Sprinkler News - Bafsa

Protecting Property, Life and the Environment Newsletter No 17 Page 20
Training/H+S
BASA Sprinkler Training Courses.
Over recent months, the BASA Training Committee has been developing plans to provide appropriate training for the sprinkler
industry in order to improve the status of the industry and those working in it.
We already offer training in the installation and commissioning of residential and domestic sprinkler installations which is approved
by FIRAS and bookings are welcome for this course (details can be obtained from the committee members below or
from Jeannette Baxter on 01296 630902).
We have had discussions with BRE / LPC regarding developing courses to prepare candidates for both the BRE ‘Basic Design
Competency Examinations’ and ‘FHC Competency Review Examination’ which will be specifically tailored to suit the
competency levels required for designers under the new LPS 1048 Issue 4 scheme. These courses
will be shortly available.
We recognise that it is not always practical for companies to release their designers for one or two week blocks to attend
training courses so we propose to structure them in the form of one / two day modules which will be held regionally to minimise
travelling andaccommodation costs.
BASA is planning to invite the BRE / LPCB to run examinations at these regional locations at the end of the courses so that
candidates can sit the examinations immediately following the course rather than wait for scheduled examination dates.
To assist the BASA Training Committee to finalise arrangements and tailor these courses to suit the needs of the
industry, we would ask you to complete the questionnaire (BASA/Training/Form) (which can be found on the next
page ) indicating the number of delegates your company would want to send on these courses and the course format
and locations that would best suit your needs.
Please return this questionnaire to the BASA for the attention of Julian Taylor.
The courses will be open to non-members on a space available basis.
If you have any questions on these proposals, please contact one of the following
members of the BASA Training Committee;-
Julian Taylor (Chairman) – Tel No: 01793 496624.
Martin Hartley - Tel No: 01384 376256.
BASA Training Courses (Syllabuses now in preparation)
LPS 1048 Issue 4—Basic 4 Basic design competency review
– Intermediate Design Competency Review
-- FHC design competency review
– FHC Inspection Competency Review
DD251 Residential & Domestic Design Standards
EN 12845 Design Standards
Special Risk Sys tems Design Standards
System Maintenance & Inspections
Building Control Officer is the latest occupation to join the Construction Skills Certification Scheme.
182 occupations are now covered by CSCS and 600,000 industry workers have now been awarded cards.
CSCS Plans Expansion of Skills Card
The CSCS review comes as it has emerged that the hotline to get a card has been jammed with calls. The Construction Industry
Training Board, which administers the scheme, is pleading with workers to apply for cards through its website.
Recruitment Difficulties Predicted at National Training Awards
‘The Government’s policy on higher education is simply wrong. We need more skilled craftsmen and women, more technicians
and associate professionals – not more graduates’. That was the sharp message of Chris Humphries, director general of City &
Guilds, at the presentation of the National Training Awards for the HVACR sector.
He warned that the number of people aged 16 to 19 entering the labour market in three years time will fall sharply in reaction to
the dramatic fall in the birth rate over the last 10 years. ‘If you thought it was hard to recruit young people into the buildingservices
industry now, just wait till their overall numbers are dropping by 40-50,000 a year from 2007 onwards’
Construction Falls Short of H&S Targets
The publication recently of the National Audit Office’s report into health and safety on building sites is a reminder of just how
far construction still has to go to make the improvements it committed itself to at the 2001 safety summit.
In 2000/1 sites deaths had reached a 10 year high and the previous December, five people had died in nine days. Prescott
waded in to demand that firms improve – or else. The industry responded with a pledge to reduce injuries 40% by 2005
and 66% by 2010.
With the first target a year away, there is a downward trend but is it just 5%. The most recent yearly statistics for 2002/03
registered a death toll of 71 – a fatality rate six times greater than any other industry
Falls from height still cause by far the greatest number of accidents rising from 33 in 2002/03 to 38 in the past year.
The provisional construction fatality figures will be verified by officials and published in July, before which the HSE is planning
another ‘blitz’ on building sites. The HSE plans to target falls from height, workplace transport and safe lifting