I love this saying because it is relevant across an array of topics and is so simple in its meaning that it can be interpreted in many ways with a fairly general understanding for all: people are stupid. No matter how you’ve come to terms with it we all have an understanding that nobody is perfect.
We try our best to fit in and do our best to conform to rules but we all slip. This is not always a bad thing; it is merely a given. Knowing that human error is inevitable is actually a good thing as that gives us the power to decide what to do about it.
It is important that people be competent in what they do for the sake of the company, as well as that individual's safety in some cases. A certain level of competency is needed in order for operations to continue without fault or change. It is important that a facility is aware and continuously monitoring their employees’ competency and ability to perform their job.
This is important because of human error being a factor. Though someone may be able to display the skills necessary, people are a constant change due to their state of being. Someone’s state of differing due to a large variety of reasons (amount of sleep, diet, emotional stresses, etc.). These traits may allow a person to become distracted or absent which could ultimately lead to error incompetency.
So, what is the easiest way to keep tabs on all your employees’ competency?
I do not know that a direct answer has been given, let alone found. The best to date is management systems that perform mere portions of all the aspects of competency. In order for employees to remain competent, they should remain up-to-date with their training, policies, procedures, and regulations. A fully functional learning management software and a policy & procedure management software that can both “tie or map” items to the Federal Regulation would be ideal. The learning management system (LMS) would accommodate two primary functions: The ability to create training plans for courses for employees to take, and the ability to communicate via sending messages, alerts, training plans, new documents and other items to individual employees. Having a system that stores all of a facilities’ policies and procedures that can be sought through separately or sourced from finding an issue incompetency would help in easing the understanding and actual usage of these documents. Lastly, having everything listed above able to link to the written regulation for the sake of clarity or research into errors or incidents.
Essentially through combining multiple systems and allowing them to coexist and cooperate with one another, the idea of maintaining competence becomes an easier anomaly to track. It is only one portion of staying compliant however it is usually considered the most difficult to maintain and monitor. With the help of a grouping of systems, this difficult task can be reasonably handled and maintained.
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