One popular workplace assessment is a vehicle safety check. This is a daily task for the estimated 275,000 lorry drivers employed in the UK, and extends to all other types of vehicular drivers. Any candidate or fully qualified assessor may be involved in assessing the competence of a person carrying out a daily vehicle check.
What is the Assessment?
In this video example, we are at a major lawn turf distributor within London (UK). Luke is carrying out a daily vehicle check of an HGV vehicle which is part of the fleet. Vehicle checks are essential for the safety of the driver, pedestrians and other road users.
Your Role
In this video example, Tom is the candidate assessor who appears at the beginning with a blue clipboard. Tom’s role is to observe Luke at all times during the vehicle check. Tom and Luke have already had a pre-assessment briefing to discuss what checks will be carried out and any special information required as he follows Luke with his checks.
Helpful hint - The other person you can see in the video is observing Tom. They are a fully qualified assessor and their observation will help Tom achieve his Level 3 Certificate in Assessing Vocational Achievement (CAVA) qualification.
The Criteria
As part of the initial assessment Tom was responsible for finding out what standards were used for a daily vehicle check. He came across an internal ‘daily safety checklist’ document which was based on criteria devised by the Driver & Vehicle Standards Agency.
Tom included the criteria in his observation / assessment report. He then made notes whilst following Luke around the vehicle, and then mapped these notes to the point within the criteria.
Helpful hint - Sometimes it’s difficult to record the information whilst observing and writing at the same time. Remember you can write a draft then finalise the document after the observation.
After the observation Tom asked Luke some questions to further reinforce his knowledge of vehicle safety checks. These were also referenced against the criteria.
Work Product
The work product is evidence to confirm that the assessment took place within a work-based environment. In this case the work product was a series of photos that Tom took during the observation. The photos on their own are meaningless to anyone looking at the paperwork that may not have been present during the assessment. Therefore it is important to give each photo a description and map its location within the document.
Summary
A vehicle safety check is a good example of a workplace assessment. Once the initial assessment is completed it's important to have the correct paperwork ready for the observation itself. It is then the assessor's responsibility to map the criteria to the actions taken during the safety check. Knowledge can then be reinforced through questioning. Finally, the work product needs to be included as evidence that the assessment took place.
Helpful hint - Photos are not the only acceptable form of product evidence. You could also use video files or completed examination materials when completing vocational assessments.
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