Peter O’ConnellPolicy ManagerFederation of Master Builders

• Competence and the Regulatory Framework for Health and Safety Training in the UK

• Individual Competence

• Organisational Competence

• Taking Competence Forwards.

• Conclusions

• 1974 Health and Safety at Work Act

• 1992 Temporary and Mobile Construction Sites Directive (92/57/EEC)

• 1994 (Revised 2007) Construction and Design Management Regulations (CDM 1994/2007)

• 2007 CDM Approved Code of Practice

Construction Skills Certification Scheme (CSCS)

•Industry owned competency card scheme

•1.4 million card holders

•Helps workers prove competence to work.

•Demonstrates workers Health and Safety awareness.

The CSCS Health and Safety Test.  

•All card holders must pass a basic health hand safety awareness test to get a card.

•40 multiple-choice questions to be answered in 45 minutes

•Questions taken from an approved selection covering topics such as general responsibilities, working at heights, site hazards, understanding warning signs and noise and vibration

Health and Safety Test 

•Vital component for each CSCS card at all levels and across every occupation

•Test taken at 151 locations; 60 bricks and mortar, 91 visited on a regular basis by mobile units

•COST: £17.50 (Grant aided) for the test. £17.50 for a retest

•Health and Safety test £17.50. A ConstructionSkills Grant of £17.50 is available to registered firms for successful completion of the test. Not available for companies registered in Northern Ireland.

MCG AIR vs Competence

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Prequalification schemes

•The ACOP requires duty holders to ensure competence of those they engage.

•The ACOP requires assessment of and organisation’s health and safety arrangements and its track record prior to appointment.

•The theory is that attractive public and private sector contracts can be used as an incentive to raise standards.

Prequalification schemes in practice. •This has led to the extensive use of independent prequalification and accreditation services.

•The increasing use of pre qualification schemes is challenging for SMEs .

•Quantity of schemes leads to duplication.

•Complexity, of schemes leads to cost and confusion.

•Lack of proportionality to size of contract makes cost of compliance and registration unjustifiable.

•Increasing numbers of SMEs pushed out of public sector works and health and safety benefits lost as a result.

The Industry Backlash

•Discontent with the cost complexity repetition and bureaucracy created by the health and safety prequalification industry has grown.

•Industry has given evidence of waste and bureaucracy to the House of Commons Business and Enterprise Committee, and the Glover Review.

•Both reviews concluded that prequalification had become excessively bureaucratic and demanded action .

Individual Competence

•The Health and Safety Test Question Committee •The standard industry induction. •Smart Card and CBH

Organisational competence

•Safety Schemes in Procurement (SSIP)•PAS 91

• Heath and Safety standards and training in the UK are driven by the regulatory framework .

• They are delivered in the private and commercial sectors by CSCS for individuals, and prequalification for organisations.

• CSCS and prequalification do not influence the domestic market.

• Prequalification schemes have been allowed to evolve from being part of the solution to part of the problem.

• The industry induction should lead to improvements, but the prospects for SSIP and PAS 91 are unclear.

• There is no political will to address the lack of drivers in the £16.9bn a year domestic RMI market and it remains for trade associations relying on good will to drive standards and training.

Thank you for listening