ILA scotland £200 - what course

pearsgb · Jul 15, 2012

Hi folks, received good advice last time regarding renewal of an old grading card so hoping for further help.

I have a £200 ILA scotland account and was intending on using this for ECS or 17th Edition wiring regs however impatience got the better of me and i sat ECS on friday and have my 17th on the 26th July both through SELECT.

Basically wondering (as i have been off site for a while now) what you guys in the know recommend putting the £200 towards to add more strings to my bow and picking up work. IPAF, PASMA or Asbestos Awareness etc, what is considered useful at the moment?

Also am i right in thinking the 17th Edition wiring Regs is also different to the Inspection and Testing course and is either acceptable? I see this is £180 at Select as well but i would ideally want to use my ILA.

Thanks

Greg

72-van · May 25, 2013

Can anyone tell me if the ecs course can be funded by ila

many thanks

grantr37 · May 25, 2013

72-van said:
Can anyone tell me if the ecs course can be funded by ila

many thanks

In Glasgow or Fife you can do the ECS and CSCS cards, they are not too dear and if you are not earning a lot then the unemployment can help out with bus tickets and something up to I think 100 pounds for a ticket if they think you need it to get through the building site gates to work....

The very best thing to spend an ILA on just now if you don't have it already is the IPAF card, as 95% of jobs are asking for it now as a "must have" without which they bin your CV/letter.....even if they don't need it as they don't have any scaffolds or scissor lifts on site, they still want it just in case...a lot of the work just now is on high ceiling shops and on new Schools, University buildings, Hospitals,etc....they are all asking for this...

either IPAF or PASMA, and when you get working again then you can do a first Aid course and people also like the fire warden ticket and the abrasive wheels....

I know of a company with an office in Glasgow which does special abrasive wheels and drills, gas nailgun and tool repair day courses, they also sell their tools around sites and like to come onto sites to do training...they don't charge workers on site and only charge for enough to cover petrol and food to the company...they issue a photocard that says competent to use and maintain x y and z power tools...

I know of a fantastic company in Glasgow that do the scissorlift and alloy towers courses (IPAF and PASMA) and they are not expensive compared to the other ones so your ILA200 covers it, they are a scaffold and scissorlift manufacturer that designs, makes and exports worldwide, top well known name.....when the Health and safety or the government want to know something about scaffolds they ask them.....when the name of the training centre gets seen by HSE/recruiters on the card it is well received...
It is a whole day course with snacks and tea/coffee/juice included and there is access to the company canteen as well, there is a carpark there and it is not far from the underground and also bus routes from Buchanan street Station.
I will PM you the name of the company and how to get there if you want...

If you aren't working just now I can keep an eye open for you in a few different places to see what comes up and if any jobs appear I will let you know...

grantr37 · May 25, 2013

the Colleges in Fife and Glasgow do a discounted rate (about 40% off) for unemployed people as well on the 17th edition and the 2377 in case anybody there is interested...

72-van · May 28, 2013

Thanks Grant37 for that info , yet again i find myself on the rock n roll , The Ila thing i was going to try and use it to get that ecs card (bearing in mind i am Not a spark) but have spent a fair bit of time doing pat .

You have got me thinking about the pasma ticket and perhaps the ila might be better used towards that .I got the paperwork through yesterday and should get it sent of thursday afternoon.

Thanks again

dan86 · May 28, 2013

Don't use it for work.you're getting 200 quid for nowt to spend on a course of your choosing. do a course that you wouldn't normally do and learn a new skill.
I'm sure in the small print from ILA it states you can't use it for work anyway...

grantr37 · Jun 2, 2013

72-van said:
Thanks Grant37 for that info , yet again i find myself on the rock n roll , The Ila thing i was going to try and use it to get that ecs card (bearing in mind i am Not a spark) but have spent a fair bit of time doing pat .

You have got me thinking about the pasma ticket and perhaps the ila might be better used towards that .I got the paperwork through yesterday and should get it sent of thursday afternoon.

Thanks again

you can use it for the pasma easily, for glasgow theres a company that deals with the pasma and they are on the ILA website and are good, the training centre is only about 4 miles from the city centre at a scaffolding factory....

there are lots of other courses on the ILA website as well, if you are looking to do any in Glasgow there are very cheap digs in the town centre for overnights to do courses at the colleges and training centres...

I have a friend who runs a hotel, I may be able to elbow them and get you a couple of free nights BD&B there if you are stuck, which I know that the money runs away when you end up in the dusty bowl...
the Underground runs from beside that place to 200m from the training centre and is cheap, and the buses to glasgow are cheap if you book them... theres maybe some work in Glasgow for you if you are willing to work away from home, I know its difficult to work away in digs as I have had to do it a few times...
I can try to get you some pat testing work in Glasgow, but you would need to do that at weekends and work on a site during the week as theres not enough pat for full time work these days...there is office maintenance now and then, mostly through agencies, the money is quite good but it is random shift offerings mainly on friday nights and saturday afternoons...

let me know if you need a hand with anything...

grantr37

grantr37 · Jun 3, 2013

72-van said:
Thanks Grant37 for that info , yet again i find myself on the rock n roll , The Ila thing i was going to try and use it to get that ecs card (bearing in mind i am Not a spark) but have spent a fair bit of time doing pat .

You have got me thinking about the pasma ticket and perhaps the ila might be better used towards that .I got the paperwork through yesterday and should get it sent of thursday afternoon.

Thanks again