely the employer who owes a duty of reasonable care to employees and others. 

The organisation eiement of a safety poiicy should cieariy identify and define the roies and responsibilities for all levels of management and operatives within an organisation, it may be the fact that different sections of the policy, specifically fire, may have differing organisational structures due to the need to outsource some of the competent person duties due to a lack of in-house expertise. 

The competent advice and safety assistance in relation to fire includes the fire safety manager and those who provide assistance to them (fire warden, fire incident controller, alarm verifier - see Chapter 10). The law also allows for this competent person or persons to be appointed from outside an organisation such as the use of consultants. 

The above list of responsibilities assigned to the fire safety manager appears quite extensive and it is likely that additional competent persons will need to be appointed to assist in the management of fire safety. Therefore, additional responsibilities of a fire safety manager in a large, complex organisation may also include the following ... 

For any inspection to be of value, a trained, competent person or team must conduct it. In larger organisations the role of the fire warden/marshal (whose main function is to assist persons to escape safely in the event of a fire) is extended to undertake part of the inspection process, which may be referred to as a safety tour, as the process invoives a physicai check of the areas for which they are fuifiiiing their fire warden/ marshai function. 

The initial status review should provide the organisation with details of where they currently stand in relation to managing fire risks. The review should be carried out by competent persons in consultation with the workforce or its representatives. 

The term competent person is dealt with in the ACOP, and the degree of competence, in terms of qualifications, experience, specialist services available and structure of the competent person s organisation, is specified according to the type of work undertaken, i.e. on minor systems, intermediate systems or major systems as defined. Generally, however, the term competent person is used in connection with three distinct functions ... 

The ACOP does specify that any individual, when carrying out competent person duties, should be sufficiently independent from the interests of all other functions to ensure adequate segregation of accountabilities. This is particularly appropriate where the appointed person is appointed from within an organisation which uses pressure systems. 

Organisation of lifting operations is covered in Regulation 8. The duty of the employer is to ensure that every lifting operation under LOLER has been properly planned by a competent person, is appropriately supervised and is carried out safely. 

From the occupant s point of view, the ideal situation is an indoor environment that satisfies all occupants (i.e. they have no complaints) and does not unnecessarily increase the risk or severity of illness or injury. Both the satisfaction of people (comfort) and health status are influenced by general well-being, mental drive, job satisfaction, technical competence, career achievements, home/work interface, relationship with others, personal circumstances, organisational matters, etc, and last but not least by environmental factors, such as... 

The notion of competency as a requirement in CRM is well established in other industries such as nuclear power. In engineering the term SQEP (pronounced squep ) is used to refer to those who are Suitably Qualified and Experienced Personnel. SQEP implies that an individual is a professionally qualified person who has several years as a practitioner, is registered in their area of expertise within the organisation and so whose judgement can be used to resolve a technical problem with some finality [1]. In many cases formally establishing SQEP in these industries is a fundamental pre-requisite to employment or allocation to a project. 

In the event that the [competent authority] has reason to believe that any natural or legal person has information that is relevant for a declaration required to be made by [State Party] to the Organisation, or that is relevant for the implementation of the Convention or for the enforcement of this [Act, Statute, Ordinance, etc.], it may by notice require the person to provide such information. 

Whiddett, S. and HoUyforde, S. (2007). A Practical Guide to Competencies How to Enhance Individual and Organisational Performance. London Chartered Institute of Personal Development. 

Audits may be undertaken by one or more persons. Those chosen as auditors must be competent, whether as individuals or as members of a team. They should be independent of the part of the organisation or the premises that are to be audited. The nature and extent of the audit will determine whether it is undertaken by employees from another part of the organization or by external auditors. 

Before coming into operation for the first time, areas where hazardous expiosive atmospheres may be present are confirmed as being safe (verified) by a person (or organisation) competent in the fieid of expiosion protection. The person carrying out the verification must be competent to consider the par-ticuiar risks at the workpiace and the adequacy of controi and other measures put in piace. 

THE HSE publication Successful Health and Safety Management makes the following points with regard to the role and functions of health and safety advisers, (be they internally-appointed persons or external consultants) Organisations that successfully manage health and safety give health and safety advisers the status and ensure they have the competence to advise management and workers with authority and independence. Subjects on which they advise include ... 

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