health and safety

[f1ngerz]

I do mostly sub contracting , when speaking to a new firm about some work he asked me about what health and safety qualifications I had . I'm a JIB electrician ecs assessed cscs.
Any one got any other qualifications that are sought after ? Whats a passport to safety? Also want to get a full lifter / cherry picker licence ,the one I had was valid only while working at a certain firm? Any info gratefully recived

 

[mogga]

the lifter qualification your neding is IPAF their web site has a lot of info DO shop around tho some smaller trainers do good deals

Passport to saftey is similar to CSCS ECS but different in that it has modules that can be added PFS forecourts Neuclear sites ect

Pasmas (portable alloy towers) is another good one to have for commercial
Asbestos awareness is handy
there are loads most of which arent asked for some are only used in certain sectors by certain employers IMO Pasma IPAF and CSCS are most asked for
CRB check and Disclosure scotland can open some doors as well

 

[stretchyboy]

you have ecs / cscs so they are H+S qualifications..... depending on the size of your company you could get CHAS or Safe Contractor which isn't too harsh on firms smaller than 5 guys, but a little heavy on firms bigger than that. IPAF for powered platforms, which you should get from a hire shop for about 150 or more and is a day course. Then you may need PASMA for towers etc which is similar cost and time.

Hope this helps a little

 

[keyne]

just a bit about Asbestos awareness. M&S specify UKATA (UKATA - Welcome to the UKATA website) accredited. I did a NATAS online course £25.00, that despite being a good course is not UKATA accredited (The NATAS web site makes you believe it is). I then did a 350 mile round trip to take the course at a UKATA accredited centre. 3 hours latter without any check as to who I was, no test to check my level of understanding, and not even knowing if I could speak english a certificate is on its its way to the main contractor. go figure.

 

[Jonesy83]

h+s in this industry is a joke who ever sits up at night that thinks most of these things up i hope he catches crabs

sorry for the rant but it gets on my goat h and s does for simply things that makes your job 10 times harder like not allowed to use step ladders but you have to erectct a scaffold then take it down to get it through a door way then set it back up again and repeat

 

[Des 56]

Jonesy83

The joke wore thin for me quite a while back

You are absolutely spot on with your comments

I await the day they have the sense to roll back a lot of this total nonesense.which has gone way way way over the top,to the point, that I for one, absolutely detest and resent applying any health and safety rules other than what I think is beneficial
It really is overwhelming our society and sickens me to hear about it

 

[petegibbons]

I'm thinking of completing the following course:

NEBOSH accredited National General Certificate in occupational Safety and Health

Has anyone done it, is it worth whilst ??

I am en Electrical Contractor employing approx 20 Electricians and office staff and I am starting to big up some big contracts. I currently employ H&S Consultants but I'm not too happy with what they do and would also like to get better in house H&S.

 

[mogga]

a couple of firms i worked for used the HnS Consultancy route as this put some onus on the Consultant rather than the firm

 

[petegibbons]

a couple of firms i worked for used the HnS Consultancy route as this put some onus on the Consultant rather than the firm

To be honest Mogga I was going to stick with the consultants as well.

I was more after information on whether the course itself is worth doing, it's long and quite expensive although I am not too worried about that, I am more interested if there are any better alternative routes for me to go down.

 

[mogga]

IMO Id view it as another string to your bow it may also be required by some main contractors on big jobs if you have the spare readies and the time to do it Id go for it it will definetly complement your use of consultancy and when Consultant says some gobbldy gook you will be able to say Thats Bollix

 

[JulianC]

I'm thinking of completing the following course:

NEBOSH accredited National General Certificate in occupational Safety and Health

Has anyone done it, is it worth whilst ??

I am en Electrical Contractor employing approx 20 Electricians and office staff and I am starting to big up some big contracts. I currently employ H&S Consultants but I'm not too happy with what they do and would also like to get better in house H&S.

I did this about 10 years ago when I was a project engineer in the steel industry. I found the course fascinating and very useful - a necessity in fact, since I took over the company's health and safety work. Certainly worth doing for a company your size IF you intend to carry out your own H&S stuff. However, if you plan to continue using consultants, I wouldn't bother with the course.

H&S legislation is necessary and, on the whole not too restrictive. The majority of problems stem from the multitude of spineless morons overapplying what are generally sensible, flexible rules because they lack common sense and are too busy covering their own arses.

I might be wrong here as it's been a while since I worked in this area, but I'm not sure using a H&S consultant puts the onus on the consultant. It is the employer that is liable for the H&S of its workforce at the end of the day.

 

[gareth jones]

I'm thinking of completing the following course:

NEBOSH accredited National General Certificate in occupational Safety and Health

Has anyone done it, is it worth whilst ??

I am en Electrical Contractor employing approx 20 Electricians and office staff and I am starting to big up some big contracts. I currently employ H&S Consultants but I'm not too happy with what they do and would also like to get better in house H&S.

Have done the Nebosh General Certificate, as this level is the minimum in my work. It would be worth one person at least in a firm of your size having this (and as you point out you currently employ and outside consultant, they would possibly have the Diploma). It is also good for your company's image/ compliance depending on the contracts you are looking at (especially oil/gas etc.)

The Nebosh is suprisingly hard, I have done all the usual cards + specialist ones for oil+gas and rail. I studied hard for months, the exams lasted a day and yhere is no multichoice (so the answers are not in front of you) and it involves alot of knowledge. There is also a workplace report. By far one of the hardest things I've done, but it makes the CSCS, LUCAS etc. look like a total joke (is it even possible to fail these??)

If anyone else needs info on the Nebosh, get in touch, also contemplating the Diploma (degree level), but that is really hard, may just carry on with my degree in pure maths- it's easier!