(NASC) National Access and Scaffolding Confederation

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The NASC is recognised as the national trade body for access and scaffolding in the UK, producing a wide range of industry guidance for scaffolding contractors, their operatives and their clients.

Founded in 1945 the NASC membership now accounts for a significant share of the UK's total industry workload and is increasingly making its mark in Europe. Our members operate from locations throughout the UK.

The NASC's operates a strict policy of full compliance to all new legislation and its own code of conduct. This separates us from the rest of the industry. Through our annual membership audit we ensure that our members uphold best practice as professionals. This means we do not look for shortcuts on safety, which could put lives at risk.

Few trade associations can claim to have achieved so much in such a short time. The NASC - The National Access & Scaffolding Confederation has been the established national representative employers organisation for the UK Access and Scaffolding Industry for more than 60 years.

In recent years the NASC has become a highly visible and vocal body on all major issues, and more representative of the industry as a whole. For many, both within the construction industry and the media, the NASC is now one of the leading trade associations.

The NASC provides its members and their clients with a wealth of professional advice including:

  • Health and Safety
  • Training & Recruitment
  • Hire, Sale and Manufacturing
  • Plant Security
  • Technical Standards
  • Quality Standards
  • Marketing
  • Contractual agreements
  • Insurance
All NASC members are required to abide by a strict code of conduct, which sets trading standards for the industry and which also requires them to provide the highest possible service. Many members of the Confederation offer a full service for larger and more complex structures and all members provide detailed calculations and working drawings, as well as on-site advice.

Access and Scaffolding is an important part of most contracts. Specifiers and contractors need the quality of service only NASC members can provide. Anything else is an unacceptable compromise. Consequently, many public and private organisations and an increasing number of local authorities are now specifying that the scaffolding contractors they employ must be members of the NASC.

The development and maintaining of best practice not only involves dialogue with our members but also includes regular consultation with some of the most important and influential organisations in the construction sector.

The NASC works regularly with all of the organisations (on the left) to strive for best practice and development in scaffolding that will remain in line with other construction industry stakeholder initiatives. Indeed many representatives from these organisations are permanent members of the NASC standing committees focusing on particular areas of best practice, for example Health and Safety or Technical issues.

http://www.nasc.org.uk/
 
Training issues

To whom it may concern

I will get straight to the point,I have been in the industry some twenty five years,now I am very concerned at the level of training new scaffolders coming into the industry having passed there part 2 scaffolding card have,only today I had to give a step by step instruction on how to plum a basic independent scaffold,now this young man has passed his part 1 and part two,having watched him for the last week in my mind this chap should not have a scaffolders card ,what does this say about our so called training colleges who passed him,another young lad approx 25 years old refused to erect a basic rope and wheel because he had never done one before,to me there is a real problem that is not being addressed,and again this lad holds a part two card,I am chargehand with an advance ticket doing my upmost on a tight program to push on with this contract ,is it only me who thinks there is a problem,these lads are the future of the industry!!
 
The future of Scaffolding at present is bleak, very very bleak...

The standard of Scaffolders is very poor.
The attitude of most Scaffolders is extremely bad.
The job is plagued with snides, jobswroths and grasses.
The 'so-called' Supervision/Management that currently work in Scaffolding is also poor.
Firms WILL NOT pay decent rates, for what this job entails.


In short, this game is dying and needs a MASSIVE overhaul and if it dont happen soon then we'll end having major problems all over the entire Construction Industry.
 
Think your last point was spot on Jason , if you want quality you have to pay for it. That said we know its rare for anyone to fail a scaffold course I used to work at a training centre in Nottingham and cannot remember anyone failing.
 
Not on my firm Jason , my lads all work hard earn well and are good at what they do i trust them to take the gear they need do a good job , and get on with it which they do , the problem with the training is young lads dont get enough one to one with old hands on site these days some of my lads have been with me for 17 years and came to me as 16 year old school leavers, i taught them what they know , i have sent them through the CITB courses when they where ready for it, to much emphasis on classroom work and not enough on site training.
None of my lads went to the CITB until they had done at least 2 years with me that includes my own son who is now just about ready to go at 18 , and he aint a bad little fixer already.
this game is far from dead mate and for those willing to work hard there is good money to be had.
 
i was beasted for 2 years before i went for my part 1 then raped for a further 18 month before part 2 what my cousin did to me is what every scaffolder should do, theres lads at my firm who are supposed to be part 2s and cant go above 3 lifts, one lad didnt even know how to strip transoms from a beam section, its a joke what are getting put through and its theses so called scaffolders at my firm who are earning more money than me because of this price work scheme and i get the tricky/big jobs and they get the easy **** plus i have to go round sorting jobs out makes my blood boil.... rant over
 
philliosmaximus said:
Not on my firm Jason , my lads all work hard earn well and are good at what they do i trust them to take the gear they need do a good job , and get on with it which they do , the problem with the training is young lads dont get enough one to one with old hands on site these days some of my lads have been with me for 17 years and came to me as 16 year old school leavers, i taught them what they know , i have sent them through the CITB courses when they where ready for it, to much emphasis on classroom work and not enough on site training.
None of my lads went to the CITB until they had done at least 2 years with me that includes my own son who is now just about ready to go at 18 , and he aint a bad little fixer already.
this game is far from dead mate and for those willing to work hard there is good money to be had.
Click to expand...

All true.

When I started in 1991 everyone was saying that the game was finished etc. etc. Now all anyone says is 'it's not what it was 20 years ago'. In 20 years time they'll be saying 'it's not what it was 20 years ago'!

And so it will go on...
 
the days of if you can do the job then do it have gone i know some realy good scaffolders with no tickets who have for got more then some advanced scaffolders know but as we all know it is down to what tickets you have, this is what is f--king up the scaffold game that and the rates are getting that s--t, you have to work your arse off sometimes to make a good living, at the minute there still seems to be a lot of work on down our way but i can not see the prices going any where near where they should be for a few years.
 
It's just my personal opinion, but the standard and levels of training for scaffolders has hit rockbottom.

We've had young lads with Part 1 cards that genuinely couldn't stand a 13ft tube upright, never mind hemp one. They have left us and sure enough 6-12 months later they still can't. Thing is, they come back with nice shiny Part 2 cards.

We also had a local training company call into our office a few months ago. The guy was offering free PASMA (alloy tower) training.
We thought we would take him up on his offer as it can come in handy from time to time. We told him we would put 12 lads through the training. His face lit up, apparently they get £1500 of government (mine and your cash) for everyone they get to pass the course.

He told us the lads would need to do an initial english and maths exam to see if we qualified. I asked if it would help to be clever or stupid but he wouldn't let on.
If successful, we had to get an alloy tower and either a stepladder, trestles or a ladder.
Their assessor would then train us for three days over three months. Then we would do the PASMA course (over 2 days) then a month after that if successful we would be given our PASMA cards and a NVQ in site material logistics.

We explained to the guy that PASMA is a half day course. He agreed but said they only got their cash if there was an NVQ involved.

It is complete bollox that virtually all training these days involves NVQ's. It is a little known fact that you can actually get an NVQ in carwashing.

Is it any wonder kids are leaving school with little enthusiasm for their future?

If I'm honest, writing this has actually p1ssed me off. The whole situation is doomed to end in failure
 
My point exactly Dass, keep them in the yard on the rope and wheel if they last a year at that then they are worth pushing on. You cant and never will beat hands on training and experience in our game, i only put the lads through the CITB because they need a ticket , not for what they learn there.
 
philliosmaximus said:
Not on my firm Jason , my lads all work hard earn well and are good at what they do i trust them to take the gear they need do a good job , and get on with it which they do , the problem with the training is young lads dont get enough one to one with old hands on site these days some of my lads have been with me for 17 years and came to me as 16 year old school leavers, i taught them what they know , i have sent them through the CITB courses when they where ready for it, to much emphasis on classroom work and not enough on site training.
None of my lads went to the CITB until they had done at least 2 years with me that includes my own son who is now just about ready to go at 18 , and he aint a bad little fixer already.
this game is far from dead mate and for those willing to work hard there is good money to be had.
Click to expand...

Your firm must be the only one out there then mate.
Ive worked with so many blokes who simply turn up and expect a wage to fall in their laps... and if people are truly honest here, they have too.

Im not saying im perfect, im not - far from it, but theres a huge amount of poor Scaffolders out there and its nothing to do with 'skill' or ability.
Its about pride and effort. - Which no amount of tickets can teach you... you have to learn and have to have a hunger to wanna improve and better yourself.

So many ive worked dont have that drive and its partly what is killing this game. That and shiite wages, piss taking firms and over the top Health and Safety.


I worked with a bloke the other day, an 'old hand'. He point blank refuses to use a tape measure and he based out an 8ft Tower. Well lets just say, it was a f.ucking abortion and all the boards had to be notched and the Ledger had to be hung off swivels and all sorts for the Tower to even go up half straight. :eek:
Hes attitude was: "F.uck it, the Queen aint gonna see it!", which pissed me right off.

Then this morning, hes been asked to become the Tag-Man for this job and within minuted hes saying that all jobs need to go up to a decent standard and need to done perfect, as now HE HAS TO SIGN THEM OFF.

Piss taking c.unt, if you ask me and i nearly called him it. :mad:


Its blokes like him that are f.ucking this game up and theres countless more like him.

Useless, selfish, lazy, bone idle, slimey, grassing c.unts.
Breaks me heart, tbh.
 
He aint an old hand mate he is a idiot and always will be , i have met lads with the all seeing all doing tickets that couldn't tie their shoelaces together, my point is the training needed for our game is "on site" not in a class room learning NVQs but from an experienced older lad who has time to teach the young guns how to do it properly and show him why things do and dont work
 
But you cant prove that you have had 20 years experience, without some kind of qualifications... If there was no such thing as tickets, i could be 40 and blagg that id been Scaffolding for 20+ years, because of my age.


F.uck me, how many blaggers are out there???
Hundreds... thousands...

How easy is it to 'look the part', and be totally shiite?
Have all the tattoos, 'done bird', give it all the larry large and be a complete w@nker?

Pretty easy really.



Tickets dont make a Scaffolder.
Effort, pride and passion to push yourself and learn as much as you can and do your job to the best of your ability EVERYDAY, is what makes you good at something.

But, tickets are needed because without them, any numpty with a skin head and a few scars can say: "Im a Scaffolder".


Crap Scaffolders with tickets is also partly down to the CITB, using and CISRS System as a massive money making machine, with its revolving door 'colleges', that churn out apparent Scaffolders for cash.

Its something that needs addressing at the highest level. But it wont, because life is corrupt and the HSE is also corrupt and it would lose too much money, if it took the time to train and guide people properly in the ways of Scaffolding.
 
of course you need a ticket system as proof of experience as with anything , because you got a driving licence dont make you a good driver , but scaffolding should be based on an experienced based system , when i done my advanced i could not believe the standard of lads on the course, some of them where complete and utter t ossers that couldnt earn there breakfast. I learnt my trade the hard way from old hand street lads that could tackle anything given to them without ever being to any training collage. Now its all RAMs and Titanium spanners and designed scaffolds, NVQs and safety men .
 
J why are you so bothered about other peoples scaffolds and attitudes?
scaffolding has always been the same, full of chancers and excellent scaffolders, just let them get on with it and you get on with what you're paid to do, you only need to take pride in your own work, when you do this the good name will follow wherever you go and likewise the bad name will follow others.
why did you want to be a scaffolder? heard all the rumours saw the big boys in the pub plenty of cash liked a bit of a rumble i could go on and on,
As phil 181 said in twenty year time the youth will be saying the same about you and others alike an so on,

lighten up pal unless you have to sign the jobs off or you have to manage them FUKC THEM, and enjoy the best game in the world;)
 
scaffjim said:
To whom it may concern

I will get straight to the point,I have been in the industry some twenty five years,now I am very concerned at the level of training new scaffolders coming into the industry having passed there part 2 scaffolding card have,only today I had to give a step by step instruction on how to plum a basic independent scaffold,now this young man has passed his part 1 and part two,having watched him for the last week in my mind this chap should not have a scaffolders card ,what does this say about our so called training colleges who passed him,another young lad approx 25 years old refused to erect a basic rope and wheel because he had never done one before,to me there is a real problem that is not being addressed,and again this lad holds a part two card,I am chargehand with an advance ticket doing my upmost on a tight program to push on with this contract ,is it only me who thinks there is a problem,these lads are the future of the industry!!
Click to expand...

All good points boy's and good to see this get brought to light. Jim, I would genuinely be interested to hear what centre he came from?
 
So did i mate.
I started off on TRAD Scaffolding, after starting there as a 'tea-boy' come trainee Engineer @16, to be banished on site by that tw@t Des Moore @17.

I was then screamed at for about 2 years and beasted, till i couldn't take any more and i left. @ 19 and a Part 1 later.

@ 24 i got my Part 2, after 3 year of being a fixer and 2 years as a chargehand, then i got my Advanced @ 27, after being a chargehand, since i was 22.


Is 27 too young to be an Advanced Scaffolder?
Maybe it is, but without those tickets my kids would be going hungry for Christmas and id be f.ucked for work. I cant have that...

I still stand by my remarks that if you cant put a Scaffold up, its because you dont want to and cant be bothered to put in the effort to learn and improve.

Scaffolding is easy... its the people we work with (whether it be other Scaffolders, Managers, Site Agents or Safety Inspectors) that make it hard. :)
 
It is mate.
100% agree.

Some people treat life with more respect then others and some take life for granted. Just like Scaffolding. :)
 
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