This unit of competency covers the skills and knowledge required to perform drying operations at various stages of the hide, skin and leather processing, including the preparation procedures, conducted in restricted spaces or exposed conditions or controlled or open environments.

Work may be conducted in small to large scale enterprises and may involve individual and team activities. Work is performed within industry codes, standards and defined procedures, under direct supervision.

No licensing, legislative or certification requirements apply to this unit at the time of publication.

Evidence required to demonstrate competence in this unit must be relevant to and satisfy the requirements of the elements and performance criteria, and include:

reading and following work instructions, standard operating procedures (SOPs), safe work practices, industry codes and standards

applying relevant standards

loading hides, skins, or leather onto racks or other drying apparatus

adjusting equipment in accordance with procedures

assessing drying operations in accordance with workplace procedures and, where applicable, ensuring timing, temperature and conditions are appropriate for the operation, on at least two (2) occasions

removing and unloading hides, skins, or leather using appropriate manual handling techniques

directing items to next stage of process

recognising and isolating deviations from normal in accordance with procedures

ensuring appropriate control of drying process to meet specifications

maintaining documentation to expedite movement of the hides, skins and leather through the various phases of treatment

completing records.

Evidence must be provided that demonstrates knowledge of:

safe work practices and procedures and use of personal protective equipment (PPE)

relevant Australian Standards

drying operations:

preservation

preparation to crust (air dry, hang, toggle, paste, vacuum, radio frequency and Seco-Therm)

dried crust (stretching, toggle, Dyna-vac and vacuum)

finishing (drying finish coating, base and top [air-drying and radiation])

industry and product processes and equipment

procedures and requirements for preparation and loading

adjustment requirements; including timing, temperature, and conditions

monitoring processes and operator instructions

quality standards and manual handling procedures

work health and safety (WHS) and environmental aspects of relevant processes

relevant federal and state or territory legislative or regulatory requirements

recording and reporting procedures.

Assessors must:

satisfy the assessor competency requirements that are in place at the time of the assessment, as set by the VET regulator

have vocational competency in performing drying operations, at least to the level being assessed, with relevant industry knowledge and experience.

Assessment should occur in operational workplace situations. Where this is not possible, or where personal safety or environmental damage are limiting factors, assessment must occur in a sufficiently rigorous simulated environment reflecting realistic operational workplace conditions. This must cover all aspects of workplace performance, including environment, task skills, task management skills, contingency management skills and job role environment skills.

Assessment processes and techniques must be appropriate to the language, literacy and numeracy requirements of the work being performed and the needs of the candidate.

Conditions for assessment must include access to all tools, equipment, materials and documentation required, including relevant workplace procedures, product and manufacturing specifications associated with this unit.

This section describes those required skills (language, literacy and numeracy) that are essential to performance.

Foundation skills essential to performance are explicit in the performance criteria of this unit of competency.

Not applicable

Leather production