Firstly, if you are someone who is responsible for training or managing staff that uses force in the workplace, or you have to advise, inspect, investigate or train others you are leaving yourself liable to being challenged if you are not competent in what you are expected to do.
THE HEALTH & SAFETY EXECUTIVE DEFINES A COMPETENT PERSON AS:
“A competent person is someone who has sufficient training and experience or knowledge and other qualities that allow them to assist you properly. The level of competence required will depend on the complexity of the situation and the particular help you need.”
SKIBBS v GIBSON 1964
In the case of Skibs v. Gibson 1964 a competent person was viewed in case law as:
1: Someone who knows what they are looking for,
2: Can recognise it when they see it, and;
3: (Although not mentioned in the case) then knows what to do with it.
Which basically means:
“The possession of sufficient knowledge, experience and skill to enable the person to know what he or she is doing and to be able to carry out a task in the way in which a person competent in the activity would expect it to be done and to have an appreciation of one’s own limitations.”
BUTLER v FIFE COAL LTD 1912
In the case of Butler v Fife Coal Ltd. (1912) the following was noted:
Carbon Monoxide had escaped into a coal mine and poisoned one of the miners.
Under the Coal Mines Act 1887, which was in force at the time, it was the duty of the manager and the fireman to withdraw his men until the matter had been investigated.
It was proved that the manager and fireman had no previous experience of carbon monoxide emissions.
The House of Lords held that, although the two men were well and adequately qualified, they lacked the necessary experience and therefore the employer had been negligent in employing them.
IN THAT CASE LORD SHAW OF DUNFERMLINE SAID:
“My Lords, it is extremely difficult to understand how, in such a situation, men could be supposed to be competent who had no knowledge of the dangerous properties of the gases in these pits, or of the peril to human life.”
It is clear therefore, that competence is more than the possession of qualifications. It involves having sufficient and relevant experience as well as a clear understanding of the dangers.
MORE RECENTLY LORD JUSTICE BINGHAM SAID:
“The competent person should command the corpus of knowledge which forms part of the professional equipment of the ordinary member of his profession; the law does not require him to be a paragon, combining the qualities of a polymath and prophet”.
Therefore to ensure that you can evidence competence and avoid any industrial action by a union, being challenged in an industrial tribunal for your lack of competence, your insurance cover becoming invalid, or being sued for damages for an incompetent or illegitimate decision made due to lack of knowledge and understanding, you need to obtain this qualification.
This course will give you that knowledge and competence and also a BTEC Unit Certificate.