UK Scaffolders have been furiously protesting against plans for a mandatory Continuing Professional Development course, a new condition for obtaining their Advanced Scaffolder cards
A petition has been setup by Simon Vassalo to complain about the forced imposition of this course which has attracted 1,658 supporters and in only five days. He is also concerned about the extra cost to workers and you can see the petition here at change.org which was started on 6th July 2016.
The course, which is being brought on from June 2017 will require attendees to pay around £500 and will last for 2 days. You can read the thoughts of some scaffolders on scaffoldersforum.com and on SaffMag Facebook forum page which shows similar comments about the CPD plans.
The Construction Industry Scaffolders Record Scheme (CISRS) announced the plan in early June 2016 which will impose the compulsory CPD scheme. It reported in the Roofing Today Bulletin, after HSE had urged them to formalise the existing CPD to ensure the scaffolding industry’s were kept up to date with the latest safety requirements.
Says Simon Vassallo :
Enough is enough! All our scaffolding careers we having been paying for courses just to get work, everything from our scaffolding courses,safety passports, cscs touch screen tests, asbestos awareness training, the list goes on. Of course we do it, we all need the money & we all need to work. Read more here.
On July 14th 2016 CISRS Released this Statement on CPD :
There has been quite a reaction on social media since it was announced that CPD courses for Scaffolders will be introduced from summer 2017. CISRS has now set up specific CPD page on it’s website in a response to some of misinformation being circulated around the sector. Read more here.
Watch this space are there are developments around this issue daily!