Considering Ongoing EASA Aircraft Maintenance Competence Assessment & Training

Introduction

EASA mandates that Part M & Part 145 Organisations shall manage competence at all levels of the organisation.

Part 145 Organisations, as well as Part M Organisations, are required to demonstrate the management of competence. Effective Competence Management should ensure that each and every employee has all the prerequisites to deliver effectively the work which they need to do.

How Effective is Competence Management within an EASA Part 145 & Part M Organisation?

Sometimes competence is not considered at the appropriate depth within the Organisation

For example, employees who lack knowledge and experience will typically take longer to perform a given task (the best outcome)

or may increase the likelihood of an error or mistake becoming an accident or incident (the worst outcome).

How engaged is the Compliance Assessment System in an EASA Part 145 or Part M System?

Compliance oversight in an organization is sometimes delivered as a Compliance activity only – (tick the box)

This means that there is a system in place but it is delivered as a procedure which meets the intent of the regulatory obligation – whilst being a long way from the opportunity of delivering best practice which will ensure effective Aircraft Maintenance Competence Assessment & Training.

Mentoring & Skill Development in the Workplace

Can we mentor and grow a workforce, if the management does not have the specific skill set to deliver the Competency Management processes?

The answer is probably not, in fact, It is evident in such organisations where Staff initiatives are stifled that a lack of teamwork and motivational encouragement is usually evident.

Moreover, there is often a lack of interdepartmental or organisation procedures as well as an absence of Service Level Agreements.

What are the issues related to the management of Competence within an EASA 145 / EASA Part M Organisation?

Issues include:

a) The lack of effective management of Competency

b) Lack of the provision of training needed for all staff that has a production exposure is often given insufficient weight which has a negative effect when implementing real Aircraft Maintenance Competence Assessment & Training programs.

The Role of Competence Building Training

Today training needs to be considered in the context of the organization culture, The training has to fit into an environment where there is a culture of strong leadership and motivation by example.

We also have to recognize the particular challenges associated with the training of adults.

If we achieve the right balance and develop training which re-enforces the correct behaviours our organisations will benefit and our Safety Management System will be more robust.

Note for effective training

The delegates need to feel that they are part of the solution and simply being lectured to or even worse lectured at!

Benefits of Managing Competence in an EASA Workplace

Workplace communication which is pivotal to not effective organisations is one of the first areas to usually benefit from Optimisation. The importance of leadership needs to be highlighted and the opportunity to use this leadership for the motivation of the workshop.

Often the organisation does not place enough focus on the development of business simply dealing with today and not paying too much attention to tomorrow. Gap Analysis can identify key improvement areas as part of The Need for Aircraft Maintenance Competence Assessment & Training.

Sofema Aviation Services offers 1-day training for Managing Organisational Competence in a 145 Environment. You can find the details of the course here.

Further Guidance

Sofema Aviation Services (SAS) and SofemaOnline (SOL) are pleased to offer a range of EASA compliant regulatory training courses in support of Multiple Regulatory Compliance and Competence Development. For details please see www.sassofia.com, www.sofemaonline.com or email: [email protected] or [email protected].