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Safety
◀ Jonny Millard position if I suggested otherwise. But I also think our industry can put too much faith in certificates.
I’ ve worked with people who have plenty of qualifications but still need development in certain practical areas, and I’ ve met highly experienced people whose ability isn’ t easily captured by the certificates they hold.
Another issue is that evidence is often scattered. A training certificate might be held in one system, records of experience somewhere else, while some of the best insight into an installer’ s practical capability may sit with the supervisor who has worked alongside them for years.
For those responsible for allocating safetycritical work, that creates a practical problem. They need a reliable way to understand what somebody is competent to do, whether the evidence supporting that judgement is current and whether their capability is appropriate for the work being assigned.
Individuals need that clarity too. If somebody has spent years developing their skills, they should be able to demonstrate that experience, understand how it relates to their role and see where further development is needed.
I think recognising the limits of your own competence is one of the most important behaviours in safety-critical work. I would much rather somebody stopped and asked for guidance than carried on because they felt they were expected to know the answer. We need a culture where that judgement is respected.
Competence also changes throughout a person’ s career as people gain experience, move roles and take on different responsibilities, while products,
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