Monitor and control the quality of wood fuel products

This standard covers the skills and knowledge required to check the quality of wood fuel products at appropriate times during production, storage and delivery; detecting variations that could adversely affect the product and taking appropriate action to resolve them. It applies equally to carrying out in-house checks and sending samples to external testing facilities. It does not apply to the quality control of sub-contractors which is covered elsewhere. This could apply to the production of wood chips, wood pellets, wood briquettes, fire wood or charcoal.

1. comply with health and safety requirements and procedures at all

   times

   2. use up-to-date quality specifications for wood fuel being produced

   3. check quality at appropriate times during production, storage and

   delivery processes to identify variations in quality

   4. integrate quality checks in wood fuel production, storage and

   delivery processes following standard operating procedures

   5. sample quantities to give representative results following standard

   operating procedures

   6. use appropriate methods to check quality, ensuring that any

   inspection equipment is fully functioning and adjusted correctly

   7. identify any variations between the actual and desired quality of

   wood fuel products and the reasons for them

   8. rectify issues in production resulting in wood fuel products of substandard quality following standard operating procedures

   9. check results of quality monitoring and controls are recorded in

   information systems

   10. adapt and update quality checks following standard operating

   procedures

   11. apply quality assurance labels to wood fuel products following

   standard operating procedures

1. legal duties for health and safety in the workplace and legislation

   covering your job role

   2. relevant legislation and requirements relating to clean wood fuels

   3. characteristics of wood species and the effect of species on wood

   fuel production

   4. how to assure quality in the supply chain

   5. how origin of raw material, carbon savings and product

   specification relate to quality assurance labelling

   6. impact of moisture content and particle size on wood fuel products

   7. how to calculate calorific value of wood fuels with different

   moisture contents

   8. properties of wood fuel that cause inefficiency, malfunction,

   corrosion or pollution

   9. how to interpret specifications for wood fuel being produced

   10. how to determine number of increments required for meaningful

   testing

   11. how to confirm expected quality of wood fuel products being

   produced

   12. indications that suggest that variations between the actual and

   desired quality of wood fuel products exist

   13. critical points with production, storage and delivery of wood fuel

   products when things can go wrong

   14. type of problems that could occur including defects in production,

   storage and delivery process

   15. how and when it is beneficial to use external testing facilities

   16. equipment used for inspecting wood fuel products

   17. how to check inspection equipment is correctly adjusted and

   functioning

   18. actions to take if products don't conform to specification or vary

   widely within specification

   19. actions to take to resolve variations in quality

   20. information system used and why it is important to use correctly

   21. how changes in processes, raw materials or legislation may affect

   quality monitoring processes

   22. cross contamination of products and why it is important to avoid

   23. how to quarantine products that have been contaminated