What is Offshore Competency Assurance?

In 2018, the International Marine Contractors Association (IMCA) launched its Freelance Competence e-Portfolio Scheme for any freelancer in the offshore industry to use free of charge.

The scheme allows freelance surveyors and ROV specialists to conveniently show their skills and competencies to companies with standardised documents and e-signatures. Companies can also use the scheme as a standard to measure contractors against. It was created with the IMCA’s international competence framework in mind.

To understand why the leading international trade association for the marine contracting industry put this scheme in place, it’s important to have a clear understanding of what offshore competence assurance is.

Competency Assurance Defined

At its most basic level, competency assurance is a process wherein the knowledge, skill, ability, behaviour and experience of workers are objectively assessed against standards based on the organisation’s goals, with the workers’ performance acting as evidence.

The International Association of Drilling Contractors (IADC) defines the terms “knowledge”, “skill”, and “ability” as follows:

• Knowledge — The worker’s clear and practical understanding of the information needed to perform their job successfully and efficiently
• Skill — How and at what level the worker consistently performs their tasks
• Ability — The worker’s physical and mental capabilities
   

Competency assurance is realised through a competency assurance programme (CAP). A CAP formalises the processes involved in competency assurance with proper documentation. It should include everything from identification to assessment to remediation to ensure continued competency.

Benefits of Competency Assurance

Competency assurance is beneficial to companies in a number of ways, including:

• Clear expectations for workers to know how well they need to perform
• Set standards for minimum requirements and best practices
• Awareness of knowledge, skill and ability gaps
• A definite path toward the development of training programs to address gaps
• More skilled workforce
• Increased productivity
• Increased workplace and environmental safety
   

Continued Competency

Competency assurance demands more from workers than just their CVs with a list of work experience and certifications. It is a continual process that checks competencies over time and evolves with the changing demands of a company and an industry.

The offshore industry is significantly affected by technological innovation and market fluctuations. Continued competency is, therefore, critical for companies and contractors to stay competitive.

Safety is another major concern in the offshore industry. Working environments can be extreme and hazardous. Complex machinery and heavy equipment require deft handling and focused physical exertion. There is a great toll on the mind and body when working in such conditions. When competency is compromised, it is not just productivity that is sacrificed. Human lives are also at stake.

The Importance of Competency Assurance for Freelancers

Contracting is a pillar in the offshore industry. In Oil and Gas UK’s Workforce Report 2019, there were 38,130 workers employed as freelance contractors in 2018 out of the 49,079 personnel that travelled offshore. This makes up a vast majority of the offshore workforce, and it has been the case for well over a decade.

Offshore freelancers are considered to be cost-effective solutions for energy companies when extra skills are required, especially considering the short-term and spot-market nature of many projects.

The ubiquity of freelancers in the offshore industry highlights the need for CAPs to cover freelancers and to have them meet the same standards as full-time employees (who tend to benefit from ongoing training, development and internal competency programmes). This is to ensure standardised quality and efficiency throughout work processes across the industry.

Disruptions and setbacks caused by an incompetent contractor can be devastating on the morale of workers in an offshore platform, especially considering the already stressful work environment. Competency assurance frameworks minimise the chances of such disruptive events occuring.

The effectiveness of offshore contractor competency assurance is amplified when agreed industry standards are adhered to. Instead of each and every company running freelancers through their very own unique in-house assessments, widely accepted third-party CAPs for contractors can streamline the process.

IMCA’s Freelance Competence Framework and its accompanying e-Portfolio Scheme cover professionals specialising within Offshore Survey, Remote Systems & ROV, Diving and Marine. Organisations such as MTCS run a Competence Certification programme based on the IMCA framework, as do Caledonia Competence.These organisations provide certification against competency standards that are recognised throughout the industry.

Using such external assessments has a positive impact on all parties involved:

• End-clients will be more trusting of companies that have their contractors verified through an industry-recognised CAP.
• Contracting companies can rest assured that the freelancers they take on are assessed for competency to the same standards as their own employees. An external assessment acts as a form of risk mitigation when contracting.
• Agencies are confident that the contractors they provide have the right skill sets, knowledge bases and training.
• Freelance Contractors have an easier time showing their competencies and convincing agencies and companies that they are just as qualified as full-time employees. They can also use their external assessments as they take on contracts with different companies, instead of internal assessments that are not recognised outside of the companies that run them.
• An additional advantage to freelance contractors following an external competency assurance framework is that they can determine the skill gaps that keep them from earning a contract. With that knowledge, it is possible for them to fill in these gaps for future job prospects. It serves as another avenue for career advancement that contractors have control over.
  
   

Challenges in Offshore Competency Assurance

Implementing competency assurance comes with its own host of challenges, especially when there is not one single set of standards to follow. Here are the major ones that the offshore industry currently faces:

1. Excessive Paper Evidence

Documentation of a worker’s competence is important. Physical copies of such documents have their place. However, this does not mean storing large amounts of paper evidence that take up space and may become outdated over time.

2. Assessment Validation

The validation process for assessments needs to go further than a simple check to see if the required paperwork has been completed. The credibility of an entire assessment should be tested through more internal audits.

3. Measuring Effectiveness

Assessments can be validated thoroughly through internal audits, but there is still the issue of actually measuring a CAP’s effectiveness in increasing productivity and workplace safety. As such, governance and concrete metrics are necessary to ensure the CAP is aligned with the company’s specific goals.

4. CAP Complexity

In the noble pursuit of making a CAP as comprehensive as possible, there lies the danger of creating overly complicated processes that require resource-intensive documentation and administration. Companies need to maintain a level of simplicity while making sure the CAP’s scope covers all the crucial elements.

Assuring Competency Assurance

What practical challenges there may be in implementing offshore competency assurance are outweighed by the improvements to be had. From contractors to agencies to clients, it is in everybody’s best interest to agree to have industry-wide standards, or at the very least, more rigorous and robust internal competency assurance programmes. Their implementation ultimately legitimises the industry’s operations, especially for those in the freelance sector.