The Management of Personnel Achievements and Qualifications in House Building
March 2015
The example below indicates how the client portal can operate within PIMSS allowing the client and the sub contractor to share health and safety information between them for mutual benefit
Introduction
There is always one industry that highlights the issues of managing personnel qualifications and that is construction. To emphasise these issues I would like to talk about the affect this has within the house building sector.
Problems with the current approach
House builders have an array of information to collate and check during the build program. One of the most important areas is Health & Safety. The amount of correspondence and verification required by office and site personnel is staggering and costly.
Following on from the recession contractors made cuts in key areas. Unfortunately, H&S was one of those areas. Subcontractors see the administration of operative qualifications and cards as onerous and none productive. In the majority of cases the number of qualified operatives on construction sites carrying out site operations outside their scope has increased dramatically over the last year, to an extent that a number of sites have had prohibition orders placed on them purely because site operatives have incorrect qualifications.
If the sub contractor does not have an adequate training/qualification record system, it is likely that the information held for the workforce is out of date and some training/qualification records may be missing altogether. Locating information regarding employees is difficult and time consuming. Information regarding employees is generally stored within a payroll package that is inaccessible to the vast majority of staff within the organisation. H&S information is usually collated in spreadsheets.
The sub contractor will not be able to easily provide training records for their employees. Any records that are kept are generally photo copies of cards and certificates. These could easily be forged and can be ineligible. The sub contractor’s records become unreliable.
Insurance premiums and cover can be affected if it has been found that house builders and subcontractor’s management, staff or operatives have been involved in incidents where the personnel have not been adequately qualified.
All the above have ramifications with regard to H&S. Directors are now liable and are being prosecuting for lack of integrated and well managed H&S systems when incidents occur.
Judith Hackitt, Chair of HSE said:
“HSE is not, and never will be, ‘the fun police.’ Our new strategy shows the way towards a common sense attitude to health and safety. As regulators, our approach to businesses will be proportionate to the risk they present and their approach to managing it."
"We are calling on employers and business owners to take the lead themselves in preventing the thousands of deaths every year which are caused by work – it is their moral and legal duty and it is good for the business.”
How Pimms could aid the house builder
A Health and qualifications management system which indicates best practice.
Up to date and correct information on all subcontractors and own workforce, qualifications accessed within seconds with a robust report section.
The house builder’s site management team will have instant information regarding the site workforce and their key skills and qualifications.
A key skills section
A health screening module if required
Reduced insurance liability and costs
Verification by photograph and signed off by subcontractor via constructionskills database mitigating fraudulent cards
Information viewed by any number of manager’s, office staff, health & safety department, H&S consultants
Reduced administration, time and costs, subcontractors upload relevant qualification on all workforce. No requirement for any input from the house builder
Apprentices and management training/qualifications can be held within the system throughout the training process
How Pimms could benefit the subcontractor
A personnel record system, which would house all personnel information regarding the employee including a key skills module.
The sub contractor will have a way to accurately record training records for each of its employees in a centralised system that can be access remotely and at any time of the day.
An employee’s training record can be maintained with little effort. The sub contractor can view an employees training record and progress with regard to any course, test or qualification.
A warning system that notifies the sub contractor of any employee’s course, test or qualification that is due to expire or that has expired.
Ensuring that the client provides a suitably qualified workforce at all times and adheres to all relevant legislation.
Card expiry reports
Employee training record reports
Employee training progress reports
Grant Reports
Qualification reports. E.g. All employees with a CSCS card or without a CSCS card
Search facilities. E.g. Search for an employee with a certain qualification – A first aider or an employee with a certain type of CPCS card
A timesheet module that can log the locations of their employees