Who's "Competent" and why it matters

 

If you walk up to a work site and ask who's the competent person, you might get a few laughs. Everyone wants to be thought of as competent, but in the safety and compliance world, the term "competent person" is an actual legal term that has real ramifications.

First, what does it mean?

From https://www.osha.gov/competent-person: An OSHA "competent person" is defined as "one who is capable of identifying existing and predictable hazards in the surroundings or working conditions which are unsanitary, hazardous, or dangerous to employees, and who has authorization to take prompt corrective measures to eliminate them" [29 CFR 1926.32(f)].

 This talks about two important components:

 - A competent person is capable of identifying hazards, so they have the background, education, and / or experience that allows them to know what the hazards are; and

- They have authorization (from their employer) to correct the hazards.

With these two elements together, this means they have a pretty big role on a work site. Here are a few more points about a "competent person" that you may not know.

1. Employers confer this status.

There are training programs that may be called Fall Protection Competent Person, or Confined Space Competent Person. They may even give you a fancy certificate at the end, certifying that the attendee is a bona fide competent person. However, the only entity that can confer the status of a competent person is the employer of said competent person. That's because part of the definition of a competent person is having the authority to correct a hazard -- an authority that can only come from the employer.

It's up to the employer to consider the experience, background, and characteristics of a person before granting them this title. It's never a bad idea to send an employee to more outside training, just know that a training can never give them "competent person level" status.

2. Sites need to have a competent person assigned, and everyone in the vicinity should know who they are. 

The following work activities require a competent person on site and may have further specific requirements regarding competent persons:

- Excavation (trenching / shoring)

- Fall protection

- Confined space

- Rigging

- Cranes

- All aspects of construction activity

One of the first things an OSHA inspector would ask once on one of these sites would be, you guessed it: "Who's the competent person?" Hopefully the answer will be something more than a deer in headlights stare in return.

3. Competent persons could have some personal liability.

As with any role tasked with ensuring employee safety, there is a chance that should safety be completely ignored, the competent person could be personally fined and even imprisoned. The same goes for company management and supervisors. A few conditions would need to be met, including the violation being willful (on purpose), and the violation resulting in a fatality. Check out this blog post for more detailed information, as well as the other two situations that could warrant fines or even jail time.

This just drives home the point that this stuff is serious, and we need to consider safety as priority number one during these high hazard activities. Make sure your competent person has the adequate experience and training to do the job right, and make sure they're supported to make the right decisions to keep employees safe.