Data protection notice
This tool records personal information about named employees. It stays in this browser and in files you save. Nothing is sent to this website. Your employer is responsible for this data. Only use the tool with your employer's approval, on a company device, and save files only to your company's approved SharePoint location. Do not email files or store them on personal devices. Notes must describe what the assessor saw on the task only. Do not record health, injury, disability, adjustments, absence, beliefs, union membership, criminal or disciplinary information. Employees can ask to see and correct their records. Clear data from this browser when you have finished.
Press a square to set a level. People's names stay in this browser unless you save a file. Keep only what you have a reason to hold, and follow your own data protection rules.
Settings
Whatever you enter here appears in the Company Skills Dashboard straight away, under the team name below. Give each team a different name.
Clear data from this browser
Removes this matrix, the copy shown in the Company Skills Dashboard, and the link to the shared folder from this browser. Files already saved to a folder or your computer are not touched.
People
Skills
Mark a skill Critical if the work stops or becomes unsafe without it. Set how many signed-off people you need.
Coverage by skill
Who to cross-train next
What the checks found
The checks look for gaps in the record. They cannot tell whether a sign-off was a fair judgement of the person's skill.
Audit evidence pack
This is an index, not proof. It lists every level 3 and 4 sign-off with its assessor, date, evidence reference and the last change recorded in the log, shows which sign-offs count and which do not, and says what is missing. It does not hold the signed sheets or certificates, and it cannot show that a name, date or reference is true. An auditor will ask to see the documents the references point to, and how you control them.
What the matrix helps with, and what it does not
Requirements are paraphrased from ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 45001:2018 clause 7, and from UK health and safety law. Check the current text of the standard or regulation you are audited against. The last column is worked out from your data. It describes the record. It is not a finding of compliance.
Change log
Every change to a rating, sign-off, person, skill or setting is recorded here with the time and the name entered above. Each entry carries a checksum that includes the one before it, so an entry changed or removed outside this tool breaks the chain and is reported as a gap. This helps you trace edits. It does not stop a determined person who rebuilds the whole chain, and the name and the clock are whatever the browser and the user supplied.
Levels
- 0 Not trained. Has not been taught the task.
- 1 In training. Being taught. Always with a trainer.
- 2 Needs supervision. Can do parts, someone must be nearby.
- 3 Competent alone. Does the task to standard without help. Needs a sign-off.
- 4 Can train others. Competent, and has shown they can teach it. Needs a sign-off.
The rules the tool applies
- A level 3 or 4 counts as covered only when it has an assessor, a date, the assessor is not the operator, and the date is within the valid period.
- Anything else at level 3 or 4 is shown with a dashed outline and left out of the coverage count.
- A critical skill with fewer signed-off people than you need is a gap. With none, it says so plainly.
- A non-critical skill short of its target is a note.
- A critical skill with no signed-off trainer at level 4 is a note.
- A training date that has passed for someone still below level 3 is a gap.
- An SOP link must start with https. Anything else is ignored. A critical skill with an SOP number but no link is a note when other skills have links.
- A critical skill with no SOP number recorded is a note. Sign off against the written standard, and put its number in the matrix.
- A person who is the only signed-off cover for three or more skills is listed as a key person risk.
Evidence and the change log
- Print an assessment sheet from any rating (open the square, then Print assessment sheet). The assessor watches the task, writes what they saw, and the assessor, operator and a manager sign it. File it in your controlled records and enter its reference here.
- Turn on the setting in People and skills if a level 3 or 4 should only count when an evidence reference is entered.
- The change log records each edit with the time and the name you enter above the matrix. Its checksums show if the log was edited outside this tool.
- None of this makes the matrix a controlled record on its own. Anyone who can edit the file can enter any name, date or reference, and the log cannot prove who they were. For an audit, the signed sheets, certificates and your company's own training records are the evidence. The matrix is the index to them.
Good practice
- Sign off by watching the person do the task, not by asking them. Write down what you saw, and the date.
- Review sign-offs when the process, the equipment or the standard changes, as well as on the date.
- Train for critical skills first, then spread cover so that a holiday or a sickness does not stop the line.
- Use the matrix to plan training. Do not use it on its own to judge a person.
Limits
No gaps found does not mean the team is competent. The tool only checks the record. A competent person has to judge whether the sign-offs are fair and whether the skills listed are the ones the job needs. Check your own legal duties on training and competence.
Related tools
Company Skills Dashboard rolls up the data files from every team into one management view. Skills Matrix and Cross-Training Dashboard shows my own 11-person team results. Corrective Action Tracker can follow training actions to a checked close.