Elements and Performance Criteria

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. Essential operating conditions that may be present with training and assessment (depending on the work situation, needs of the candidate, accessibility of the item, and local industry and regional contexts) may also be included.
Codes of practice
Where reference is made to industry codes of practice, and/or Australian/international standards, it is expected the latest version will be used
Standards, codes, procedures and/or enterprise requirements
Standards, codes, procedures and/or enterprise requirements may include:
Anti-discrimination Acts
Australia New Zealand Food Standards (ANZFS) Code
Australian code of good manufacturing practice for medicinal products (GMP)
Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Act 1986
Therapeutic Goods Regulations 1009
customer service and telephone protocols
information directories for staff access (personnel and telephone), online databases and CD-ROMs
workplace documents, such as:
SOPs and laboratory methods
job (batch) cards and job descriptions
equipment manuals and service logs
induction manuals
supplier catalogues
(daily) production schedules
laboratory schedules
calibration and maintenance schedules
guide to relevant acts and regulations (e.g. Food Standards Code)
material safety data sheets (MSDS)
non-compliance reports
quality manuals
time sheets and logbooks
product specifications
text procedures
shift handover reports
pick lists
hazard analysis and critical control points (HACCP) procedures
libraries
information which uses:
common scientific and technical terminology
symbols, charts, signs, written text, tables, graphs and calculations
Communication
Communication may include interactions with:
supervisors and managers
other laboratory and production personnel
members of the public, customers and clients
Items of equipment
Items of equipment may include:
telephone, two-way radio, PA system, fax and computer (email)
direct display readouts
online information systems
Interpersonal communication
Interpersonal communication includes:
active listening
including others
effective questioning
tolerating the view of others, attempting to reduce conflict and to negotiate suitable outcomes
Occupational health and safety (OHS) and environmental management requirements
OHS and environmental management requirements:
all operations must comply with enterprise OHS and environmental management requirements, which may be imposed through state/territory or federal legislation - these requirements must not be compromised at any time
all operations assume the potentially hazardous nature of samples and require standard precautions to be applied
where relevant, users should access and apply current industry understanding of infection control issued by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and State and Territory Departments of Health

EVIDENCE GUIDE
The Evidence Guide provides advice on assessment and must be read in conjunction with the performance criteria, required skills and knowledge, range statement and the Assessment Guidelines for the Training Package.

Overview of assessment

Critical aspects for assessment and evidence required to demonstrate competency in this unit
Assessors should ensure that candidates can:
communicate with people effectively by listening attentively and clarifying messages and instructions to confirm their meaning
provide accurate and timely information using appropriate terminology
complete workplace documents legibly and accurately
use personal interactions to promote cooperation.

Context of and specific resources for assessment
This unit of competency is to be assessed in the workplace or simulated workplace environment.
This unit of competency may be assessed with:
MSL933002AContribute to the achievement of quality objectives.
Resources may include:
enterprise procedures and documents
communication equipment (for example, telephone, online and hard copy directories, email, fax, intranet and internet).

Method of assessment
The following assessment methods are suggested:
review of messages and workplace documentation prepared by the candidate
feedback from peers, customers and supervisors
observation of the candidate's performance of a wide range of technical and administrative tasks
questions to assess understanding of relevant workplace procedures.
In all cases, practical assessment should be supported by questions to assess underpinning knowledge and those aspects of competency which are difficult to assess directly.
Where applicable, reasonable adjustment must be made to work environments and training situations to accommodate ethnicity, age, gender, demographics and disability.
Access must be provided to appropriate learning and/or assessment support when required.
The language, literacy and numeracy demands of assessment should not be greater than those required to undertake the unit of competency in a work like environment.

This competency in practice
Industry representatives have provided the case studies below to illustrate the practical application of this unit of competency and show its relevance in a workplace setting.
Manufacturing
A technician in a petroleum refinery asked a laboratory assistant to 'go down to the cat and take a sample of the bottoms,' not realising that the assistant had only just started work with the company. The assistant looked at the technician in amazement, not knowing whether to pretend to understand, maintain self esteem, or clarify the instructions for the task. The assistant decided on the latter - to ask for clarification - and the technician repeated the instructions without using jargon. The laboratory assistant then proceeded to the catalytic cracker to take the sample as per the appropriate standard operating procedures.
Biomedical
The regular collection staff were not present when a flustered client came into the outpatient clinic with a domestic container full of straw coloured fluid. The receptionist knew what urine collection containers usually looked like and this was clearly not one. The receptionist called for help from the laboratory in the absence of collection staff. A technical officer was sent. The officer quickly realised that a recollection would be requested and because this would be inconvenient to the patient, tried to seek an explanation from them as to why the correct container was not used. The technical officer then explained as clearly and gently as possible the reasons for the recollection and why the substitute container could not be used. The officer confirmed that the patient was clear on the collection procedure and checked that the labels on the new container were correct.
Food
The front office staff of a small food processing company were responsible for many tasks and could not always ensure that they were in the office to receive customers and answer phone calls. This meant that urgent inquiries were not always immediately attended to and some customers became irate if they were unfortunate enough to have made several inquiries while the office staff were absent.
The company laboratory was adjacent to the reception area and laboratory technicians would attend to customers if they happened to see them waiting. The laboratory technicians realised that they could improve company-customer relations. They organised for a buzzer to be installed that connected the reception desk to the laboratory and the reception phone to redirect to the laboratory if it was not answered within a reasonable period of time. Since they could not always attend to the specific needs of the callers, they developed a standard format for recording messages that were passed back to the reception staff. The laboratory assistants were also trained to receive personal and phone inquires in an appropriate manner. The company found that, even though the laboratory technicians could not always satisfy the immediate demands of customers, the customer satisfaction level was greater when customers were attended to personally than when they were connected to an answering machine or not received at all.