Effective spill response requires trained and competent people, but how do we assess the competence of staff involved in the operation? Within the oil spill response industry there are few systems which assess the competence of staff to undertake their roles. Suitability is often left to the discretion of the response contractor, based on the provision of training but training does not guarantee competence. Therefore as an industry, when using response contractors, does the organisation using the services of the clean-up contractor really know that the team is competent to accomplish the job and are they getting value for money? The terminology used to describe the roles of members in a response team is not common, having a different interpretation in each country. In many cases it is better to describe the competency for the job rather than the use a post title. These are the questions that the OSRL / EARL Alliance have been answering over the past year. A solution has been achieved by developing a Competency Matrix / Database. Through the use of this database we have been able to gain many useful outputs such as personnel development plans, training needs and most importantly a measure of staff competence. By having the ability to measure staff competence, we are now able to demonstrate the level of competence that our response staff require to complete the different tasks required in a spill response. It is important that the industry has confidence the response to the spill is being conducted in the most effective manner and that safety, quality and efficiency are not being compromised at any time. This paper will describe how a system of competency management can ensure that competence is assessed and measured and thus benchmarks and standards can be set for the whole industry.
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