0 Introduction

0.1 Background

People have the right to expect that buildings and their immediate environment are designed, built, and maintained in a way that is safe. Occupants (including residents, workers, and visitors) need to have conﬁdence and trust in the people responsible for ensuring that their interests are properly considered, and that safety is a priority. Competence of all who provide services and products throughout the life of a building is key to achieving this outcome.

This BSI Flex sets core building safety criteria for built environment competence frameworks. It is intended that the core criteria be contextualized within sector-speciﬁc frameworks to reﬂect the appropriate scope and level of competence required for an individual to undertake a deﬁned role, function, activity, or task. Contextualization can be:

a) within sector-speciﬁc competence frameworks, e.g. to reﬂect differing seniority or responsibility; and/or
b) in relation to speciﬁc types of buildings or activities, e.g. higher-risk buildings or, for example, manufacturing of construction products.

Compliance with this BSI Flex can be achieved by mapping new or existing sector speciﬁc frameworks against the core competence criteria and scope, and explaining any divergence arising from the context within which the framework will be used (see 0.4).

This BSI Flex is one part of a broader standards framework for competence of individuals in the built environment.

0.2 Objectives

This BSI Flex is intended to support wider industry reform with the ultimate objective of minimizing safety risks and improving protection to consumers and occupants, including residents, in and about buildings. There are three overarching objectives:

a) set core criteria for building safety competence, including ﬁre safety, structural safety and public health for all individuals working in the built environment, to improve safety outcomes throughout the building lifecycle;
b) facilitate consistent and objective development, evaluation or use of sector-speciﬁc competence frameworks by certiﬁcation, licensing, accrediting, qualifying, and validating bodies, regulators, clients and employers; and
c) support progressive development of a more consistent approach in the development and use of competence frameworks across the built environment.

This BSI Flex is also intended to meet the following speciﬁc objectives:

1) support development of a robust oversight, monitoring and feedback process for sector-speciﬁc competence frameworks;
2) support development of competence frameworks for key duty-holding or appointed roles in managing safety;
3) identify core building safety criteria that are likely to be common to all sector-speciﬁc competence frameworks;
4) support commonality and consistency in building safety competence across sector-speciﬁc frameworks; and
5) support individuals and organizations working in the built environment to move towards progressively adopting an approach based on validation and periodic revalidation.

0.3 Competence and competence frameworks

0.3.1 General

Competence-based assessment is widely adopted across most industries. However, the deﬁnition of competence, and how to assess it, can vary across, or even within, sectors. Competence is used as one part of a systemic approach to describing job roles and job speciﬁcations, interviewing candidates for employment or promotion, and managing performance. It is also commonly used to assess eligibility for qualiﬁcation, membership, registration, certiﬁcation or licensing in speciﬁc disciplines or roles.

It is common for legislation aimed at protecting people to set requirements for dutyholders to check the competence of individuals undertaking works. This BSI Flex enables this principle to be extended more broadly so that competence assessment also includes those whose work impacts on the safety of buildings.

Whilst oversight of competence might rest with professional, trade or training bodies, competence is ultimately an individual responsibility relevant to every person in the construction and built environment workforce. Embedding building safety competence at all levels and across all roles, functions, tasks and activities is critical in protecting residents and other occupants throughout the building lifecycle.

This BSI Flex is intended for use in the development and evaluation of sector-speciﬁc competence frameworks. It is not intended for use as a competence framework against which individuals can be directly assessed.

This BSI Flex sets out core criteria against which sector-speciﬁc competence frameworks can be developed or assessed in relation to building safety, including:

• core criteria for the information, structure, and procedural components of sector-speciﬁc competence frameworks;
• core behavioural criteria to support industry in the development of a stronger safety culture; and
• core competence criteria for building safety, which need to be identiﬁable within sector-speciﬁc competence frameworks where relevant to the role, function or task covered by that framework.

The majority of a typical building’s life consists of being maintained or refurbished whilst in occupation, which means that managing building safety during this period is as important as during initial construction. As existing buildings signiﬁcantly outnumber new construction projects, residual risks are mainly found in this existing stock. As a result, it is important that sector-speciﬁc frameworks are structured to maintain a balance of competence between new and existing buildings, including alterations, extensions, retroﬁt, renovation repair and maintenance, change of use or function and other work where relevant.

NOTE The core competence recommendations within this BSI Flex are to be interpreted in the context of the role, function, activities or task relevant to each sector-speciﬁc framework.

0.3.2 Competence

Competence is deﬁned in many different ways across different industries. This is necessary to reﬂect the speciﬁc circumstances and meet the speciﬁc needs of the individuals and organizations that employ individuals operating in those industries.

The work undertaken by individuals in the built environment is particularly diverse and encapsulates a wide range of roles including installers, trades, managers, construction professionals, ﬁnance, administration, procurement specialists and manufacturing disciplines.

In the context of this BSI Flex, for an individual to be considered competent means that they need to have the appropriate skills, knowledge and experience, combined with appropriate behaviours, to be able to fulﬁl their deﬁned role, function or activity and carry out appropriate tasks. This is sometimes referred to in shorthand as SKEB.

Behavioural competence, when combined with existing skills, knowledge, and experience, helps to engender a sense of individual responsibility and accountability as part of an effective and strong safety culture.

An assessment of skills, knowledge, experience and behaviours explores whether an individual demonstrates general competences designed to anticipate the broad demands of particular roles, tasks or activities. Assessment cannot predict future circumstances and complexities or give complete assurance that an individual in the same role will always respond in the same way.

0.3.3 Validation and revalidation

Validation is the process by which an individual is assessed as being competent to fulﬁl a speciﬁc role. This might give access to qualiﬁcation, registration, a licence to practice or the ability to work in a given role, and typically follows a period of monitored and supervised development.

Revalidation is a periodic reassessment or reevaluation of competence which provides assurance that the necessary skills, knowledge, experience and behaviours have been maintained or developed such that the individual remains competent to fulﬁl the speciﬁed role. The process for revalidation needs to be proportionate, reasonable, effective and robust. Whilst validation and revalidation adds cost and takes time, ensuring that individuals remain competent adds value for both the individual and their business.

The time period between revalidations varies depending on a number of factors including (but not exclusively):

a) an assessment of risk relating to the role – the higher the risks, the more frequently revalidation might need to be undertaken;
b) the adequacy or otherwise of measures available to sustain and maintain competence; and
c) the rate of change of skills and knowledge relevant to the role – where good practice, contextual risks (including technology), regulatory requirements or duties are changing quickly, more frequent revalidation might be necessary.

Revalidation processes might also use a wider range of experiential evidence, including but not limited to training, learning and development activities undertaken in the intervening period.

0.3.4 Maintaining and developing competence

Competence can become out of date over time and requires positive action to maintain. This includes building on and refreshing skills, knowledge and understanding, identifying speciﬁc requirements relevant to work being undertaken and keeping abreast of changes in context such as regulation or technology.

Maintaining competence (through continuing professional development or CPD) includes informal and formal activities. This can include activities such as training and refresher courses, toolbox talks and mentoring or supervision and formal learning.

Improving competence through the development of new skills is equally important in relation to new or changing building knowledge, technology or practices, particularly where this can impact on building safety or consumer protection.

CPD is best undertaken as part of a planned programme of activity or recorded personal development plan relevant to the individual’s responsibility and career path. It is considered good practice for employers to adopt a framework for assessing the effectiveness of CPD undertaken by their employees and contracted individuals.

To aid in consistency, it is beneﬁcial for competence frameworks to set out expectations for maintaining competence for the different roles, functions, activities and tasks to which they apply. This includes not only the type, scale and complexity of the work being undertaken when measured against established skills, knowledge and experience, but also any new context or standards affecting behavioural requirements.

0.3.5 Limits of competence

It is vital that people do not act beyond the limits of their competence to avoid exposing themselves and potentially other people to a wide range of risks. This includes risk of death or injury, litigation, prosecution and breach of contract (amongst others).

It is important that competence frameworks and training and development regimes establish the right conditions so that individuals are able to take reasonable steps in managing limits of competence. This might include:

a) making provision so that people are aware of how to manage the limits of their own competence, and in particular that they are able to identify when they have been tasked with or are about to undertake something that exceeds their ability to do so safely;
b) enabling a culture where it is seen as the right thing to do to ﬂag concerns about limits of competence, and where individuals have the necessary authority to act to mitigate risks;
c) managing limits of competence of self and others under direct supervision including taking mitigating actions (such as providing additional training) or managing risks (i.e. by reallocating work to suitably competent people); and
d) being aware of when and how to check that third parties who are procured, appointed or contracted to undertake work are in themselves competent to manage limits of their own competence and those working under their supervision and that they have appropriate tools and resources to do so.

A positive culture of both disclosure and trust is required such that people and organizations are willing to acknowledge and manage the limits of their competence.

0.4 Mapping against this BSI Flex

0.4.1 General

There are many existing competence frameworks which have been developed prior to this BSI Flex.

Compliance with this BSI Flex can be demonstrated through a process of mapping rather than through direct adoption of its structure and terminology. Mapping can also be used in the development of new sector-speciﬁc competence frameworks to help achieve alignment with the recommendations of this BSI Flex.

The recommended approach to undertake mapping against this BSI Flex involves:

a) clearly identifying the scope of the sector-speciﬁc framework, including the roles, functions, activities, tasks, sector and context;
b) creating a mapping template listing the recommendations set out in Clause 4, Clause 5 and Clause 6; and
c) reviewing the sector-speciﬁc framework to:
1. 1) verify conformity to the core criteria described in Clause 4, Clause 5 and Clause 6, taking into account relevant scope;
2. 2) record how and where this evidence of conformity is set out in the sector-speciﬁc framework;
3. 3) analyse any areas where the sector-speciﬁc framework does not address the core criteria of this BSI Flex; and either
  1. i) amend the framework as necessary to demonstrate conformity; or
  2. ii) clearly justify any non-conformity or divergence from the requirements, taking into account the context, roles and functions covered by the sector-speciﬁc framework whilst recognizing the overall objective of improving standards of competence.

In undertaking this comparison process, consideration is to be given to how each sector-speciﬁc framework interacts with other individuals, organizations, roles, functions, activities and tasks in any way which could affect safety or quality. This helps break down siloed competence and helps to ensure that sector-speciﬁc frameworks cover collaborative competence where roles or activities interface.

0.4.2 Informative annexes

The following informative annexes are provided to support the development of core competence for building safety in sector-speciﬁc competence frameworks:

• Annex A (informative) Behavioural competence;
• Annex B (informative) Fire and life safety in buildings;
• Annex C (informative) Structural safety in buildings; and
• Annex D (informative) Public health and public safety in buildings.

These annexes are intended to provide basic awareness of the scope of common building safety considerations. Their primary purpose is to support framework owners to identify relevant areas of building safety competence (including interfaces with other roles, functions or activities) that could affect building safety outcomes.

The informative annexes are not intended as comprehensive or to be relied upon as the sole source of evaluation of scope of building safety competence.

BSI Flex 8670 v3.0:2021-04

Built environment. Core criteria for building safety in competence frameworks. Code of practice

Published:

30 Apr 2021

Withdrawn:

30 May 2024