Health, Safety and Environmental Management

Health, safety and environmental management are prime concerns for the extractive and mineral processing industry. Companies are well aware of the need to comply with legislation and protect their employees and the environment from undue risk, yet many still need guidance on what is expected. A recent letter from Dr P. Smith of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to Nigel Jackson of the Mineral Products Association has thrown new light on some important issues relating to staff competence in the industry.

As the Sector Skills Council for the extractive and minerals processing industry, this is an issue Proskills is well-placed to deal with. We visit companies of all sizes across the country, from large multi-nationals employing thousands of staff right through to small enterprises, and aim to help businesses comply with legislation and train their workforce in the techniques that will drive the industry forward.   

The issue of how industry could provide safe and productive working environments for staff was raised in a meeting of the MPA Health & Safety Committee by Mr Jackson, in which he asked for the HSE’s view on what they meant by the phrase ‘fully competency assured industry’. The question carried even greater urgency in the context of the commitment made by industry that the workforce would be fully competent by 2010, which links in to the wider commitment to zero harm.

Competence assurance

Dr Smith’s response to Mr Jackson was as follows:

“A ‘fully competency assured industry’ is one that is able to demonstrate that it has adequate arrangements in place to operate in a competent manner so as to ensure the health and safety of all those who are, or who are likely to be, affected by its undertaking.

“Full competence assurance takes into account circumstances where someone may not themselves be competent but is en route to achieving competence and is supervised by someone who is competent to ensure that the task is undertaken in a competent manner.

“’Competence’ is the ability to apply knowledge, understanding, practical and thinking skills to achieve effective performance to the standards required in employment. This involves solving problems and being sufficiently flexible to meet changing demands.

“To demonstrate competence an operator must have defined the competencies required for every employee, taking into account the requirements of the National Occupational Standards, undertaken an analysis against those benchmarks to identify any gaps in the individual’s competence, and be able to demonstrate that they are actively working to fill those gaps under appropriate supervision.

“Although there may be ways of assessing competence other than by achieving NVQ/SVQ/QCF’s, they must be capable of meeting the National Occupational Standards.

“Fundamental to the demonstration of competence is the ability to demonstrate continuing professional development (CPD)”.

Standards and qualifications

This is central to Proskills’ work in developing standards and qualifications for the extractive and minerals processing industry.

Proskills is continually working with industry representatives to develop national occupational standards that provide a competence framework for current and ongoing skills development, which in turn will enhance the competitiveness of the industry.

The development of national occupational standards helps businesses provide safe and productive working environments for their workforce. This also brings about high impact commercial benefits in the short, medium and long term, allowing companies to maximize productivity while minimizing risk to their employees and the environment.

Over the past six years Proskills has worked closely with industry employers to develop a range of competence demonstrating qualifications for all levels of the workforce, from operational staff right through to senior management, and more are being developed all the time.

Jonathan Ledger, Proskills Extractive and Mineral Processing Industry lead, said: “Employers within the industry have done exceptionally well in stemming incidents and accidents. It has seen a reduction of well over 80% in accidents and incidents and a major part in this has been the increasing competence of the employees and the demonstration of this through qualifications based on National Occupational Standards.

“In addition to the industry successes, several employers have made landmark gains by achieving a full year without any ‘lost time injuries’. The challenge in the future will be to maintain this in the face of increasing business demands but this is a challenge the industry willingly accepts.”

By investing in the skills of their workforce companies can equip themselves to deal with emerging commercial challenges and build for their long-term future.