SKATE Skills Knowledge Attitude Training Experience Because without it you could be on thin ice

Just re-arrange yours to 'KETAL' and then make something up about finding yourself in hot water?

DP HSE now use SKATEAB in some of their publications Attitude Behaviour Bob

I don't know how you could use that to identify whether individual people on the forum fulfil all those requirements, just from what is posted on this forum. Which is why I'm unlikely to make the decision that anyone on this forum is competent (that's not to say they're not competent) becuase I don't have enough info to make that decison. I'd have to meet someone and have a chat with them to have a true valuation on competence. Personally I'm not a fan of these little ways of identifying how to do something. They don't work for me. Especially in this case where I think a feeling of the individual based on your own experience of people can be very important. But I know I'm quite different to most people in that.

I agree clairel or you could be applying the swag technique standard wide.... Guess. They started the slogan theme happy Wednesday everyone

So what is the definition of competence because Ive discussed this till im blue in the face!. To me its a mixture of skills applied as behavioural actions backed up by a piece of paper that says you are qualified! Why do I look at it like this because Ive had arguments galore about it in the past. example! You can have all the experience of the world in driving (30 years plus if you like timescales) but if you dont have a licence to standard and class then you will be prosecuted if stopped by the police and asked to produce your qualification in driving (A driving licence)! Maybe a bit simplistic but you can tell if the person is competent if you measure the behavior against this standard. I am a qualified nurse. Does that make me competent? NO! Experience will help me to make good choices in behavioural actions but can I have good behavioural actions and still be competent without having my nursing qualification? NO So whats the common denominator here? Simple - The qualification- The piece of paper that says I have attended a standard defined by whatever! Each time I have been in court when a witness etc - They've asked about my qualifications then my experience before they get to the nitty gritty!

Clairel In many ways you are right about face to face. The best people to assess competence is the employer, the interviewer and the person themselves, provided they know what they are looking for of course. The competence claim worries me when I begin to look at the actual or non existent ongoing development, whether it is as a professional or a trades person or machine operator. Bob And yes you cannot know who is competent here!!:-)

And that is NOT an ego trip as some would you believe. I'm not as black as is painted on times. :-)

Steve did rather muddy the waters by claiming to define competence whilst actually talking about how you recognise whether someone is competent - two different things. I don't think there needs to be any debate about the definition of competence - it is the ability to do something. But for individuals (and teams) their competence is not a simple yes/no outcome. It is a scale from not at all competent, through achieving the minimum requirement up to being fully competent (international recognition). I think this news article from the BBC website today provides another angle to consider http://www.bbc.co.uk/new...land-merseyside-20339630 A key excerpt - The judge added McGee, who had worked as a guard for Merseyrail since 1992, had "years of service and training", which was an aggravating feature of the crime.