Guides · 5 min read
Choosing a competent person
Several duties can only be discharged by somebody competent — and competence is judged against the work, not against a qualification.
It is about the task, not the title
Competence generally means sufficient training, knowledge and experience to do the particular thing properly. A person can be entirely competent to assess a small low-risk office and not competent to assess a building with sleeping accommodation. The question is always "competent for this".
Where it matters most
Fire risk assessment in higher-risk premises, thorough examination of lifting equipment, legionella risk assessment and scheme design, asbestos survey and management, and electrical inspection and testing. In several of these the law names the competent person as the mechanism by which the duty is met.
Self-assessment has a boundary
Plenty of organisations assess their own low-risk premises perfectly properly. The trouble comes from doing it in a building where the risk profile has changed — a change of use, a new mezzanine, people sleeping on site — and not revisiting whether the person doing it is still the right one.
Evidence the decision, not just the outcome
Who did it, what their qualifications and experience were at the time, and why they were appropriate for this premises. A report signed by somebody whose competence nobody recorded is worth less than the same report with a line about why they were chosen.
A note on this product
DutyHub gates the assessments it offers: where the attributes of a premises indicate that a competent person is expected, it refuses to produce a self-assessment rather than letting one be generated. It does not assess anybody's competence — naming the competent person is the customer's decision and responsibility.
This guide describes what organisations are commonly asked for. It is not legal advice and it is not a statement of what your organisation must do — that depends on your premises, your activities and your own assessment, and it is a question for you and your adviser. The regime pages linked below name the legislation so you can read the source.