'Competence' - Where Are You At?

More great feedback from a demo assessment we carried out last week. Our new Ready-Mix Driver Assessments (Operator Assessments for our Precast customers) are the most in-depth assessment available, from pre-use checks to end of day cleaning, to ensure that drivers are 'competent' and to identify any gaps in training and where drivers strengths and weaknesses lie.

Great to hear that this potential customer put a great deal of emphasis on the word 'competence' and that he wanted his company's drivers to have the skills, attitude and knowledge to carry out their role safely.

But why's competence important?

"We have CPC courses to train the drivers so why would need to spend money on anything else", I'm asked by another potential customer.

How do you know the drivers retained that information? How do you know the driver puts anything they've learned into practice when out on the road or on-site? CPC courses are used to relay the information and not to measure a drivers competence was my reply. Still unconvinced, I explained further.

Most companies have a handbook or a standard that drivers, whether company, haulier or hire, all have to adhere to. One of those requirements being "Drivers must demonstrate competency" which can't be measured by CPC training but needs to be done by way of observing how the driver carries out his daily role. These observations need to be carried out by someone who has the right level or experience, knowledge, skill and understanding to enable them to identify any areas of improvement. This would then be followed by an 'action plan' or 'action points' to improve in the areas lacking. Some companies use their own in-house driver trainers, mentors, lead drivers or buddies, yet to have any validity in the observations, especially in something as unique as the ready-mix industry, these mentioned would need to have the correct training, information and mindset to carry out the observations to an acceptable and complaint level.

These vehicles are not only road going vehicles but are also defined as 'work equipment' when operated in the plant or on-site. This brings another set of regulations in play - Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER) - is any machinery, appliance, apparatus, tool or installation for use at work (whether exclusively or not). The use of work equipment is also very widely interpreted and '...means any activity involving work equipment and includes starting, stopping, programming, setting, transporting, repairing, modifying, maintaining, servicing and cleaning'.

There's long been a case to recognise mixer drivers as completely different type of driver due to how much operational responsibility is expected of mixer drivers. How their ability is relied on to keep the product in spec and to assess the condition of the product in the drum, altering the product with addition of water or if it can be added... a lot of responsibility with no recognised training and even less recognition. Expecting a driver to have "full knowledge of procedures" after 7 days and demonstrating competency after 7/14 days is unbelievably naive. It's even more concerning to have drivers competency assessed or have them signed off by someone who has and never will have driven and operated a mixer, yet that's the reality in some companies.

How do we describe a competent person? How do we decide what competence is required to drive and operate a concrete mixer? Here's how the HSE describe them:

A Competent Person:

A person who has such practical and theoretical knowledge, experience and training as necessary to safely carry out the functions to enable him/her to carry out his/her duties without risk to himself or any other persons and without risk of damage to plant or property.

Statement of Competence:

A statement based on job requirements giving the capabilities to perform a work role to an acceptable level or a standard of performance.

Adequate Training:

Training that is appropriate and sufficient to deliver competence in the safe use of equipment.

There's nothing to say exactly what 'adequate training' consists of. Employers must evaluate the training needs necessary to ensure that various levels of competence for safety and statements of competence should be developed. These can help to highlight where training is necessary to achieve competence to the required levels. If you do use hauliers or hire drivers, you still have the same responsibilities to ensure that they're competent just the same as you would a company driver.

PUWER has a section on training (Regulation 9 Training) which explains "training and instruction are fundamental requirements under the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and many other specific regulations" yet some companies are content in the notion that none of this applies to their mixer fleet, regardless of employment status.

(1) Every employer shall ensure that all persons who use work equipment have received adequate training for purposes of health and safety, including training in the methods which may be adopted when using the work equipment, any risks which such entail and precautions to be taken.

(2) Every employer shall ensure that any of his employees who supervises or manages the use of work equipment has received adequate training for purposes of health and safety, including training in the methods which may be adopted when using the work equipment, any risks which such use may entail and precautions to be taken.

So basically, your drivers must be trained and competent and ANYONE who supervises or manages the use of the mixer has also received adequate training... so how can someone who's never had an any experience of the most unique vehicle on the road be allowed to train a driver, let alone assess their competence? Same applies to those that are making safety based decisions on behalf of the drivers, a very slippy route to go down!

If you think training should be all about sitting in a classroom for 7 hours talking about customer service or completing a module on counter terrorism measures will help you when there's been an accident, a rollover incident or worse still, a fatality, you need to serious reivaluate your thought process and stop ticking boxes.

If you think any other types of training and assessment aren't needed, what's wrong on this photo? A photo that was used to promote a major national company and was 'liked' by a range of senior managers and directors... it's a major health and safety breach yet no one cared.

I'll leave the final word to our new client "I didn't realise how much more we needed to implement to ensure our drivers are constantly supported and given any further support to help them in their day to day role. We always knew it wouldn't be easy but we didn't just want to tick boxes, we wanted to show our commitment to have an on-going, continuous improvement plan in place."

Even better when it costs less than the price of a CPC Course...

If you'd like a demo of our new Ready-Mix Driver Assessment, information on our in-house trainer scheme or anything else we offer, please feel free to drop me an email mark@uktruckmixertraining.co.uk or why not visit our website www.uktruckmixertraining.co.uk for further details.