Required qualifications for technicians.

[nothingatall666]

In a world that proving your competence is required by a 'official document' I'm looking in to the certificates that professionals working in the industry think the ideal tech should hold, the tech can be from any department.

This can also include training (risk assessment training, leadership skills training).

 

What certificates do you think that the ideal tech should have?

 

Emergency First Aid at Work

Scaffolding

PAT testing

Working at Height

Health & Safety in the Workplace

Noise at Work

 

 

Also, what providers would you choose?

I know there are places that refuse to recognise certificates from various providers.

[mac.calder]

A piece of paper indicating your competency as a rigger also helps (or is required in some countries - ie Australia)

[Brian]

Sorry, but pieces of paper do not prove your competency.

[Dave SA]

Agreed Brian.

[paulears]

My FAW has run out, and I don't currently hold any paperwork whatsoever. I'm quite happy with the situation. I'm slightly anti certification via bits of paper because I really cannot remember the last time I did a course that wasn't just turn up, go through the motions, have a certificate based. The last time I really learned something new and truly useful was a long time ago.

[woody2]

My FAW has run out, and I don't currently hold any paperwork whatsoever. I'm quite happy with the situation. I'm slightly anti certification via bits of paper because I really cannot remember the last time I did a course that wasn't just turn up, go through the motions, have a certificate based. The last time I really learned something new and truly useful was a long time ago.

 

have to agree,the only qualifications you need is experience and common sence

[Yorkie]

Does it not depend on what level you are working at?

 

When a self-employed individual is subcontracted as part of a larger crew, he will generally be used based on his experience. The overall client though may want to see First Aid, H&S etc in the organisation they are employing; this places implications on medium sized companies that use freelancers.

 

As a self-employed tradesman, obviously I am still bound by H&SaW etc but sending myself on First Aid courses etc may not further my business unless I want to work for large clients who would generally not employ a sole trader anyway.

[Maddison]

Sorry, but pieces of paper do not prove your competency.

 

I agree with you.

 

But.

 

Many do show that, providing the training has been provided correctly (a fairly sizeable caveat), you should be aware of the correct procedure for operation of machines/ assembly of tower / method of work etc. And that means that if acting dangerously, the trained person in question should have known better.

[dmoffat]

What is a Noise at Work Certificate?

[jonathanhill]

Competancy to use hammers and impact drivers?

[Simon Lewis]

I'm uneasy with the shift towards "certificates" (usually from short, low level training sessions) being used to imply the holder has competence in a given area, or, more commonly - to imply that a non certificate holder is incompetent..

 

I'm also aware that there is a need to demonstrate knowledge, ability, skill, understanding, training and qualification in given areas.

 

I would like to think that common sense is prevalent in the workforce, but in the broader understanding of the term, common sense is a shared, self preservation instinct, and as such the term seems inadequate for the many specialised activities we often engage in.

 

I suspect that in some fields the term competent will be quietly replaced by "qualified", and that the qualification will be a mix of successive low to medium level training and education courses, linked to work experience or apprenticeship schemes (think of plumbing / electrical trades for example). It is perhaps understandable that such approaches are being taken, but it does lead eventually to only those who have been through the "approved qualification" (and probably part of a paid for test scheme) being deemed competent.

 

I often have a discussion on this topic with students, and we usually end up with the conclusion that you need only the training or qualification that allows you to do your employer's or your own work safely and effectively, in accordance with the law and the company's undertakings.

 

Collecting a whole host of training course certificates (some of which are sadly worth very little) costs a fortune and doesn't demonstrate competence - especially if the activity is rarely practiced by the individual.

 

It's unlikely that everyone will agree on a universal technician qualification, and unless there is a kind of closed shop scenario (gas fitters etc.) it's hard to see how one would work.

 

Just my 2p...

 

Simon

[TomWeston]

The last time I really learned something new and truly useful was a long time ago.

 

Allthough I agree with you on the anti certificate situation and that competency should not be based on them, I do believe that you are/should be forever learning.

 

the industry is always changing and moving in new directions, and you can NEVER know too much pointless info.

[the kid]

I have 3 of them from the list, and to be honest as I am young I find it is useful to get various certificates (paid for by work) as it makes the CV look good, and I do find I learn new things.

 

We do also have a H&S guy who is frustratingly ###### hot on people without tickets using kit (very long story)

 

I am planning a PASMA course in January as I don't have the magical piece of paper that will let me go up it at work. On that course I hope to learn how to build a tower (having only been taught when I was in school) and possibly some useful WaH info.

[Andrew C]

I've ticked Scaff, assuming you mean PASMA or equivalent.

[kerry davies]

Andrew highlights the difficulty right there. A half-day PASMA course does not a scaffolder make. Scaff tickets come in three levels and require significant on-the-job experience which makes them competent (training & practice & skill).

 

I do not hold an IPAF but once did a week long training on several truck-based platforms, had a Transit with a Simon Snorkel based at home for three years and spent them supervising overhead work and training others on a daily basis. I am not allowed to use a MEWP in most workplaces. I am well out of practice on forklifts, being again trained for a week before tickets were invented, but having watched a trainer hand out telehandler tickets after a half-day on a straightmast have little faith in tickets.

 

I disagree with Simon and believe some form of apprenticeship type vocational training on-the-job is the way forward. There must be a better way to ensure basic training is allied with practice so that qualification can become competence. That was the beauty of apprenticeship, it allowed non-productive, hands-on practice without the pressure of profit-making results. It gave time to emphasise the indirect things like housekeeping and correct use of equipment, using method as the focus rather than productive output. Bring back block release.

 

Some tickets, like GasSafe, are essential but some are simply means for trainers to earn and employers to tick boxes, and I speak as a trainer! The current situation however means that tickets are necessary starting points. They do not and never will ensure competence but are at least better than pure theory. FWIW I advise young people to get FAW, PASMA, IPAF and a basic H&S ticket to enable them to get the work allowing these to be practised so they can become competent.

 

I also disagree with Paul , I know he learns because he has said so here often enough. Everyone with half a brain continues learning, except maybe Buddha. Some discussion of how we got to this position from one where time-served plumbers and electricians used to run theatre lighting could be useful.