A qualified person has expertise. A competent person has expertise and the authority to stop the work. That one word - authorization - is the whole difference in 29 CFR 1926.32, and it is why no training course can make somebody a competent person.
The two definitions, side by side
Both live in the same short definitions section of the construction standards, four paragraphs apart:
| Competent person - 1926.32(f) | Qualified - 1926.32(m) | |
|---|---|---|
| Text | "one who is capable of identifying existing and predictable hazards in the surroundings or working conditions which are unsanitary, hazardous, or dangerous to employees, and who has authorization to take prompt corrective measures to eliminate them" | "one who, by possession of a recognized degree, certificate, or professional standing, or who by extensive knowledge, training, and experience, has successfully demonstrated his ability to solve or resolve problems relating to the subject matter, the work, or the project" |
| Two-part test | Can identify hazards and is authorized to correct them | Has standing or experience and has demonstrated problem-solving ability |
| Comes from | The employer's grant of authority | Education, credentials or accumulated experience |
| Typical verb in the rule | Inspect, supervise, determine, remove employees | Design, approve, calculate, train |
| Typical person | Foreman, superintendent, lead hand | Engineer, manufacturer's technician, specialist trainer |
The bar moves with the task
There is no such thing as "a competent person" in the abstract. OSHA said in the scaffold preamble that "the criteria for a 'competent person' depend on the situation in which the competent person is working." Three standards show how far the bar can move:
- Excavations. The 1992 interpretation, citing the 1989 rulemaking preamble, states that to be a competent person for the excavation standard "one must have specific training in, and be knowledgeable about, soils analysis, the use of protective systems, and the requirements of the excavation standard. One who does not have this training or knowledge is not considered by OSHA to be capable of identifying existing and predictable hazards in excavation work."
- Asbestos. 1926.1101(b) redefines the term outright: the competent person is the 1926.32(f) person plus the ability to identify asbestos hazards and select the control strategy, plus - for Class I and Class II work - training meeting the criteria of EPA's Model Accreditation Plan (40 CFR part 763) for supervisor. Here the training genuinely is mandatory.
- Silica. 1926.1153 defines a competent person as one capable of identifying "existing and foreseeable" respirable crystalline silica hazards with authority to eliminate or minimize them, who "must have the knowledge and ability necessary to fulfill the responsibilities set forth in paragraph (g)" - the written exposure control plan. The duty defines the knowledge.
No course makes you a competent person
Search for "competent person" and you will find one-day classes promising the designation. OSHA answered that claim directly. A trainer wrote in asking whether an advertisement saying participants "will have met OSHA requirements for a competent person designation" could be valid. The reply, dated June 17, 2005:
"Thus, successful completion of a course does not, alone, necessarily establish an individual as a 'competent person' for a number of reasons. By its terms, the definition of a 'competent person' compels the employer to select an employee based upon his or her capability to identify hazards. The course may not be sufficiently comprehensive … Also, the course may not adequately test the employee's understanding of the course material. Finally, the definition of a competent person requires the individual to have the authority to take prompt corrective action. No course can provide that authority, since it can only be provided by the employer."
OSHA letter of interpretation, 06/17/2005
And from the earlier letter it quotes, dated May 21, 1999: "The standard does not specify particular training requirements for competent persons. Instead, it defines a competent person in terms of capability."
None of that makes training worthless - it is how most people acquire the capability, and the asbestos standard makes a specific EPA-recognized training course compulsory. But three things follow:
- OSHA does not certify, license or register competent persons. Any provider claiming an OSHA-issued designation is misdescribing what they sell.
- The employer selects the person, based on capability, and grants the authority in writing or in practice.
- A course certificate is evidence of knowledge, which is one half of the test. Keep it, and keep the evidence of the other half too.
Where each one is required
A pattern emerges once you line the clauses up: the competent person watches the work, the qualified person designs and approves.
| Task | Paragraph | Who |
|---|---|---|
| Frequent and regular jobsite inspections | 1926.20(b)(2) | Competent person |
| Daily excavation inspections, before the shift and as needed | 1926.651(k)(1) | Competent person |
| Excavation protective system designed from engineering | 1926.652(b)(4) | Registered professional engineer |
| Scaffold design and loading | 1926.451(a)(6) | Qualified person |
| Scaffold inspection before each work shift | 1926.451(f)(3) | Competent person |
| Supervision of scaffold erection, moving, dismantling | 1926.451(f)(7) | "Competent person qualified in scaffold erection" |
| Fall arrest anchorage under 5,000 lb, safety factor of two | 1926.502(d)(15)(ii) | Qualified person supervising |
| Fall protection plan, and any change to it | 1926.502(k)(1) and (k)(2) | Qualified person |
| Fall protection training | 1926.503(a)(2) | "Competent person qualified in" the listed areas |
| Ladder and stairway training | 1926.1060(a)(1) | Competent person |
| Silica written exposure control plan, implementation | 1926.1153(g)(4) | Competent person |
| Asbestos Class I work supervision | 1926.1101(e), (o) | Competent person; EPA Model Accreditation Plan course for Class I and II |
If you run excavations, the daily excavation inspection form is built around 1926.651(k)(1) and has a line for the competent person's name; the soil classification helper walks the Appendix A tests that person is expected to know.
The clearest worked example in the CFR
Subpart L uses both terms in adjacent paragraphs of the same training section, and the split is deliberate:
| Who is trained | Trained by | Paragraph |
|---|---|---|
| Employees who work on a scaffold | "a person qualified in the subject matter" | 1926.454(a) |
| Employees who erect, dismantle, move, operate, repair, maintain or inspect a scaffold | "a competent person" | 1926.454(b) |
The user needs someone who knows the subject. The erector needs someone who can also recognise and correct the hazard as it appears on that scaffold, on that day. Same standard, same page, two different people - and 1926.451(f)(7) then asks for both attributes in one individual: "a competent person qualified in scaffold erection, moving, dismantling or alteration."
The lookalike terms that mean much less
Two more definitions in 1926.32 get used as if they were synonyms. They are not, and confusing them downgrades a real requirement:
- Authorized person - 1926.32(d): "a person approved or assigned by the employer to perform a specific type of duty or duties or to be at a specific location or locations at the jobsite." That is all. No hazard recognition, no corrective authority.
- Designated person - 1926.32(i): defined as meaning "authorized person" as defined in (d). The two are the same thing.
- Approved - 1926.32(c): "sanctioned, endorsed, accredited, certified, or accepted as satisfactory by a duly constituted and nationally recognized authority or agency" - a property of equipment, not of people.
Elsewhere the standards add role names with their own tests - the crane standard's "qualified rigger" is simply "a rigger who meets the criteria for a qualified person" (1926.1401), and the electrical definition of qualified person in 1910.399 is narrower still, resting on demonstrated skills and knowledge in the construction and operation of the specific equipment, with the note that a person can be qualified for some equipment and unqualified for other equipment in the same workplace.
Bottom line
- Qualified = expertise. Competent = expertise plus authorization to take prompt corrective measures. The second half is what the employer supplies.
- Competence is per hazard. A scaffold competent person is not automatically a trench, silica or asbestos competent person.
- OSHA neither certifies nor licenses competent persons, and no course can confer the authority half of the test.
- Training still matters, and for asbestos Class I and II work a course meeting EPA's Model Accreditation Plan is mandatory.
- Read the verbs: inspect and supervise call for a competent person, design and approve call for a qualified person, and some excavation designs call for a registered professional engineer.
- Name the competent person for the task on the day's paperwork. If they cannot stop the work without a phone call, the designation is not real.