Industry’s commitment to assuring competence a great example of safety leadership in action
To mark World Day for Safety and Health at Work, Engineering Construction Industry Training Board (ECITB) Chief Executive Andrew Hockey wrote in trade magazine OGV Energy about the role Connected Competence is playing in making industry safer.
The article shares that while workers are always required to undertake basic safety training before being deployed to sites, they do not necessarily need to demonstrate their ‘current’ technical competence to ensure activities are carried out safely.
Andrew goes on to detail the objectives behind Connected Competence, which is an industry-driven initiative supported and enabled by the ECITB.
He says by every site-based worker assuring their ongoing base technical competence, “we can take great strides towards a safer industry for everyone”.
Read the article on page 29 of OGV Energy Magazine or on the OGV Energy website.
Connected Competence assures an ongoing base level of technical competence for workers across the engineering construction industry (ECI).
Developed with some of the UK’s largest contracting companies, each has committed to working together to use standardised testing to create a safer, more competent and transferable workforce.
Connected Competence was formally adopted as an industry-wide framework in 2021, focused initially on aligning base technical competence standards among oil and gas workers, who are required to demonstrate their ongoing competence every three to four years.
In the article, Andrew said: “Connected Competence employers have demonstrated outstanding commitment to safety in their collaborative actions to standardise a base level of technical competence for site-based trades.
“Connected Competence is recognised by clients, supply chain contractors, regulators, industry associations, government and trade unions, who have all contributed to the collaborative efforts of the scheme.
“This collaboration around competence assurance has been an excellent example of safety leadership in action.
“The goal is to expand the initiative across other energy sectors, such as nuclear, wind, onshore refining and chemical industries, to enable skills transfer across sectors and support workforce safety and resilience for the energy transition.
“For this World Day for Safety and Health at Work, we’re calling on more contractors and site owners to adopt nationally recognised schemes, like Connected Competence, to increase the industry’s safety resilience and ensure all workers have the same level of competence.”
Find out more on why Connected Competence is important for employers
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