A new set of National Occupational Standards (NOS) for Resilience and Emergencies have been published by standard setting organization The Workforce Development Trust, as an initiative of the UK’s Cabinet Office.
NOS are definitions of the core and transferable skills utilised by employers and qualifications bodies to support competency and capacity building in a range of different areas.
The NOS for Resilience and Emergencies launch was aligned with the official launch of the UK Resilience Academy (UKRA), which was announced on April 28th and aims to train more than 4,000 public and private sector workers in crisis skills and expertise every year.
The NOS for Resilience and Emergencies have been developed to strengthen organizational and societal resilience to known and unknown threats and enable business, government, and civil society to better withstand and quickly recover from a crisis. Aligned with the UK Government’s vision for a more resilient society, these standards will guide recruitment, training, and performance management for organizations involved in mitigating, planning, and responding to emergencies and crises. They are applicable across public, private, and voluntary sectors, providing the competences needed to strengthen preparedness.
The NOS for Resilience and Emergencies contain 11 separate standards, which can be used alongside a series of generic NOS supporting areas such as management, project management, governance, and IT. Together, the standards are intended to be used for developing skills and knowledge via direct transfer into vocational and other qualifications, as a framework for training programmes and job descriptions, and as measures of workplace competence.
NOS are recognised by the Scottish Qualifications Authority, Qualifications Wales and the Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment in Northern Ireland. In England, NOS are part of the Regulated Qualifications Framework which regulates general and vocational qualifications.
NOS provide an employer-led, multi-sector definition of competence, setting the standards which govern and quality assure skills and skills development across the UK. The NOS for Resilience and Emergencies are a significant step forward in terms of supporting a UK-wide approach to resilience and emergency preparedness, providing the foundations for building skills capacity across our nations and regions to mitigate the risks posed by a range of disruptive challenges.
Hamish Cormack, Head of the UK Resilience Academy
Resilience profession comments:
Alex Stafford, Emergency and Business Continuity Manager, North Somerset Council:
“The Resilience and Emergencies NOS will help to strengthen skills and workforce development and support the standardisation of local authority approaches when responding to major incidents.
“NOS ensure that Category One and Two responders receive the same standard of training as those in local authorities, ensuring a common language and approach to what skills and knowledge professionals need in order to support the work of the individual agencies and Local Resilience Forum.
“In practice this means that wherever you are in the country, if you’re affected by a major incident, whether that’s a flood, fire or industrial accident you’ll effectively get the same response regardless of local authority area.
“The NOS will strengthen professionalism across the resilience sector and in turn that’s going to lead to improved standards in terms of training and ultimately lead to greater societal resilience overall.”
Aaron Gracey Head of Emergency Management, Route Crime, BTP Liaison and Operational Security, Network Rail:
“Operational resilience brings together the multiple relevant business disciplines, including business continuity, incident management, emergency exercising, lesson learning, and relevant competencies to more effectively and efficiently understand, prepare, and protect the organization.
“I am very proud to have been involved in the review of the National Occupational Standards. They will help influence this change, supporting the development of standardised operational resilience capabilities and delivery, supporting the overall strengthening of UK Operational Resilience, to which Network Rail is a key contributor.”
To access and download the NOS for Resilience and Emergencies visit: www.wdtrust.org.uk/nos-for-resilience-and-emergencies
