Petroleum Driver Passport (PDP)
Quality Assurance Annual Report
2016/17
Contents
Petroleum Driver Passport (PDP) 1
Quality Assurance Annual Report 1
2016/17 1
1 General Overview 3
2 Verification Activity 5
3 Invigilation Activity 8
4 Administration Activity 9
5 Summary & Recommendations 11
1 General Overview
The purpose of this report is to provide feedback to Training Providers and stakeholders on the verification and invigilation activity undertaken during quarters 2, 3 and 4 of 2016 and the first quarter of 2017.
Overall, this year the quality of classroom and practical training being good and in the main delivered by knowledgeable and experienced trainers.
Again this year the recurring weakness has been the administration of the scheme, particularly in terms of compliance with start timings, examination timings and delivery locations. Weakness in this area has led to the issue of the majority of Grade 3 visit reports. Operational requirements within companies have often led to last-minute changes of attendees which have not always been reflected adequately in database entries for the course.
Most Training Providers with multiple delivery locations and multiple appointees demonstrate good practice however some providers continue to display a lack of structured quality control and standardisation with occasionally very different PDP delivery taking place within the same organisation. There is much good practice within larger Training Providers involving standardisation meetings and appointee involvement. Training Providers however, should again be reminded that during administration visits evidence will need to be viewed showing standardisation activity and internal verification activity commensurate with the size of the organisation and the numbers of sites and appointees under their control. Verification that this is the case will form the focus of ongoing administration visits. Training Providers should also be aware that the activities of one appointee could affect the entire organisations ability to deliver PDP.
A recurrent feature of concern expressed by Training Providers, Drivers and the External Verifier (EV) Team has been the lack of enforcement of PDP at terminals of the annual renewal of PDP, which threatens to undermine the validity of the scheme. Whilst most terminals check the PDP cards of drivers during induction and spot checks, they only check that the driver is in possession of a card and record the expiry date on the card. Few terminals if any seem to be checking up on the annual upkeep of the card which if recognised as normal practice will undermine one of the principle drivers to compliance with the requirement for annual training and assessment.
1.1 Standardisation
In order to achieve a consistent approach across the External Verification team two standardisation meetings have been held and a Standardisation Record Document (SRD) produced with the following aims:
• New members joining the group get up to speed more quickly on the main issues as they can see all of the past decisions the group has made on one record.
• New decisions can be added to the record when required without a physical meeting having to take place, ensuring a more timely consistent agreement is achieved for more urgent items.
• All main decisions relating to verifying a qualification(s) are in one place and therefore an effective as one-stop-shop reference point for group members and SQA staff.
• The SRD places an important focus on standardisation reached by PDP External Verification Group member agreement – promoting cross-group consistency.
On several occasions feedback from the EV group to the PDP Management Group for clarification has been given and the Senior External Verifier has attended management group meetings in order to clarify issues and concerns raised by the EV team and providers. This has assisted in the development of the manual of practice to reflect and address these issues.
The Senior External Verifier also carried out management and quality assurance visits with the EV team aimed at ensuring a standard approach and resolving areas of differing understanding.
Whilst some members of the EV team remain actively involved in the roles which allow them to maintain hands on competence of Petroleum Tanker operation as allowing them to maintain a PDP card, it was identified that several members of the EV team, whilst competent operators were not now in a position to maintain this competence and maintain a PDP qualification. Two training and assessment days were therefore arranged with the assistance of Defence School of Transport, Leconfield and Certas Energy which allowed 4 members of the EV team to refresh their hands on competence and demonstrate competency against the practical PDP standard.
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2 Verification Activity
Verification activity has been undertaken during the year by the team of external verifiers. This has involved unannounced visits to Training Providers during which training activity has been observed and content has been verified. During these activities instructor approval has also been undertaken and support and guidance offered to Training Provider staff and instructors. Where necessary follow up and support visits have been undertaken.
2.1 Venues & Facilities
In the main facilities have been of a good standard with existing Training Providers utilising classrooms already approved for ADR and the use of training rooms in transport yards and terminals of appropriate size for the numbers of candidates, which in the main have been small groups of 2-4. Issues with facilities have been minimal as Training Providers have become more experienced with the delivery of the scheme and its requirements. Training Providers are reminded though that audio visual presentations should be made on an adequately large screen which enables the candidate to adequately view and digest the content.
2.2 Training Courses
Whilst some Training Providers have utilised proprietary courses, most Training Providers have used training courses developed in house and adapted from existing materials. The quality of these training materials is generally good however concern must be raised over some which are excessively wordy and lengthy.
On several occasions EV’s have encountered material which is very different from the material approved for the Training Provider and does not adequately cover the PDP Syllabus.
Additionally EV’s have encountered different versions of training materials being delivered at different sites within an organisation.
Some Training Providers have made significant changes to training materials over the year which have not been communicated to SQA for re-approval.
Training Providers are reminded that all courses must be approved by SQA prior to being used and adequate internal controls must be in place to ensure a standard delivery throughout the organisation.
EV’s have again commented that the scope of the Annual Training (21T) is very vague and that the syllabus should be more specific and at least include core areas such as legislative updates and safety focused content. Clarification on this point is being developed by the management group, however it should be noted that annual classroom training should include a minimum of 1 hour of PDP related content.
A further issue in relation to the interface with the Driver Certificate of Professional Competence (DCPC) has arisen through the incorporation of non PDP training materials in a 7 hour training course including PDP and other DCPC topics. Whilst section 7.2 of the manual states that the training materials should be free of extraneous material, many Training Providers follow the model where additional material on drivers hours etc. is included in the course, to fill it out up to a 7 hour DCPC day. The management group have clarified that it is perfectly acceptable to incorporate PDP content into any form of DCPC or in house training, as long as the PDP syllabus is covered when integrated within the wider context of the training day. Where this is done Training Providers however must ensure that all of the syllabus is adequately covered and that sufficient time is allocated to the PDP elements of the programme particularly when delivering 25W programmes.
2.3 Practical Assessment
The practical assessment remains at the heart of PDP and therefore attracts the same level of verification activity as the classroom elements. Throughout the year the EV team have undertaken verification visits around the clock in geographically remote locations. Training Providers must remain aware that any PDP activity may be verified and that it is their responsibility to provide adequate information to SQA which will allow the EV team to locate and gain access to complete quality assurance activity.
The practicalities of gaining entry to safety critical/security restricted areas in terminals and on customer sites has been acknowledged by the verification team and the emphasis in verification activity has been placed upon the process of practical assessment rather than close quarters observation.
In general this year the practical assessment of PDP has been delivered by in-house assessors and senior drivers. Assessments have generally been well delivered and well documented and have ranged from a minimum 2 hours, as stated in the manual of practice, through to the assessor accompanying the driver on a full shift and observing multiple loadings and deliveries. Again, it is important for Training Providers to remember the practical assessments should take place in an environment which is the candidate’s normal working environment.
Some issues have arisen where drivers have been assessed on equipment unfamiliar to them, which has led to an inability to demonstrate competence in all of the learning outcomes and/or the intervention of the assessor to perform training activities.
Training Providers should remember that the practical assessment is an assessment rather than a training intervention.
2.4 Materials/ References
The quality of materials and handouts given to candidates as detailed in the manual practice section 7.6 varies considerably. Most of the larger companies when training in-house continue to utilise a company handbook rather than issuing separate and possibly contradictory course handouts during PDP training sessions. It should be clarified that the requirement for handouts is that they are given in a format which is capable of lasting 5 years as reference material for the candidates. As such, these materials should be distributed during the five-year full PDP course.
It is not expected that full handouts be issued during annual classroom and practical assessments, however, appropriate updates may be required.
2.5 Instructors & Delivery
Whilst generally the classroom and training ability of instructors is excellent, several have demonstrated a lack of in-depth knowledge of the practicalities of petroleum fuel distribution. They have therefore found it challenging when questioned on issues such as loading and unloading procedures by experienced drivers.
In-house trainers who are experienced petroleum distribution drivers have demonstrated an excellent in-depth knowledge of the industry. However, their classroom technique in relation to the delivery of an effective presentation and the checking of knowledge on occasion, has left something to be desired.
Training Providers are reminded that instructors and assessors should undertake regular continuous professional development activities and as part of their own internal review and quality assurance processes, they should identify such deficiencies and instigate remedial action.
3 Invigilation Activity
Invigilation of examinations has been undertaken throughout the year, on an unannounced basis by the EV team. Invigilator visits have largely been in conjunction with verification visits. The EV’s have observed Training Providers invigilation of examinations and used the independent invigilator examination papers.
3.1 Course Examinations
Generally, there have been no significant concerns over examinations. The main concern has been administration in terms of the correct start time for examinations being adhered to. Training Providers are reminded that Invigilator report forms must be used for each examination.
Occasional issues have arisen with regards to the safekeeping of examination papers in Training Providers with multiple appointees and sites. Training Providers are reminded that they must maintain an inventory of examination paper issue and return and that they must make arrangements for secure issue and return of examination papers and candidate answer papers.
4 Administration Activity
Administration visits have been carried out throughout the year in order to verify compliance with the requirements of the manual of practice and the maintenance of the SQA database. A key aim of the visits has been to support providers in order enable effective delivery of PDP
These visits have focused on the internal quality control procedures of the centre and in particular in multiple site multi-appointee Training Providers on the standardisation and quality control procedures adopted by the Training Providers.
New Training Providers have continued to receive an approval visit by the PDP EV team where they are not already approved to deliver ADR.
Administration visits have also given the Training Providers the opportunity to clarify many points and feedback through the EV’s to SQA and the management group.
4.1 Documentation
Once more, the most common and basic issue encountered by the EV team during visits has been a lack of possession of a current manual of practice by Training Providers and in particular appointees delivering training. It should be pointed out that this is a basic requirement of the scheme and all appointees should not only be in possession of the manual of practice, but be aware of its contents.
4.2 Quality Assurance
Most Training Providers have robust and well developed quality control systems, some Training Providers however, particularly those with multiple delivery locations and multiple appointees have deficiencies in the control, quality assurance and standardisation of the programme. This has led to a number of Training Providers delivering differing training courses at different sites.
Training Providers should be clear that during administration visits evidence will need to be viewed showing standardisation and quality control activity commensurate with the size of the organisation and the number of sites and appointees under their control.
Key components of standardisation may include, but are not limited to; internal staff training records, observations of learning, standardisation meetings, document control, staff appraisal, and records of continuous professional development.
4.3 Database Administration
SQA and the EV team have identified that Training Providers need more support in the use of the database. Many PDP Training Providers use the system irregularly and become unfamiliar with the system. In order to address this during the coming year the EV team will undergo additional internal training in the use of the database allowing them to provide additional support to their allocated providers during visits and on an ad hoc basis.