Develop and Maintain Individual and Organisational Competence in Health and Safety Matters
ProQual Level 6 NVQ Diploma in Occupational Health and Safety Practice
Competence is a fundamental requirement for effective health and safety management. Organisations must ensure that employees, managers, contractors and others have the knowledge, skills, experience and behaviours necessary to carry out their work safely and fulfil their health and safety responsibilities.
This unit of the ProQual Level 6 NVQ Diploma in Occupational Health and Safety Practice focuses on developing the practical skills required to identify competence requirements, assess existing competence levels, address competence gaps and implement systems that support the ongoing development and maintenance of health and safety competence throughout an organisation.
Learners completing this unit will demonstrate competence in analysing training needs, evaluating competence requirements, planning competence development activities, monitoring competence levels and ensuring that individuals remain capable of performing their duties safely and effectively.
Unlike traditional classroom-based qualifications, the ProQual Level 6 NVQ Diploma in Occupational Health and Safety Practice is a competency-based qualification assessed through workplace evidence. This means learners demonstrate their ability to apply health and safety knowledge in real workplace situations rather than sitting written examinations.
This unit is particularly relevant for:
Health and Safety Advisors
Health and Safety Officers
Health and Safety Managers
SHEQ Professionals
HSE Managers
Compliance Managers
Operations Managers with health and safety responsibilities
Individuals progressing towards Certified Membership of IOSH (CertIOSH)
By successfully completing this unit, learners will demonstrate their ability to establish and maintain competence systems that ensure employees, managers and contractors possess the skills, knowledge and experience necessary to contribute to safe and effective workplace operations.
What Does This Unit Mean?
This unit is about ensuring that people within the organisation have the knowledge, skills, experience and understanding necessary to carry out their work safely and fulfil their health and safety responsibilities.
Competence is more than simply attending training. It involves ensuring that individuals understand the health and safety risks associated with their work, possess the necessary knowledge and skills to manage those risks and can apply that competence effectively in the workplace.
In simple terms, this unit is asking:
“Can you identify the health and safety competence needs of the organisation, provide suitable training and development and ensure that people are competent to carry out their health and safety responsibilities?”
What Competence Does This Unit Require?
You are expected to demonstrate that you can:
Analyse the organisation's functions, activities, tasks and job roles.
Identify the health and safety competence requirements associated with those activities and roles.
Assess the competence needs of individuals and the organisation.
Identify competence gaps.
Establish the knowledge, skills and understanding required for different roles.
Develop competence development plans.
Design suitable health and safety training arrangements.
Consider practical constraints such as budgets, resources, timescales and staff availability.
Deliver or arrange suitable training and development activities.
Evaluate whether competence needs have been met.
Monitor the effectiveness of training and development activities.
Maintain organisational competence over time.
The focus is not on delivering a single training course.
The focus is on demonstrating that a complete competence management process exists and is being used to identify, develop, maintain and verify health and safety competence throughout the organisation.
Evidence Requirements: Unit 04
How are health and safety competence requirements identified?
Evidence Examples:
A training matrix, competency framework, job description, role profile or skills matrix showing the competence requirements for specific job roles or activities.
Evidence showing that legal requirements, workplace risks or organisational requirements were considered when determining competence requirements.
How are competence gaps identified?
Evidence Examples:
A competence assessment, skills gap analysis, appraisal record, observation record or training needs analysis identifying competence gaps.
Evidence showing the specific knowledge, skills or experience that require improvement.
How are competence needs addressed?
Evidence Examples:
A training record, coaching record, mentoring record, qualification certificate, professional development record or supervision record showing action taken to address identified competence gaps.
Evidence showing completion or participation in the development activity.
How are health and safety training and development activities planned?
Evidence Examples:
A training plan, training matrix, annual training programme, development plan or training schedule showing planned training and development activities.
Evidence showing how training priorities, timescales, resources or organisational needs were considered.
How is health and safety training delivered?
Evidence Examples:
A training presentation, training materials, toolbox talk, briefing record, workshop record or course programme that you delivered, organised or coordinated.
Evidence showing attendance or participation by the intended audience.
How is the effectiveness of training and competence development evaluated?
Evidence Examples:
A post-training assessment, competence assessment, observation record, appraisal record, audit finding or supervisor feedback showing whether competence improved following training.
Evidence showing that the learning was applied in the workplace or resulted in improved performance.
How are competence and training records maintained?
Evidence Examples:
A training matrix, training database, competence register or personnel training record showing training and competence information.
Evidence showing that records are reviewed, updated and maintained.
How is it ensured that organisational competence is maintained over time?
Evidence Examples:
A training matrix review, refresher training programme, competence review, annual appraisal or management review showing how ongoing competence requirements are monitored.
Evidence showing actions taken to maintain or improve competence where required.
How is it ensured that the competence management process is effective?
Evidence Examples:
An internal audit, management review, training review or competence management review evaluating the effectiveness of competence arrangements.
Evidence showing actions, improvements or recommendations resulting from the review.
Some of your evidence against one Assessment Criterion may also be used to meet the requirements in other assessment criteria (Where applicable).
Important Note for Learners
The competence requirements outlined above describe the practical workplace activities, systems, processes and records that may be used to demonstrate competence against this unit.
As this is a competency-based qualification, learners are expected to demonstrate that they can apply their health and safety knowledge and skills within their own workplace or working environment.
In addition to the competence-based assessment criteria, this unit also contains a number of knowledge-based assessment criteria. These are typically assessed through:
Written responses
Professional discussions with the assessor
Assessor questioning
In most cases, the knowledge-based assessment criteria relate directly to the same workplace activities, systems and processes described above. Learners will therefore often find that the workplace evidence gathered to demonstrate competence also helps them prepare for and satisfy the knowledge assessment requirements.