Application
This unit of competency describes the skills and knowledge to take responsibility for the day-to-day operation of the work or functional area and its compliance with legislation and licensing, registration, ethical or accreditation requirements, for example, National Association of Testing Authorities (NATA), and workplace policies and procedures.
This unit applies to senior technical officers and laboratory supervisors in all industry sectors. While statutory or legal compliance is the responsibility of all personnel, supervisors have an important leadership role in promoting and monitoring workplace practices that enhance compliance. They work under broad supervision of scientists/medical staff/engineers.
No licensing or certification requirements exist at the time of publication. However, regulations and/or external accreditation requirements for laboratory operations exist, so local requirements should be checked. Relevant legislation, industry standards and codes of practice within Australia must also be applied.
Elements and Performance Criteria
Elements describe the essential outcomes. | Performance criteria describe the performance needed to demonstrate achievement of the element. | ||
1 | Interpret and communicate current legislation, codes and standards | 1.1 | Maintain knowledge of current and new requirements impacting on work/functional area |
1.2 | Distribute clear information regarding the roles and responsibilities of teams and individuals to maintain the laboratory's statutory or legal compliance | ||
1.3 | Explain the implications of non-conformance to all personnel within the work area | ||
2 | Ensure that work practices meet compliance requirements | 2.1 | Plan work practices to ensure compliance with relevant legislation and licensing, registration, ethical or accreditation requirements |
2.2 | Ensure that calibration and testing procedures are implemented so that equipment and methods are fit for purpose and reliable | ||
2.3 | Empower team members through coaching and mentoring to manage their responsibilities | ||
3 | Monitor, analyse, adjust and report performance | 3.1 | Confirm actual and potential problems are being identified, rectified and reported promptly to ensure workplace compliance |
3.2 | Analyse and supervise activities so that potential non-compliance is minimised | ||
3.3 | Recommend to designated personnel, strategies to improve compliance | ||
3.4 | Inform individuals/teams of new and improved procedures, as required | ||
3.5 | Maintain systems, records and reporting procedures according to legislative and licensing, registration, ethical or accreditation requirements and workplace procedures | ||
4 | Investigate, rectify and report non-conformance | 4.1 | Investigate and deal with non-conformance according to legislative and licensing, registration or accreditation requirements and workplace procedures |
4.2 | Provide on/off-the-job training for personnel to acquire and apply competencies to meet legislative and licensing, registration or ethical accreditation requirements | ||
4.3 | Re-design or adjust workplace practices to ensure that non-conformance is not repeated | ||
Foundation Skills
This section describes those language, literacy, numeracy and employment skills that are essential to performance.
Foundation skills essential to performance are explicit in the performance criteria of this unit of competency.
Competency Field
Communication/organisation