Guys and Gals, we just finished up with our first surveillance audit for 14001. Had a great audit, and wowed our auditor. All except the following nonconformance: Records of competency were not evidenced that showed direct correlation to EMS-related topics presented in the annual refresher training. Competency records for contractors were also not evidenced.
We, internally, had written up a nonconformance about contractors - we had not done a good job on identifying competency requirements for contractors, therefore making it impossible for our contractors to acheive competency on a consistent basis.
As for our own employees, we maintain a matrix of "competencies" for each job function, and annually we review (supervisors review hourly, managers review supervisors, and up the line) each employee for competency and document it at the same time we document our cost of living increase. In addition, trainees are reviewed using the same criteria during each of their reviews (6, 9, 12 and 18 months to get to full grade).
The auditor could not find an instance of incompetent behaviour, and actually commended us on the knowledge of our people. I am having a hard time with this. (I was kind of the official stand in for this audit as the MR we had left us for another company and his replacement just started) If we have a matrix, and we train to it, and have training records, and managerial/supervisory staff feels that their employees are competent and document that "employee x has shown appropriate competency to perform all functions of his job" why isn't this enough? The auditor stated that we "could" back this up with tests given after all training, and then maybe follow up after 3 or 6 months to see if the employee has retained the knowledge. That is why we have supervisors, to monitor employees progress and develop or reinforce competency.
What do you do in your organization to document assessment of competency? Do you have a competency evaluation on each and every aspect that an employee is affected by? Do you have a record for each employee showing that they "competently" recycle toner cartridges? I want to use this information for some benchmarking. Thanks in advance.
We, internally, had written up a nonconformance about contractors - we had not done a good job on identifying competency requirements for contractors, therefore making it impossible for our contractors to acheive competency on a consistent basis.
As for our own employees, we maintain a matrix of "competencies" for each job function, and annually we review (supervisors review hourly, managers review supervisors, and up the line) each employee for competency and document it at the same time we document our cost of living increase. In addition, trainees are reviewed using the same criteria during each of their reviews (6, 9, 12 and 18 months to get to full grade).
The auditor could not find an instance of incompetent behaviour, and actually commended us on the knowledge of our people. I am having a hard time with this. (I was kind of the official stand in for this audit as the MR we had left us for another company and his replacement just started) If we have a matrix, and we train to it, and have training records, and managerial/supervisory staff feels that their employees are competent and document that "employee x has shown appropriate competency to perform all functions of his job" why isn't this enough? The auditor stated that we "could" back this up with tests given after all training, and then maybe follow up after 3 or 6 months to see if the employee has retained the knowledge. That is why we have supervisors, to monitor employees progress and develop or reinforce competency.
What do you do in your organization to document assessment of competency? Do you have a competency evaluation on each and every aspect that an employee is affected by? Do you have a record for each employee showing that they "competently" recycle toner cartridges? I want to use this information for some benchmarking. Thanks in advance.
