VOC Assessments
What Is A Verification Of Competence – VOC?
A Verification of Competency (VOC) is a method of assessment that assists employers to meet OHS requirements and ensure staff are still competent to operate equipment or perform a task after the initial assessment date.
Under the legislation in Australia, employers must provide “suitable and adequate” training to protect persons from risks to their health and safety at work.
Assessing for Verification of Competency enables businesses to confirm that their employees are competent in their skills and using the equipment correctly. It is commonly used in many industries for pre-employment checks, contractual arrangements or for site entry requirements.
The VET system of qualifications and national units of competency ensures that trainees are trained to a benchmark standard against each unit. However, the VET system is only able to guarantee that an operator is competent at the time they were assessed. As we all know, skills and knowledge degrade unless they are constantly being applied.
In the case where workers are not constantly applying their skills in a work context, we recommend re-sitting (refreshing) the course in question. This allows us to fill in knowledge gaps and bring the worker up to date with changes to legislation, technology or best practice.
In the instance where a worker is constantly applying their skills at work, there is a greater likelihood of them retaining the majority of required skills and knowledge against the unit. In this case, we do not need to re-train the worker and can simply challenge test them and perform a Verification of Competency (VOC).
Increasingly, employers in Australia are determining that undertaking a VOC process with their workers is a time-efficient and cost-effective method of ensuring that the individual can demonstrate “current competency”.
VOC Process
To undertake a VOC participants must provide their relevant licence or Statement of Attainment prior to VOCs being conducted.
If students cannot provide their relevant licence or Statement of Attainment, MBE Training cannot undertake a VOC, however, we can offer full training and assessment for the unit/s required if they are on our scope. See training page for further details
Outcome
Workers successfully demonstrating competency will be provided with an ID Card stating the VOC attained.
Workers who are unable to demonstrate competency will receive written feedback regarding the elements of competency that were lacking, and the nature of the gap training required prior to re-assessment. We often counsel workers who are unable to demonstrate competency to re-sit the VET course in question.
Please note VOC’s are Non-accredited and student receive a certificate of attendance only.