Elements and Performance Criteria

Context
This unit of competency includes collection and reporting of all data on incidents.

Stakeholders may include:
· personnel (employees, management on or off the site/plant/facility)
· incident coordination team and incident management team
· employee families
· authorities
· media
· community

Data may include:
· numbers and placement of internal personnel and incident equipment
· numbers and placement of external personnel and equipment
· information on casualties, personal details, location and condition
· quantities, nature and present condition of materials
· arrangement, condition and details of equipment and plant

Reports and reporting methods may include:
· incident information board
· regulatory reports
· media briefings
· information reports to management and workers
· recommendations and follow up reports on changes made

Analysis may include:
· application of statistical methods
· mathematical calculations
· critical analysis
· problem solving

Typical problems may include:
· sorting and prioritising data to seek the critical data
· difficulties in obtaining reliable data and information
· dealing with rumour and unsubstantiated information
· working in a stressful 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.

Relationship to Major Hazard Facility Legislation
· Organisations within the Chemical, Hydrocarbons and Oil Refining industries may find themselves falling under the provisions of various Major Hazard Facilities legislation. In developing this unit consideration has been given to the requirements of Sections 8 and 9 of the National Standard For The Control Of Major Hazard Facilities [NOHSC:1014(2002)] and the National Code Of Practice For The Control Of Major Hazard Facilities [NOHSC:2016(1996)].
This unit will assist individuals to meet some of their obligations under the relevant State or Territory legislation. Responsibility for appropriate contextualisation and application of the unit to ensure compliance however, remains with the individual organisation.

Assessment context and methods
· Assessment for this unit of competency will be by way of simulation or observation under incident conditions. 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 can include a variety of incident circumstances.
· Simulations must, as closely as possible, approximate actual incident conditions and should be based on the actual facility. Assessments should include 'walk throughs' of the relevant competency components and may 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 both in the facility (during demonstration of normal operations and walk throughs of abnormal operations) and off the site.

Critical aspects
Competence must be demonstrated in the ability to correctly interpret data and produce the required information.

Consistent performance should be demonstrated. In particular look to see that:
· all incident data is captured, recorded and available for stakeholders
· data is sorted, prioritised and analysed to provide timely updates for stakeholders
· reports are produced as required
· data is analysed to support the ongoing management of the incident
· chronological event recording is maintained for post incident review

These assessment activities should include a range of problems, including new, unusual and improbable situations which may have been generated from past workplace incident history, incidents in similar workplaces around the world, hazard analysis activities and/or similar sources.

Resource implications
Assessment will require (1) access to an accurately simulated environment in the absence of an on-site incident environment, or (2) a suitable method of gathering evidence of responding 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.

Other assessment advice
In all workplace environments it may be appropriate to assess this unit concurrently with relevant units.

Essential knowledge
Competence includes an understanding of the information needs of the organisation and the data which may be able to produce it. In particular it includes:
· information collection, collation
· analysis and display techniques
· information evaluation issues
· information storage requirements and methods
· reporting procedures of the organisation