New supervisor training standard announced

The UK Contractors Group has revealed a new supervisor training standard, to come into effect from 1 January 2010.

Stephen Ratcliffe, director of UKCG, said the group had recognised the need to tighten up the competence of supervisors to improve on health and safety performance.

"This standard is the means by which members will tackle the issue," he said.

Member companies of the group, which represents 29 leading contractors, will adopt the new standard to ensure that supervisors working on their sites can demonstrate the necessary knowledge and skills to supervise their workers.

Ratcliffe said there were a number of training courses available to deliver the training required by the standard. But he added: "It is not our intention to recognise or accredit particular courses. It will be down to individual members to decide on appropriate training. What we have done today is announce a common standard which all our members will adopt."

The new training standard will require that supervisors can demonstrate the following two criteria.

• That they have sufficient knowledge of health and safety gained at a construction specific course of at least two days duration.
• That they have sufficient skills to be an effective supervisor of their workers. They will need to demonstrate having attended training which includes an understanding of behavioural issues, leadership and effective intervention skills. This training must include delivering effective presentations (e.g. tool box talks), role-play, have a form of testing, and successful candidates must be issued with a certificate to demonstrate a suitable standard has been achieved.