A Practical Guide to Safety Leadership Book (PDF 5MB) - QUT ePrints

Step 3: Customise the
Task and Position Competency Matrix
You may begin to determine which, if not all, of the 39 SMTs your company will focus on implementing or improving.
For example, the embedding of SMTs to role responsibilities can occur through position statements, competencies,
recruitment and selection criteria, and evaluations.
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It is important to note that the task competency allocation used in the matrix in the competency framework is indicative.
As companies have individual needs, and will be at different stages of cultural development and OH&S maturity, the
matrix should be used as a guide to meet your company’s individual needs. Thus the scoring will reflect the stage
of development of your company’s safety culture and safety management system.
Industry examples
The three case study excerpts provide an example of how Step 3: Customise the Task and Position Competency Matrix can be
implemented within a company. The complete case studies can be found in the Appendix at the end of the guide.
Excerpt 5 (from case study 1 on page 28)
Initial identification of the safety management tasks
John Holland initially determined the OH&S activities that needed to be undertaken by each identified safety position
in order to achieve best practice safety standards in the workplace. This analysis resulted in 39 identified safety critical
activities. John Holland then developed skill and behavioural competencies necessary to effectively undertake all
identified safety critical OH&S activities, which is expected to result in improved safety.
Excerpt 6 (from case study 5 on page 31)
First steps in identifying safety critical positions in your company
St Hilliers Contracting used A Construction Safety Competency Framework to audit position descriptions and site
safety management plans to ensure all appropriate safety management tasks were incorporated. First it modified
the safety critical position titles from the competency framework to align with current internal positions.
Next it identified the safety critical positions to verify that all safety management tasks, as identified by the competency
framework, fall within someone’s scope of accountability, either within the position descriptions or the site safety
management plans. It is proving to be a useful tool to differentiate the levels of responsibility and competence
required of their employees.
Excerpt 7 (from case study 2 on page 29)
Customising the safety critical position list for your company
Bovis Lend Lease (BLL) customised the safety critical positions outlined in A Construction Safety Competency
Framework to add in cost planners and contract or finance managers as a discrete group within the system, as they
are also considered to be critical to safety performance. BLL directly employs construction workers, unlike some
principal contractors who might rely entirely on subcontractors or labour hire workers, and included this group in
their safety critical positions.
Step 3: Customise the Task and Position Competency Matrix