Setting the Bar: Exploring Industry Standards for Excellence
Discover the power of industry standards in driving excellence and ensuring quality in your chosen field. Our standards page provides valuable insights into the benchmarks and criteria that define best practices, competence, and performance expectations. Explore the standards that guide industries, inform educational curricula, and shape professional development. Stay ahead of the curve and gain a deeper understanding of the standards that set the bar for excellence in your industry.
Standards are published documents that establish and set out specifications, procedures, guidelines and/ or characteristics designed to ensure that materials, products, processes, facilities, services and systems are safe, reliable and consistently perform the way they were intended to.
Competency standards specify the Standards of Performance that people are expected to achieve in their work, as well as Knowledge, Skills and Attitudes they need to perform effectively in a specific job role. It is the smallest unit of measure in a Competency Based Education and Training (CBET) system and is usually referred to as a Unit of Competence.
Components of Standards
Industry Standards are generally accepted requirements that are documented to govern the effective and efficient way that operators/members of a specific industry conduct business. Industry standards are set to assist with the safe operation of an entity to include welfare of employees, worker competencies, product, process, facility and statutory requirements of that industry. Industry Standards apply to large and small business as well as the self employed in a variety of categories to include but not limited to product, facility and occupational standards. The Saint Lucia Bureau of Standards (SLBS) is an industry standards board with the responsibility for product and process certification, compliance in terms of the enforcement of compulsory national standards and international standards where applicable, verification and calibration of measuring devices. As an Industrial Standards organisation the SLBS provides technical information services as well as training and other specific conformity related activities and development of sector-based standards in order to promote the enhancement of the economy of Saint Lucia. In the case of Work Health and Safety most Industry standards may be described in the form of duties and categorized as responsibilities of the employer such as:
- Ensuring that the places of work under their management are safe.
- Ensuring that risk management procedures for the safe use, handling, storage and transport of plant materials are established for their workplace.
- Ensuring that systems of work and the work environments are safe, without risks to health.
- Ensuring that information, instruction, training and supervision is provided to support the safety of employees.
- Ensuring the provision of adequate facilities for the welfare of employees.
- Taking reasonable care of the health and safety of themselves and others.
- Co-operating with employers in their efforts to comply with occupational, health and safety requirements.
Facility Standards are industry standards that are produced to document the responsibilities of the employer to ensure that the places of work under their management are safe. Facilities Standards provide guidance and assistance aimed at protecting people at work in terms of the health, safety and welfare of individuals in a work environment as well as risk management procedures for the safe use and protection of customers and other persons who use their facilities. Facility Standards are usually produced and used by authorizing agencies specifying the minimum requirements for the issuance of licenses and or permission to operate as well as the ability for a training provider/ institution to provide training in a particular industry.
Occupational standards are Industry standards governing worker competencies to include the knowledge, skills and attitudes requirements for competent performance in a particular job role. Occupational Standards are developed and validated by practitioners and professionals in the industry in collaboration with institutions responsible for the licensing and statutory requirements of that industry. Occupational standards describe what a worker:
- is expected to be able to complete ( the task, the job or function)
- need to know in order to succeed in today's workplace
- must demonstrate as work attitudes
Occupational Standards generally:
- specify what a person should know and do in order to effectively carry out the functions of a particular job in the context of the work environment
- identify worker competencies and specializations (jobs) within occupations
- set the foundation in determining appropriate training for the individual on the job
- provide guidance for monitoring of training and assessment.
- helps to identify training needs and the development potential of workers in relation to their performance against recognized standards
- take into account all the statutory requirements necessary for operation within an industry
This is the process of reviewing the occupational standard from the CANTA or NTAs in the region by the relative industry sector to confirm suitability for use in Saint Lucia. In Saint Lucia there are over 40 Industry Advisory Committees across various occupational areas, set up by the SLCTVET to validate and adapt the regional standards approved by CANTA for training and assessment towards the award of the NVQ/CVQ.
- Identification and appointment of members to serve on Industry Advisory Committees. These committees are technical consultative entities comprised primarily of industry representatives and other individuals/stakeholders with expertise and interest in the particular occupations.
- A number of committee Three to four committee meetings convened as appropriate to review and validate the standards for the jobs or occupations in their industry.
- Endorsement of the standards by the Local Industry Advisory Committee.
- Approval for use of the standard for training and certification by the authorised authorites
This is a collaborative and consensus building process involving the critical stakeholders from industry, training, education, labour and other pertinent stakeholders. The process includes:
- Identification of technical/subject matter experts with the requisite knowledge and experience to form the Lead Body and the Industry Advisory Committee.
- Orientation and training of members of the Lead body in conducting Occupational Analysis: methods may include Functional Analysis, Task Analysis or Developing A Curriculum (DACUM)
- Development of the various components of the standard namely; units, elements, performance criteria, underpinning knowledge, Evidence guide and the qualification plan by the Lead Body.
- Sign off on the draft NVQ Occupational standard by the Lead Body as evidence that the standards’ development was industry driven.
- Endorsement of the NVQ standards after review by the Local Industry Advisory Committee as the final NVQ Occupational Standards.
- Approval and sign off by the SLCTVET, Ministry of Education and other relevant stakeholders for use of the standards for training and certification in Saint Lucia
- Qualifications Framework
The Revised Regional Vocational Qualifications Framework
A qualifications framework links all the qualifications in a particular education and training system. The revised Regional Vocational Qualifications Framework has eight levels.
Frequently Asked Questions
National Occupational Standard is a document developed by a national training agency in collaboration with industry experts that describes the knowledge, skills and attitudes an individual needs to be competent at a job in a particular territory or country.
Regional Occupational Standards (ROS) are National Occupational Standards that have been regionally approved by CARICOM.
- To alleviate the effect of globalization by
- Improving the quality of work
- Enhancing workforce competitiveness
- To establish a minimum measure of Quality of:
- Products
- Processes
- Performance of the individual worker
A Competency Standard is the smallest unit of measure in a competency based training and certification system. Usually referred to as a Unit of Competence. It is a specific task or activity in an occupation and is made up of elements of competency together with performance criteria, a range of variables and an evidence guide.
An Occupational Standard on the other hand is made up of a number of individual Competency Standards or Units of Competence that specify the competencies that the individual MUST have as well as competencies that would be helpful to them in order to perform that particular occupational role.