Training, competency and inductions that hold up

A training record is not competence

The standards ask for competence: the ability to apply knowledge and skills to achieve intended results. A training record proves someone attended. Those are not the same claim, and the gap between them is the most common finding in this area.

Competence is normally demonstrated by some combination of education, training and experience, plus something that verifies the person can actually do the work. That verification is the part that gets skipped — and it is the only part that would matter if something went wrong.

• Record how competence was determined, not just what course was attended.
• For high-risk tasks, include an observed verification: someone competent watched the work and signed that it met the standard.
• Experience counts, but it must be recorded as evidence rather than assumed from length of service.
• Where competence lapses without practice, set a re-verification interval — a ticket held for ten years is not evidence of current ability.

Define competence per role, once

The efficient approach is a competence matrix: roles down one side, requirements across the other. Build it once and it drives recruitment, induction, training plans, refresher scheduling and the evidence an auditor asks for — all from the same source.

1. 1.List the roles as they actually exist, including contractors and casual staff who perform your tasks.
2. 2.For each role, state the legal requirements, the internal requirements, and the site-specific ones. Keep them distinguishable — the legal ones are non-negotiable.
3. 3.Note how each requirement is verified and how often it must be refreshed.
4. 4.Mark which requirements gate the work: the things that mean someone cannot start until they are held.
5. 5.Review it when the work changes, not annually. New plant and new processes create new requirements immediately.

Inductions that change behaviour

The standard induction is an hour of slides, a signature, and no measurable change in what anyone does. It exists to create a record, and everyone in the room knows it.

Inductions that work are shorter, specific to the site rather than generic, and delivered close to the work. The general content — company values, the policy, the org chart — can be done before arrival. The time on site is better spent on the three or four things that could actually hurt someone here.

• Split it: general content in advance, site-specific content on site, task-specific content at the task.
• Cover the hazards of this site, in the places they exist. A walk beats a slide.
• Check understanding with something other than a signature — a few questions, or a supervised first task.
• Re-induct on change: a new hazard, a new area, or a long absence. A twelve-month-old induction covers a site that no longer exists.
• Make the record link the person to the version of the induction they received, so you can prove what they were told.

Keeping tickets and licences current

Expiry management is the most mechanical part of this and the most commonly failed. The typical setup is a spreadsheet checked when someone remembers, which reliably produces an expired ticket discovered by an auditor rather than by you.

The mechanics that work are simple: the expiry date lives with the record, the reminder fires early enough that renewal is possible, and the reminder goes to someone with the authority to act rather than to a shared mailbox.

1. 1.Store the expiry date as data, not as text inside a scanned certificate.
2. 2.Set the lead time to the renewal reality — a licence requiring a booked course needs ninety days, not seven.
3. 3.Escalate before expiry, not after. The day it lapses is too late if the person is rostered on tomorrow.
4. 4.Link the requirement to the work: if a ticket is a gate for a task, the system should stop the assignment rather than warn about it.
5. 5.Include contractors in exactly the same register. A separate contractor spreadsheet is how expired tickets get on site.

What auditors sample

This area is sampled in a predictable way: the auditor picks people, not files. They will choose someone they have just watched working, or a recent starter, and ask to see the evidence behind them.

• A new starter’s full trail: induction, competence verification, and what they were assessed on before working unsupervised.
• A high-risk task performed today, traced back to the competence of the person performing it.
• A contractor on site, checked against the same requirements as employees.
• Refresher training that was due and whether it happened on time.
• Whether the training that came out of a corrective action last year actually took place.

That last one is worth checking yourself. Training is the most-promised corrective action and the least-verified, which makes it a reliable place for an auditor to find a gap.

Questions we get asked