Unit of competency Outline

Date retreived
22/07/2026 3:36 AM AWST

Whilst all efforts are made to provide accurate and timely information from the relevant source/documentation, please be aware that the information supplied may not be the most current version. The accuracy of the detail has not been confirmed by the Department and therefore should not be relied upon without first confirming the contents.

Control the process during abnormal situations

Control the process during abnormal situations

Unit of competency
National Code
PMAOPS505A
State Code
W8895
TGA Status
Replaced
DTWD Status
Replaced
Current Release Number
1.00
Current Release Date
30/04/2010
State Implementation and Classification
Approved Date
10/06/2011
Field of Education
030717 - Plant And Machine Operations
Original Release Date
10/06/2011
Nominal Hours
80
Description
This unit covers the responses required by a senior technician to make decisions and control a process during abnormal or declared incident situations to prevent or avoid an emergency.
Notes
Elements and Performance Criteria
1. Identify the abnormal situation
  • 1.1. Identify the state of the plant/process
  • 1.2. Gather available information on the plant/process with particular focus on trends and rates of change
  • 1.3. Verify and confirm situation with other technicians in the area and any upstream or downstream units.
2. Respond appropriately.
  • 2.1. Apply immediate actions to respond to the abnormal situation to bring the plant/process to a safer state
  • 2.2. Decide whether to continue operations, shutdown or abandon
  • 2.3. Keep in contact with other technicians in the area
3. Review and respond to changes.
  • 3.1. Review the situation, gather data on the state of the plant/process and the trends and rates of change
  • 3.2. Make appropriate changes to the state of the plant/process to keep parameters within limits
  • 3.3. Rectify or initiate procedures to rectify any faults or adjustments to secure the safe operation of the plant/process
  • 3.4. Review the state of the recovery, making adjustments as required
  • 3.5. Keep all other stakeholders informed of progress
  • 3.6. When plant is restored to stable conditions, continue to monitor the situation.
4. Document abnormal situation and response.
  • 4.1. Complete all logs and workplace documentation relating to the abnormal situation, ensuring all details, actions and responses are accurately recorded
  • 4.2. Record any further ongoing production problems and report to appropriate persons or authority.
RANGE STATEMENT
The Range Statement relates to the unit of competency as a whole. It allows for different work environments and situations that may affect performance. Bold italicised wording, if used in the Performance Criteria, is detailed below. Add any essential operating conditions that may be present with training and assessment depending on the work situation, needs if the candidate, accessibility of the item, and local industry and regional contexts.
Codes of practice/ standards
Where reference is made to industry codes of practice, and/or Australian/international standards, the latest version must be used.
Context
This unit of competency includes abnormal situations, declared situations or emergency conditions in the plant or process, where recovery of the situation is possible.
Health, safety and environment (HSE)
All operations to which this unit applies are subject to stringent health, safety and environment requirements, which may be imposed through State or Federal legislation, and these must not be compromised at any time. Where there is an apparent conflict between Performance Criteria and HSE requirements, the HSE requirements take precedence.
EVIDENCE GUIDE
The Evidence Guide provides advice on assessment and must be read in conjunction with the Performance Criteria, Required Skills and Knowledge, the Range Statement and the Assessment Guidelines for the Training Package.

Overview of assessment
Assessment of this unit should include demonstrated competence on actual plant and equipment in a work environment. The unit will be assessed in as holistic a manner as is practical and may be integrated with the assessment of other relevant units of competency. Assessment will occur over a range of situations which will include a range of problems, problem causes and environments.
Simulation may be required to allow for assessment of parts of this unit. Simulation should be based on the actual problems and should include the use of case studies/scenarios and role plays.
This unit of competency requires a significant body of knowledge which will be assessed through questioning and the use of what-if scenarios.

Critical aspects for assessment and evidence required to demonstrate competency in this unit
Competence must be demonstrated in the ability to define and analyse the problem as well as deal with the stakeholders. The stakeholders should be satisfied with the solution, as well as the solution being technically sound.
Consistent performance should be demonstrated. In particular look to see that:
different types of abnormal situations can be analysed and resolved
different types of stakeholders can be satisfied
the range of possible causes can be identified and analysed and the most likely cause determined
appropriate action is taken.
These aspects may be best assessed using a range of scenarios/case studies/what-ifs. These assessment activities should include a range of abnormal situations, including new, unusual and improbable situations which may have been generated from the past history and similar sources.

Context of and specific resources for assessment
Assessment will require a suitable method of gathering evidence of problem solving ability over a range of situations. A bank of scenarios/case studies/what-ifs will be required as will a bank of questions which will be used to probe the reasoning behind the observable actions.

Method of assessment
In all plants it may be appropriate to assess this unit concurrently with relevant teamwork and communication units.

Guidance information for assessment
Assessment processes and techniques must be culturally appropriate and appropriate to the oracy, language and literacy capacity of the assessee and the work being performed.
Replaced By
State Code National Code Title Type
AXM76 PMAOPS505 Control the process during abnormal situations Unit of competency