Qualified people - It is all about the skill sets

In 2002, a company upgraded its electrical safety program to be in compliance with the requirements of NFPA 70E. As new provisions were put into NFPA 70E, the company´s electrical safety program was updated, but its training and pay systems did not correspondingly change to allow individuals to continuously improve and advance. The old training and pay structure did not align with the company´s new operating strategic vision for long term sustainability. In 2012, this company decided to re-engineer its maintenance systems to one that is skills based system and encourages individuals to continuously improve, become highly trained and qualified for jobs, and advance in pay. This new system was applied to all electrical and mechanical maintenance positions. In addition, all of the operating positions were also re-engineered to be skills based along the same lines as the maintenance jobs. This paper reflects the strategy and structure behind these changes. Currently, the company is in the middle of a transitioning from the old system to the new system.