Certificates of Operator Competence
(Commonly known as “Getting a WAMITAB or CoTec”)
Up to 6th April 2008 site operators had to achieve a Certificate of Technical Competence (CoTC) by undertaking the appropriate National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) and use this to obtain the CoTC from WAMITAB. Operators previously had to achieve all of the 12 units that made up the award but now the Environment Agency will grade your site according to the risk posed by the waste that you handle. If you have:
- a high risk site you will do all 12 units
- a medium risk site 6 units
- a low risk site 4 units
The risks tiers can be found at http://www.wamitab.org.uk/pg/competence/activities-and-standard-rules-permits
Make sure that the Environment Agency has confirmed, in writing, exactly which award they require you to achieve. WAMAS will be pleased to advise but it is the decision of the EA which award they require.
Technical Competence arrangements in England and Wales
On 6 April 2008 the above regulations came into force. At the same time, the Waste Management Licensing Regulations (England and Wales) 2003, were repealed. This has brought about changes in the way that the Technical Competence provision can be demonstrated by the relevant manager, or managers, at the ‘Permitted' waste management facility.
WAMITAB and CIWM have developed an Operator Competence Scheme, accepted by Defra/WAG, to meet the EPR07 regulations within England and Wales.”
Full details of this can be found at:
http://www.wamitab.org.uk/pg/competence
NVQs are changing to the Qualifications and Curriculum Framework (QCF) on 31/03/2011 but this does not affect that way in which you gain a qualification.
There are various ways to gain a competence certificate but WAMAS only offers the on site assessment as we have found that most operators do not like the “classroom” approach much preferring the “do it on-site” approach.
We do not offer the continuing competence tests; they can be found at http://www.wamitab.org.uk/pg/continuing-competence-2
If you find this very confusing give us a call on 01933 279879 and we will be happy to explain it.
