Any more input on COMPEX courses? So many people ask for them yet it's no guarantee of work. I have a plethora of H&S quals & they keep asking for more. How the h*** are we supposed to take 5 days away from paid work AND spend £1K + for the privilege?
Oh yes - anyone else seen the agencies requesting Asbestos Awareness Certs that are NOT done online? The HSE state that they are happy with e-learning.
well this is an old thread but I see somebody has trekked through the jungle and found the temple, braved the flying spears and the giant stone balls....
Agencies are asking for Asbestos certificates that are done as a 4 hour college class (£170.00) and do not want the online ones done on the internet/in a college computer room (£35.00/ 45 mins) this is because they are all trying to get as much as possible to sell "their" services to construction companies, these construction companies recruitment and personnel departments are run by people in their early 20's who don't have a clue about the real world but they don't have to as they got given the keys for the office......
Health and safety have been going round sites asking for everybody's 3 day first aid, PASMA,IPAF, Plastic CSCS and ID documents such as a Passport, they also ask to see Driving Licences for those using mini rollers etc and CPCS cards for digger operators....
The workers who can't produce all their tickets in 10 minutes on the day asked for generate a moan at the head office of said construction company, and on re-visit they are asked again for their tickets....
I was working on a site about 3 years ago and was drilling a wall, it was quite noisy.....I got a fright and jumped back a bit when I stopped drilling as there was a man and a woman standing 4 feet away from me that I never noticed, the woman had a digital camera out and was taking photos of me drilling away....
woman said "you don't have ear defenders on" I pulled out my foam earplugs at that point, she then said "you should have downed tools when somebody is standing this close to you"....she then asked if I had my CSCS and Abrasive wheels ticket for using a drill, I said yes, she demanded them, all the while the bloke was stood next to her looking at me like I was daft...
I didn't have them at work, so she moaned at the office resulting in me having to bring them in the next day to get scanned and emailed.....then I was forced to sit with 2 others and watch a video about hand arm vibration and fill out forms.....
The construction companies can't be bothered with this hassle, and now that the HSE and others are expanding their graduate recruitment, the young ones (21-25 year olds)doing these jobs are excitedly flexing their authority muscles by giving construction workers a hard time, and the construction companies don't want to be bothered with them on site, so agencies are demanding all tickets....
A few years ago only a few people on site had to have first aid and just a few with PASMA to check off alloy tower scaffolds, now every worker has to have Asbestos certificates, PASMA, IPAF, 3day First Aid, manual handling, COSHH,Abrasive wheels just to get in the gate....
when you go to do these different things they are all geared towards companies paying employees through them, but very very few companies will do this these days...