Event report

Competence Workshops

One of the Competence & Training committee's key roles has been the development of IMCA's framework of guidance on competence assurance and assessment.

As part of the framework's development and subsequently as it has been implemented, the committee has held numerous workshops that have brought contractors from around the world together with personnel agencies, training establishments and other key stakeholders to gain broad industry input into the various guidance documents, identify and break down potential barriers to implementation and to address specific issues that have been raised.

As more events have been held, a successful format has been developed:

• Questionnaires - these are circulated out in advance of a workshop to all IMCA members, enabling the secretariat to analyse members' overall progress in implementing the IMCA guidance, identify areas of common interest to be addressed and provide feedback into the workshop sessions
• Presentations - in addition to the questionnaire results, presentations are given from various viewpoints on competence issues
• Expert guest speakers - so far, these have included client representatives, a lawyer, an insurance industry professional and a representative of the airline industry to outline external expectations, how IMCA's guidance can be used to meet these expectations, experience with comparable initiatives and any additional areas to be considered
• General discussion - bringing together all those implementing competence schemes to discuss IMCA guidance in general, resolve general issues and to identify any actions IMCA can take to further assist its members
• Extended syndicate discussion sessions - allowing members implementing among specific sectors of personnel and operations to come together to discuss and resolve issues particular to them
• Feedback - where delegates recombine for discussion of the syndicate session outcomes and identification of any further actions for IMCA.