Hi Tony
God...it was so long ago now!!
I spent 12 years on the tools as mentioned the final 6 with SGB at Nottingham (Alas now gone) I started as a Part 1 scaffolder working in a gang and after Part 2 running my own gang, I did my Advanced and worked my way up to Foreman Scaffolder running projects for them with upwards of 20 men. Foreman Scaffolder in my opinion is the hardest job out of Management because your not "One of the lads" but your not Management either so its a balancing act. I was promoted to Supervisor which basically means you start at the bottom of the ladder again...skills and monetary wise!! As I was with SGB training was not an issue and they had in house Supervisors courses which covered Labour Management, Transportation, Material Utilisation and very heavily on Health, Safety & Welfare issues including preparing Risk Assessments & Method Statements and not forgetting Employment Law.
These courses are run at places like Safety in Access etc now, there is also a host of courses that are CITB grant aided like Site Supervisory Safety, Asbestos Management, SMSTS (A very good course which gives you an insight into all site ops not just scaffolding) Working at Height, Harness Inspection, the list goes on!! But the afore mentioned I would say was needed as a minimum.
I would say that the Supervisor has probably got the hardest job on the Management side, one of the hardest things is being accepted by lads that you used to work along side on the coal face so to speak, I personally enjoyed it but wanted more and was promoted to Contracts Manager after 2 years as a Supervisor but there are others who stay at that level as they are happy there.
In summary I'm saying it wasnt easy, the grass always looks greener, I remember my Supervisors used to basically swan on site, have a look round, have a cuppa with you, ask you if all was well and then p*ss off!! I used to think...I'll have some of that!! but when you get there its a different enviroment all together, the responsibilty put upon you is just tremendous and many fall by the wayside.
If that is what you have in mind for the future then go for it! Its better to have tried and failed than never to have tried at all.
