Certificate of Technical Competency

Auto recycling yard managers in England and Wales have less then 12 months to obtain their Certificate of Technical Competence. Failure to do this could result in businesses being closed down following revocation of waste management licences.

The original deadline of Feb 2011 was extended by 12 months so that all necessary staff could get through the qualification, and to date it is believed that only 10% of all Technically Competent Managers have taken the test, leaving almost 10,000 tests still to be taken in the remaining 10 months.

All End of Life Vehicle or Metal Recycling facilities must have the following ‘Operator Competence’ in place:
Free from environmental convictions
Financially viable
Have technical Competence in place

Operator Competence must remain in place for the life of the facility – this includes ongoing testing with the first deadline of Feb 2012 and ongoing re-testing every 2 years.
Additionally the Technically Competent Manager must be on site 20-25% of EVERY week, so if they go on holiday, they need to be replaced for the time they are away.

There are a number of avenues for obtaining initial competence, and the choice taken can be as follows:
You have already been deemed to be competent by the Environment Agency – you take the on-line general module and up to three specific modules relating to your chosen area of business.
Work through a training agency towards a number of NVQ’s
Take a VRQ – an intensive training course that is equivalent to 6 NVQ’s
Obtain the ESA ‘Corporate Competence’ qualification

One of the best sources of information is the WAMITAB (Waste Management Industry Training and Advisory Board) web site – www.wamitab.org.uk