The Evidence Guide provides advice on assessment and must be read in conjunction with the performance criteria, required skills and knowledge, range statement and the Assessment Guidelines for the Training Package.

Overview of assessment

Critical aspects for assessment and evidence required to demonstrate competency in this unit

Assessors should ensure that candidates can:

perform routine maintenance safely

determine whether an item of equipment/instrument is in correct working order

locate and rectify basic faults

recognise the need for specialist servicing and/or repairs

conduct calibration status/qualification checks

obtain instrument/equipment readings with the required accuracy and precision

follow all relevant OHS requirements

follow enterprise recording and reporting procedures.

Context of and specific resources for assessment

This unit of competency is to be assessed in the workplace or simulated workplace environment.

This unit of competency may be assessed with relevant:

relevant MSL974000 series units of competency

relevant MSL975000 series units of competency.

Resources may include:

laboratory equipped with appropriate equipment and calibration standards

SOPs, calibration and maintenance schedules and procedures.

Method of assessment

The following assessment methods are suggested:

review of maintenance records and equipment/instrument logbooks completed by the candidate

observation of the candidate performing serviceability and calibration/qualification checks and routine maintenance

feedback from peers and supervisors

oral or written questioning.

In all cases, practical assessment should be supported by questions to assess underpinning knowledge and those aspects of competency which are difficult to assess directly.

Where applicable, reasonable adjustment must be made to work environments and training situations to accommodate ethnicity, age, gender, demographics and disability.

Access must be provided to appropriate learning and/or assessment support when required.

The language, literacy and numeracy demands of assessment should not be greater than those required to undertake the unit of competency in a work like environment.

This competency in practice

Industry representatives have provided the case studies below to illustrate the practical application of this unit of competency and to show their relevance in a workplace setting.

Manufacturing

Starting materials used in manufacturing are often white powders. Infrared spectroscopy is used to positively identify many materials. Two compounds are one and the same if their spectra match in all respects (the position and relative intensity of the absorption bands). For example, if the spectra of a white powder matches the spectra of caffeine, the technician can be sure that the white powder is caffeine, provided that the spectrometer has been correctly maintained and calibrated. The technician routinely checks this using a standard polystyrene film.

Food processing

Technicians in a NATA certified laboratory must do regular checks to ensure that laboratory equipment, such as balances, refractometers and spectrometers are calibrated and in working order. Balances are routinely checked using calibrated masses and appropriate documented methods to ensure that they are weighing within the correct tolerances. If the balance is out of specification, the technician follows appropriate procedures to correct this and/or notifies the manufacturer to arrange for the balance to be serviced.

Food processing

A technical assistant in the quality control laboratory of a fruit canning company is required to maintain and operate a range of equipment, including a pH meter. Canned pears, for example, are routinely checked for pH to ensure safe heat processing. While checking the calibration of the pH meter with the standard buffer solutions, the assistant identified that stable pH readings could not be obtained. On closer inspection, they found that the pH probe was damaged and reported the problem to the supervisor. The probe was replaced and the meter was re-checked in readiness for routine testing.

Biomedical

Technical assistants are quite often involved in routine collections and culturing of cells. Bacterial cells are often cultured and grown to large populations in order to provide material from which to extract biological materials. A quick method of determining when the cell growth has yielded enough cells is to determine the absorbance of the cell culture by measuring absorbance at 600 nm. An absorbance of 1 to 1.5 will give a good cell harvest. This method relies on the assistant being able to perform calibration checks on an ultraviolet-visible (UV-VIS) spectrometer.

Required skills

Required skills include:

performing routine maintenance

determining whether an item of equipment/instrument is in correct working order

locating and rectifying basic faults

recognising the need for specialist servicing and/or repairs

conducting calibration status/qualification checks

following all relevant occupational health and safety (OHS) requirements

following enterprise recording and reporting procedures

Required knowledge

Required knowledge includes:

operating principles for equipment/instruments used in routine work

common sources of equipment/instrument faults and their repair

common errors associated with equipment use

role and importance of regular calibration checks

equipment maintenance schedules and procedures

OHS hazards and control measures

enterprise communication and reporting procedures

The range statement relates to the unit of competency as a whole. It allows for different work environments and situations that may affect performance. Bold italicised wording, if used in the performance criteria, is detailed below. Essential operating conditions that may be present with training and assessment (depending on the work situation, needs of the candidate, accessibility of the item, and local industry and regional contexts) may also be included.

Codes of practice

Where reference is made to industry codes of practice, and/or Australian/international standards, it is expected the latest version will be used

Standards, codes, procedures and/or enterprise requirements

Standards, codes, procedures and/or enterprise requirements may include:

Australian and international standards such as:

AS 1678 Emergency procedure guide - Transport

AS 2252 Biological safety cabinets

AS ISO 17025-2005 General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories

AS/NZS 2243 Set:2006 Safety in laboratories set

AS/NZS 2982.1:1997 Laboratory design and construction - General requirements

AS/NZS 4187:2003 Cleaning, disinfecting and sterilising reusable medical and surgical instruments and equipment, and maintenance of associated environments in health care facilities

AS/NZS 4501 Set:2008 Occupational clothing set

AS/NZS ISO 14000 Set:2005 Environmental management standards set

Australian code of good manufacturing practice for medicinal products (GMP)

Australian Dangerous Goods Code

Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS) Export Control (Orders) Regulations 1982

Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS) Import Guidelines

Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA) Codes of Practice

calibration and maintenance schedules

enterprise recording and reporting procedures

equipment manuals and warranties, supplier catalogues and handbooks

equipment startup, operation and shutdown procedures

gene technology regulations

guide to physical containment levels and facility types

material safety data sheets (MSDS)

material, production and product specifications

National Code of Practice for the labelling of workplace substances (NOHSC:2012 (1994))

national environment protection measures

National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Guidelines

national measurement regulations and guidelines

OHS national standards and codes of practice

principles of good laboratory practice (GLP)

production and laboratory schedules

quality manuals

standard operating procedures (SOPs)

Therapeutic Goods Regulations 1009

Laboratory equipment and instruments

Laboratory equipment and instruments may include:

balances

density bottles, pipettes, burettes and volumetric glassware

thermometers, melting point apparatus, water baths and incubators

optical microscopes, refractometers and polarimeters

conductivity meters and pH meters

ion selective electrodes

autoclaves

mixing and separating equipment, such as centrifuges, rifflers and splitters and mixers

noise meters and blast meters

pressure gauges, torque testers, load cells, strain gauges and tensiometers

disintegration apparatus, penetrometers, hardness testing equipment, viscometers, soil compaction and classification equipment

colorimeters and spectrometers

chromatographic equipment and electrochemical equipment

cell analysers and cell counters

motors, pumps and generators

Basic repairs

Basic repairs may include:

replacement of fuses and reagents and consumables

cleaning and/or replacement of cells, torches and burners

installation, conditioning and removal of columns for gas chromatographs (packed and capillary) and liquid chromatographs (columns and guard columns)

changing injection port ferrules

connecting gas supplies

maintaining syringes/injection equipment

cleaning detectors

appropriate storage of columns and other equipment not currently in use

changing detectors (for gas liquid and liquid chromatographs)

optimising nebulisers

replacement of lamps

realignment of components

replacement of hoses and belts

replacement or top up of oils, lubricants or coolants

basic electrical checks involving simple digital multimeters

Calibration status/qualification checks

Calibration status/qualification checks may include:

matching cells (for dual beam instruments)

checks for monochromator wavelength and photometric accuracy

checks for baseline flatness and stray light

checks on electrode performance

checking sensitivity

injection/use of standard mixtures

comparison with manufacturer's specifications/ chromatogram

use of standard masses and solutions

use of calibrated thermometers and glassware to assess instrument/component performance

Hazards

Hazards may include:

electric shock

chemicals, such as acids and cleaning agents

fluids under pressure, such as steam and industrial gases

sharps, such as broken glassware

sources of heat, such as burners, ovens and furnaces

manual handling of heavy equipment

crushing, entanglement and cuts associated with moving machinery

Safety procedures

Safety procedures may include:

use of personal protective equipment, such as hearing protection, gloves, safety glasses, coveralls and safety boots

ensuring access to service shut-off points

handling and storing hazardous materials and equipment in accordance with labels, MSDS, manufacturer's instructions, enterprise procedures and regulations

following appropriate manual handling procedures

regular cleaning of equipment and work areas

machinery guards

signage, barriers and service isolation tags

lockout and tag-out procedures

Occupational health and safety (OHS) and environmental management requirements

OHS and environmental management requirements:

all operations must comply with enterprise OHS and environmental management requirements, which may be imposed through state/territory or federal legislation - these requirements must not be compromised at any time

all operations assume the potentially hazardous nature of samples and require standard precautions to be applied

where relevant, users should access and apply current industry understanding of infection control issued by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and State and Territory Departments of Health