What this is
What is a 90 day competency sign off?
What is a 90 day competency sign off?
It is the formal record confirming that a new worker has been trained in, assessed against and found competent to perform their tasks without supervision. It sits at the end of the induction period and is signed by both the supervisor and the worker, and it is what turns probation from a countdown into a decision.
What does competent to work unsupervised actually mean?
That the assessor is content for this person to do these tasks alone, on a night shift, with nobody watching. It is a deliberately high bar, and anything short of it, a task the person can do with someone nearby but not entirely alone, is a restriction, not a pass.
What happens to an item that is still outstanding at 90 days?
It does not delay or block the sign off by default, but it cannot be silently absorbed into it either. The record requires a dated plan naming who owns the gap and by when it closes, so the sign off states clearly what has been confirmed and what has not.
Scope
When is a 90 day competency sign off required?
This is an onboarding checkpoint, not the induction or the training itself. Using it to deliver training, rather than to confirm training already given, produces a record that looks like an assessment but was never independently checked.
Use this template when
- A new starter is approaching roughly 90 days in role and a probation or competency decision is due
- The tasks on the job need to be confirmed as trained, assessed and safe to perform unsupervised, one by one
- The competency matrix needs updating with a worker who has now been formally signed off
- An earlier check, such as the 30 day check in, flagged something that needs to be resolved at this checkpoint
- A role or task set has changed enough that unsupervised status needs to be reconfirmed, not just assumed
Do not use it for
- New Hire Orientation, which introduces the company and how things work here, long before competency is assessable
- Site Safety Induction, which covers the hazards and rules of the site itself, not whether a task has been mastered
- 30 Day Check In, an early welfare and progress check, not a competency determination, and not a first attempt at this sign off
- Job Specific Training Record, which evidences training was delivered, an input to this sign off but not a substitute for it
- Competency Matrix, the ongoing register of who is qualified for what, which this sign off updates but does not replace
Compliance mapping
Which ISO 45001 cl.7.2 requirements does this satisfy?
ISO 45001 requires competence to be determined, evidenced and retained as documented information, but it does not prescribe a form or a day count. The 90 day interval is an organisational convention layered onto a standard that only asks that the judgement be made and kept on record.
| Clause | Requirement | Where it lands |
|---|---|---|
| ISO 45001 cl.7.2(a) | Determine the competence necessary for a role affecting OH&S performance | Tasks assessed |
| ISO 45001 cl.7.2(b)-(c) | Ensure competence through training or experience, and evaluate the effectiveness of the actions taken | Mandatory training complete |
| ISO 45001 cl.7.2(d) | Retain appropriate documented information as evidence of competence | Outcome |
| ISO 45001 cl.5.4 | Worker participation in decisions affecting their own health and safety, including confirmation of their own competence | Outcome |
| ISO 45001 cl.8.1.1 | Operational controls, including equipment authorisation, applied consistently before unsupervised work begins | Mandatory training complete |
| ISO 45001 cl.10.2 | Nonconformity identified and corrective action tracked to closure | Outcome |
| ISO 45001 cl.7.2 | Scope of competence, and any restriction on it, recorded rather than assumed | Tasks assessed |
What it does not cover
- The 30 Day Check In, which is a welfare and progress conversation early in the induction period, not a competency determination, and cannot be used to backdate this sign off.
- Job Specific Training Record, which evidences that a training event took place; it feeds this sign off but does not itself confirm the worker can perform the task unsupervised.
- Competency Matrix, the standing register of who holds which competencies across the workforce, which this record updates rather than replaces.
- Buddy Assignment Record, which documents a period of supervised support, the direct opposite of the unsupervised status this sign off confirms.
- The individual task assessments referenced by assessment ID, which supply the underlying evidence this sign off aggregates but do not by themselves constitute the sign off.
Global
90 Day Competency Sign Off requirements by country
The duty to establish competence before unsupervised work begins is widely recognised, though the 90 day marker itself is an organisational choice rather than a legal one.
OSH Act General Duty Clause; standard-specific training and qualification requirements
No general probation or sign off standard. Specific standards impose qualification before certain tasks may be performed.
Putting an unassessed worker on a task with a recognised hazard is exposure under the General Duty Clause regardless of what the employer's probation process called the worker's status.
Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, reg.13
Employers must take capabilities into account when allocating tasks, and ensure adequate health and safety training.
A worker left unsupervised without that capability being established and recorded leaves the employer unable to show reg.13 was met if something goes wrong.
ISO 45001 cl.7.2
Competence must be determined, ensured through training or experience, evaluated for effectiveness, and evidenced as documented information.
Certification auditors will ask to see the sign off record itself, not a training attendance list, since ISO 45001 asks for competence to be established, not merely instructed.
How to complete it
How to complete a 90 day competency sign off, step by step
The form prompts for a tick against every task. What decides whether the sign off is defensible is what sits behind that tick.
The form's own guidance is blunt: confirming competency means being content for this person to do these tasks alone, with nobody watching. Treat that as a literal test. If someone would still want to check in, the correct entry is a restriction, not a pass.
These fields answer different questions: whether instruction happened, whether a formal check followed, and whether the assessor would actually leave the person alone with it. Marking all three the same for every task erases a distinction the form was built to hold.
A restriction that only shows as a lower score is not usable by the next supervisor, who was not in the room for the assessment. The restriction detail field is where the limitation gets stated specifically enough for someone else to enforce it.
The form is explicit that nothing is waved through: an outstanding item gets a dated plan, not a note that it will be picked up eventually. Confirming a sign off with outstanding items and no plan has quietly decided the gap does not matter.
What auditors find
Most common 90 day competency sign off findings
The findings on a competency sign off rarely concern whether the form was completed. They concern whether the tick reflects a judgement anyone actually made.
| Finding | Clause | What fixes it |
|---|---|---|
| Sign off issued while individual tasks are still marked partly trained or assessed. | ISO 45001 cl.7.2(b)-(c) | Hold the sign off until every task in scope is fully trained and assessed, or record the shortfall as a restriction. |
| Every task marked competent unsupervised with no restrictions recorded anywhere on the record. | ISO 45001 cl.7.2 | Require the assessor to positively confirm no restrictions apply, rather than leaving the field blank by default. |
| Outstanding training items recorded with no dated plan against them. | ISO 45001 cl.10.2 | Do not accept outstanding items with an empty dated plan field; name an owner and a date before closing it. |
| Competency matrix not updated after the sign off is issued. | ISO 45001 cl.7.2(d) | Make matrix update a condition of closing the sign off record, not a task someone remembers later. |
| Worker's own signature missing, or added weeks after the supervisor's. | ISO 45001 cl.5.4 | Capture both signatures at the same sitting; a signature added later is not participation in the decision. |
| Probation outcome recorded as confirmed while the sign off itself is marked conditional or no. | ISO 45001 cl.7.2 | Block a confirmed outcome unless the sign off field itself reads fully signed off. |
Case in point
Case in point: the sign off that met the date, not the standard
A production worker reached day 90 on a Friday, when sign offs were normally batched. The supervisor, working through six that afternoon, marked every task trained, assessed and competent unsupervised, including line changeover, a task the worker had performed independently exactly twice. No restriction was noted, and probation was confirmed the same day.
Three weeks later the worker performed a changeover alone on a night shift and caused a jam requiring a lockout they were not confident to walk through, delaying the line for over an hour. The review found the worker had told the supervisor at sign off that changeover still felt unfamiliar, and the comment had gone nowhere because the form had no restriction attached to record it against.
The template
The template, field by field
The form exactly as it installs. Every field, option, score and conditional rule is editable, and the links to other templates come with it.
4 sections
- Reference
- TRN-007
- Archetype
- Record
- Record ID
- COMP-2026-000
- Scoring
- Competency achieved
- Direction
- High is good
- Singleton
- No
- Basis
- ISO 45001 cl.7.2
- Links
- Links Worker, Job
- Tags
- Training, Competency
- Sections
- 4
- Fields
- 41
- Follow up fields
- 4
- Repeating sections
- 1
- Links out
- 6
Header
12 fieldsSign Off ID*
Auto sequence. Format COMP-2026-000.
The record's own ID. Other templates point at this value.
Status*
Drives who this goes to next.
- Planned2 pts
- In progress2 pts
- Complete3 pts
- Deferred0 pts
- Open0 pts
- Closed3 pts
- Overdue0 pts
Date and Time*
Delivered By*
Site*
Site ID*
Format SITE-000.
Links to FDN-001 Site ID
Worker*
Person ID*
Format PER-0000.
Links to FDN-003 Person ID
Days Since Start*
Assessor*
Probation Outcome*
- Confirmed3 pts
- Extended1 pt
- Not confirmed0 pts
Sign Off Means Unsupervised
Confirming competency means you are content for this person to do these tasks alone, on a night shift, with nobody watching. Anything short of that is not a sign off.
Tasks assessed
Repeats8 fieldsTask*
Job ID*
Format JOB-000.
Links to FDN-004 Job Task ID
Trained*
- Yes3 pts
- Partly1 pt
- No0 pts
Assessed*
- Yes3 pts
- No0 pts
Assessment ID
Links to TRN-021 Assessment ID
Competent Unsupervised*
- Yes3 pts
- With restrictions1 pt
- No0 pts
Restrictions Apply
- No3 pts
- Yes1 pt
Restriction Detail
Mandatory training complete
9 fieldsSite Induction Complete*
- Yes3 pts
- No0 pts
Safety Training Complete*
- Yes3 pts
- Partly1 pt
- No0 pts
GMP And Hygiene Complete*
- Yes3 pts
- No0 pts
Allergen Awareness Complete*
- Yes3 pts
- No0 pts
Manual Handling Complete*
- Yes3 pts
- No0 pts
Equipment Authorisations Held*
- Yes3 pts
- Partly1 pt
- Not required3 pts
- No0 pts
Outstanding Training Items*
Outstanding Detail
Dated Plan For Outstanding Items
Nothing is waved through. Anything outstanding gets an owner and a date.
- Yes3 pts
- No0 pts
Outcome
12 fieldsFully Signed Off*
- Yes3 pts
- Conditionally1 pt
- No0 pts
Matrix Updated*
- Yes3 pts
- No0 pts
Matrix ID
Links to TRN-020 Matrix ID
Next Reassessment Due*
Action Required*
Raise the action record, then enter its reference here.
- No2 pts
- Yes0 pts
Priority
- High0 pts
- Medium1 pt
- Low3 pts
CAPA ID
Format CAPA-2026-00000.
Links to FDN-014 CAPA ID
Action Owner
Assessor*
Signature*
Worker*
Second Signature*
TRN-007 · record IDs look like COMP-2026-000 · Links Worker, Job
Open in KnowellaRun it with agents
From a document you fill in to a programme that runs itself
The sign off itself is a moment. What determines whether it holds up is whether the matrix, the outstanding items and the next reassessment date actually move once the ink is dry.
Holds the sign off against the job's task list and the competency matrix, and flags when a sign off is issued with tasks still short of fully assessed.
Watches for a sign off confirming unsupervised status on a task with a live safety restriction or an unresolved incident attached to it.
Checks that GMP, hygiene and allergen items marked complete on the sign off match the underlying training records rather than a supervisor's assumption.
Chases the dated plan on outstanding items and the matrix update after sign off, and raises the next reassessment before the date quietly passes.
This template lives in KnowTrain — training and credentials. Induction, competency, toolbox talks, refreshers and expiry tracking.
Meet KnowTrain→Glossary
90 Day Competency Sign Off definitions and key terms
- Competent unsupervised
- The specific claim this record makes: that the assessor is content for the worker to perform the task alone, with nobody checking, on any shift.
- Restriction
- A named limitation on an otherwise competent worker's scope, recorded in enough detail that a different supervisor could enforce it.
- Probation outcome
- The formal decision this sign off feeds: confirmed, extended, or not confirmed, distinct from the task-level competency findings that support it.
- Competency matrix
- The standing register, held elsewhere, of which workers are qualified for which tasks; this sign off is one of the events that updates it.
- Dated plan
- The named owner and date attached to any item still outstanding at sign off, the mechanism that prevents a gap being silently accepted.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about 90 day competency sign off
Can a worker be signed off if one task is still outstanding?+
Yes, provided the outstanding item carries a dated plan and the sign off itself reflects that reality, typically as conditional rather than fully signed off. What the record must not do is show every field as complete when a task genuinely is not.
Who should carry out the 90 day assessment?+
The worker's supervisor, because they are the one being asked to be content leaving the person unsupervised, and the worker, whose own signature is a form of participation the standard expects rather than a formality.
What is the difference between trained, assessed and competent unsupervised?+
Trained means instruction happened. Assessed means a formal check followed it. Competent unsupervised is the further, more demanding claim that the assessor would leave the worker alone with the task on any shift. A worker can be trained and assessed and still fall short of the third.
Does an outstanding item automatically extend probation?+
Not automatically, but it should prompt the question honestly rather than being absorbed silently. A probation outcome of confirmed alongside unresolved outstanding items with no dated plan is a record that has made a decision without anyone deciding it.
What does the restriction field actually control?+
It states, in words specific enough for a different supervisor to enforce, what the worker still cannot do alone. A score alone does not travel to the next shift; the written restriction does.
Why does the record need two signatures?+
Because the standard treats worker participation in decisions about their own safety as a requirement, not a courtesy, and a sign off signed only by the supervisor has confirmed competency without the worker having any part in that confirmation.
Keep going
Related templates and programmes
Industries this is written for
Programmes this belongs to
Used together in Worker Onboarding and Induction
Contractor Site Induction
Introduces a contractor to your site rules, hazards, emergency arrangements and permit requirements
Worker Profile
Holds a record for each worker, including role, department, site and start date
Temporary and Agency Worker Review
Reviews whether agency and short term workers receive the same induction, training and supervision as permanent staff
New Hire Orientation
Introduces a new worker to the company, the site and how things are done here
Site Safety Induction
Covers the hazards and rules specific to this site, with photographs of the real areas
Department Orientation
Introduces the specific department, its work, its people and its risks
More in New Hire Training
New Hire Orientation
Introduces a new worker to the company, the site and how things are done here
Site Safety Induction
Covers the hazards and rules specific to this site, with photographs of the real areas
Department Orientation
Introduces the specific department, its work, its people and its risks
Job Specific Training Record
Records the hands on training for the actual job the person will do
Buddy Assignment Record
Pairs a new worker with an experienced colleague for their first weeks
30 Day Check In
Checks how a new worker is settling in, what they still find unclear and whether they feel safe raising concerns
Written and reviewed by
Siddarth Singh
Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Knowella
Certified Safety Professional and industrial and systems engineer with more than a decade inside food supply chain, freight and manufacturing operations. This page was written against the current text of the standards it cites, not against secondary summaries of them.
- Certified Safety Professional (CSP), Board of Certified Safety Professionals
- MBA, University of Chicago Booth School of Business
- MS and BS, The Ohio State University, Industrial and Systems Engineering
- Six Sigma Black Belt
Sources and last review. Reviewed 16 August 2026 against:
- ISO 45001:2018 clause 7.2, Competence
- ISO 45001:2018 clause 5.4, Consultation and participation of workers
- Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, regulation 13 (GB)
- OSH Act Section 5(a)(1), General Duty Clause (US)
This page is general guidance, not legal advice. Confirm requirements with your jurisdiction’s regulator.