Beyond the Certificate

Competence is the ability to perform a task to the required standard, consistently, in the conditions it is actually performed in. It has four components.

• Knowledge — understanding the hazards, the method, the standards and why they exist.
• Skill — the practical ability, demonstrated rather than described.
• Experience — having done it in real conditions, including when things did not go to plan.
• Attitude — the willingness to apply it correctly when nobody is watching and the schedule is slipping.

What a certificate evidences

A training certificate evidences knowledge, sometimes skill under training conditions, and neither experience nor attitude. It records that a person attended and, at best, passed an assessment on the day. It says nothing about whether they can do the task on your plant, with your equipment, under your conditions, two years later.

The distinction that matters

Training is an input; competence is an outcome. Organisations that manage the training matrix are managing attendance. The question a competence system must answer is different: can this person do this task safely, here, now?

The consequence of confusing them

Post-incident reviews repeatedly find that everyone involved was "trained" — the matrix was complete and the certificates were in date — while nobody had ever verified that the individuals could actually perform the task, or that the training bore any relationship to how the work is done on that site.

Ask to see a training record, then go and watch the person do the task. The gap between the two is where competence management actually happens.