[/COLOR]goodfell
With regard to the Scaffold Inspection Course, I know exactly where your coming from and this Topic has been discussed on other Posts, if Suits are passing the Course that indicates to me that the Course Curriculum is not testing enough---in your view did the Course content cover enough in depth issues ?---or was it to easy ?
Garry...
It doesn't really matter how difficult the course content is, because when the test at the end comes, if you can refer to the paperwork that you've been given during the course for the answers, no one can/should fail.
This is what happened on the Advanced Inspection course that i did a couple of years ago. I've been in the game since the late Seventies and don't claim to know everything about the erection and use of scaffolding, but i do know more than some of the QS's and Architect's that were on the course with me.
Come the test however, and the instructor encouraged the use of the handed out documentation to answer the questions. Most on the course opened the folder and proceeded to copy the answers as required.
Sadly, only myself and one other (another long time Scaffolder), answered the questions from memory. We both passed - but so did all the others of course !
The instructor explained to the group that they almost always got 100% pass rate, i wonder why ??
Obviously they are doing this to help 'sell' their services to companies trying to get this training for their employees, but it completely de-values the training and has serious consequences for the guys working on the scaffolds that they are supposed to be inspecting and signing off.
I completely fail to understand the 'dumming down' of training in the Scaffolding industry. It appears that overseas 'Scaffolders' can arrive on these shore's and after minimal training, be trusted to become fully fledged Scaffolders. Middle and senior management can become Advanced Scaffolding Inspectors by parting with a few hundred quid and copying the answers to the final test from a folder, whilst all the time the HSE people (of whom i am also one), bleat on about falls from height being a major cause of accidents in this country.
Every time that i hear about a Scaffold collapse, i think of the failure that must have happened at some point in the Scaffolds design, erection, use or dismantling, to cause that collapse to occur. Other than in very, very extreme weather conditions, the fault lies with someone involved with the supply or use of the Scaffolding in the first place and if we as a country allow poorly trained people to erect the stuff and fraudulently trained 'managers-of-something-else' to inspect and advise on the stuff, we are only going backwards in the industry - and remember, as the dumming down of standards occur, you will all find a general dumming down of your wage packets occuring. Anyone noticed that ?
Please note, that the above does not apply to all in the industry and there are some 'top notch' comanies out there, but it does apply to a great number of them and i'm sure that most of you have come across them over the years.
End of the rant for today. Stay safe and don't become a statistic for the wrong reasons.
Cheers J[/QUOTE]
These comments also apply to part 1 and 2 courses,during the written test at the end answers are basically available for candidates to copy or tell each other. Absolute joke when your paying £900 for each course.The instrutors are not really interested,and this results in some candidates passing part 2 with out any real knowledge or experince of the job!
