Entrance Systems Alliance (ESA) advocates its NVQ for a competent workforce The Construction Skills Certification Scheme (CSCS) has announced that it will be withdrawing the Industry Accreditation/Grandfather Rights route to a CSCS card from 31st December 2024; in so doing, all cards issued under Industry Accreditation/Grandfather Rights will expire then; only those that have completed a competence-based assessment (NVQ) will be able to renew their Skilled Worker card that allows them to work independently on a construction site. With this in mind, ESA is recommending that all employers identify which of their workers need to complete an appropriate qualification ahead of the deadline and put a plan in place now to enable them to achieve this. “Following the Grenfell Tower fire tragedy in which 72 people lost their lives, Dame Judith Hackitt’s report identified ‘competence’ within the workforce as a key issue for the construction industry, and the demand from the Construction Leadership Council (CLC) for a qualified and competent workforce has led to the withdrawal of Construction Related Occupation (CRO) CSCS cards,” explains dhf’s Commercial Director, Patricia SowsberyStevens. “There are more than 60,000 Industry Accreditation cardholders across the industry who will be required to act if they wish to renew their card. As such, they need to complete a relevant NVQ.” When the Building Safety Act 2022 became law in April last year, it set new requirements for the competence to be demonstrated and for duty holders to be able to evidence this of their workforce. The Building Act 1984 was also amended to allow competence requirements to be imposed on relevant persons by building regulations. Through the work of Working Group 12 (WG12), four pillars of competence, which have been defined as skill, knowledge, experience, and behaviour (SKEB) should be mapped and measured against the requirements of a given function on a competency framework. This will provide a comprehensive assessment of an individual’s competence for that function and level of responsibility and/or accountability. The NVQ (National Vocational Qualification) is competencebased, built on national occupational standards, and meets the requirements of the four pillars. It is a statement of performance that describes what competent people in an occupation are expected to be able to do. It helps ‘fill the skills gap’ and will be the only route to obtaining the Blue Skilled Worker CSCS card which enables workers to work independently on a construction site. “ESA has identified that a considerable amount of the industry is unclear of what is involved with completing an NVQ. Some believe that it could take their workforce off jobs for nearly twelve months when this is not the case,” adds Patricia, “with that in mind, dhf and ADSA are, later this year, coming together to host a webinar that member companies of either trade association can attend, free of charge. It will provide clarity on the expected changes in the Building Safety Act, what a competency framework looks like, information on the Joint Competency Initiative for the Building Envelope Sector, and of course, planning for the future; what the company could be doing now so their workforce can continue to work independently on site. The webinar will touch on how ESA, ADSA and dhf can help you develop a competent workforce, through, for example, training, and apprenticeships, but it is not a selling platform, it is to help members of both associations get clarity by providing a straightforward message. If this proves popular, we will host more over a set period of time.” ESA continues to work with the industry-leading NVQ Assessors and IQAs (Internal Quality Assessors) and uses the leading NVQ awarding body, NOCN (National Open College Network) to offer a clearly defined route towards professional qualifications for those employed in these industries. “ESA believes that assessing the candidate on-site and gathering evidence first-hand provides a more thorough assessment compared with online assessment,” concludes ADSA Managing Director, Ken Price. “This is due to the potential risk of injury or death if doors, gates, and shutters are not properly installed or maintained. We continue to work to ensure that the very highest standards are met concerning industry training and compliance. The icing on the cake is the CSCS card. Each one is specific to the requirement and provides proof that individuals working independently on construction sites have the appropriate training and qualifications for the job that they are doing.” For further information about ESA and the Door, Gate and Shutter Systems - Installation and Maintenance NVQ, please visit www.esa.uk.com , call 01827 338323 or email nvqtraining@esa.uk.com Also online at: www.dijonline.co.uk 96 THE door industry journal summer 2023 Entrance, Internal, Sliding & Bi-folding Doors
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