Competency

Defining why people are competent to do their role is essential to any safety case, so why the photo of me in an aircraft simulator…….?

It is essential (and is a requirement of the Building Safety Act) that a Higher-risk Building (HRB) safety case defines how all the people involved in works and management of the HRB are competent.

How could this look in your HRB safety case? Remember the Claim-Argument-Evidence structure for a safety case?

✈ Claim: All people are competent to undertake the required tasks (which have been explicitly defined) to manage the HRB safely.

✈ Argument: The team at ‘RiskFlag Housing’ and all contractors who conduct activity on the HRB are competent to undertake their required tasks because:
🛩 They have been trained and are qualified, to undertake the required tasks.
🛩 They are maintaining the minimum level of recent experience required to safely perform those tasks, as defined by the Safety Management System (SMS).
🛩 Their competency is being periodically assessed.

✈ Evidence:
🛩 Qualifications, CIOB Level 6 Diploma in Building Safety Management, for example.
🛩 The ‘RiskFlag Housing’ SMS. Evidence is also required to demonstrate that people are maintaining the required recent experience and if not, the process of how they regain their expertise. Additional training, for example.
🛩 Independent assessments on activities conducted on that HRB. For example, another Housing Association or Council could review a ‘RiskFlag Housing’ HRB safety case and provide an independent report.

Now back to the photo……

Before developing the RiskFlag Bow Tie and Safety Case platforms with Ben and Tom, I was a test pilot in the RAF and I still occasionally fly with ETPS (the UK's test pilot school). However, whilst being qualified on the aircraft (argument 1), I still need to have recent experience flying the aircraft (argument 2), so here I am in the simulator. The fun comes tomorrow though, when my flying ability is independently assessed by a flying examiner (evidence for argument 3), wish me luck!!

If you'd like to learn more about safety case structures and see an example HRB safety case in the RiskFlag platform then please do get in touch. info@riskflag.com