Often working at great heights, being a scaffolder certainly comes with many inherent risks. One small trip or slip could have disastrous consequences for workers and members of the public, potentially leading to hefty compensation claims and business interruption, which can be very problematic – especially for small businesses. That’s why the standards of safety need to be impeccable, and the new, stricter entry criteria for the industry-recognised scaffolding inspection training course reflects this.
The Construction Industry Scaffolders Record Scheme (CISRS) has revised the basic entry level requirements for its Scaffold Inspection Training Scheme (SITS) in a bid to improve the level of safety for the whole trade.
Anyone wishing to complete the Training Scheme must now have at least two years’ relevant industry experience, meaning that they will already have a solid understanding of working with scaffolding before even beginning their training. The hope is that this will lead to better results and cause candidates taking the course to be more conscientious of their duties, as they would already have first-hand experience of how dangerous scaffolding can be. The changes also mean that they must submit a CV demonstrating the necessary experience along with an employer’s reference.
Held across the UK, the SITS puts attendees through an intensive three-day course covering practical inspection, theory, report writing, fault finding, and recent updates to the National Access and Scaffolding Confederation’s safety and technical guidance. The courses are intended for anyone who needs to carry out safety inspections of scaffolding sites – and will include site managers, engineers, and health and safety professionals.
The decision to raise the existing level of experience was further explained by the CISRS scheme manager, Dave Mosley, who said, “Scaffold inspection is such an important area with far-reaching effects and we feel that those attending the course should be able to verify that they have at least a rudimentary knowledge of scaffolding prior to attending training. They also need to be aware of the responsibility that comes with inspecting scaffolds – hence the pre-qualification change to two years’ relevant work experience.”
Mosley also mentioned the possibility of introducing a much simpler, shorter course for those with not much or no prior experience:
“In the past, companies would send staff on scaffold inspection courses very early within their career in order to gain some basic knowledge about scaffolding. CISRS feel that in reality a scaffolding awareness/introduction to scaffolding course is more suitable, until they have more of a working knowledge of scaffolding on site.”
The new requirements introduced are just one way of increasing safety awareness across a scaffolding business, and it’s important that, if you’re the business owner, you take it upon yourself to make sure everything has been done to keep your employees safe.
Accidents can’t ever be wholly prevented, but if they do happen, that’s when the right commercial liability insurance becomes absolutely indispensable. Tredstone can help scaffolders find bespoke insurance that will offer them quality cover for all their commercial risks.