The IMCA guidance on competence assurance and assessment assists contractors in ensuring and demonstrating the competence of personnel working offshore in safety critical positions.
In the ROV sector, guidance currently extends to the following positions:
* ROV supervisor
* ROV senior pilot/technician
* ROV pilot/technician Grade I
* ROV pilot/technician Grade II
For each job, entry level qualifications and acceptance criteria are listed. For example, an ROV supervisor must have a valid offshore medical, a valid certificate from an offshore survival course for the relevant geographic work area, competence as a Senior Pilot/Technician and at least one year’s experience as a Senior Pilot/Technician.
Various subjects are then given for competence assessment. Accompanying each of these is a summary of the knowledge required, a way to demonstrate competence, and acceptance criteria. For example, a supervisor would need to be competent in safety awareness. For this it is necessary, for example, to know how to organise and manage the safety of a team and how to make an accident report. Competence in this case should be assessed within an organisation’s competence scheme by a suitable assessor and recorded in the relevant logbook.
With much of the sector’s workforce employed through agencies, IMCA’s contractor members have been keen to involve such organisations in the development and implementation of the guidance framework. A number of successful workshops have been held, with valuable feedback taken onboard, a dedicated membership category to enable better information and dialogue, and an extensive freelance competence information pack to assist in development of individual portfolios of work records and competence assessments.
For full details on IMCA’s work and guidance on competence assurance assessment, please visit our TCPC competence pages.
