A Commentary on routes to competence in construction

1. A Commentary on routes to competence in construction Miranda Pye & James Legard, Pye Tait Consulting

2. BACKGROUND

3. Why Competence? • Health & safety record of construction industry • Large sector employing 1.5m+ • Relatively high accident/ill-health/injury rates • Sector accounts for high proportion of UK work-related deaths and serious injuries • Construction and HSE’s Revitalising Health and Safety • High-level Construction Safety Summit 2001 • Set stringent targets for improvements to construction H&S performance over ten-year period to 2009/10 • All agreed that competence is key to improvement

4. Commitment to Competence • Major stakeholders agreed target of fully competent workforce by 2010 at latest • 3 mechanisms to achieving a competent workforce: • Increase scope, availability and uptake of competence-based standards (NOS) and qualifications (S/NVQs) • Improve processes for documenting demonstrated competence through industry ‘card’ schemes • Regulation – CDM 2007 & ACoP: legal duty on employers, clients and other stakeholders to ensure construction tasks undertaken by ‘competent’ individuals

5. THE STUDY

6. Research Rationale • 2010 marked the end of the Revitalising targets period for improved health and safety performance in the construction industry • HSE decided it was timely to commission research on routes to competence in the construction workforce and the drivers for improvement, including: • NOS and NVQs • Card schemes • CDM 2007 and ACoP

7. Scope: Routes to Competence • A separate, formal evaluation of CDM 2007 and ACoP is currently being undertaken • This project looked at how ‘competence’ is evidenced: • Primary evidence by NOS & nationally recognised qualifications • Secondary evidence by Card Schemes, etc • Taken together, these represent the main ‘routes to competence’ in the construction sector

8. Aims of the Study • It aimed to: • Explore how the construction industry recognises competence in its site-based workforce • Assess progress made in developing and recognising competence since 2000 • And to use this information to: • Identify potential issues for H&S performance • Consider how such issues could be addressed

9. Methodology 2010 • Scoping research – key players (50+) • Recent/ influential H&S academic and grey literature • In-depth research (100+ organisations)

10. STANDARDS & QUALIFICATIONS

11. Competence in NOS & S/NVQs • ‘Competence’ models and approaches • ‘Narrow’ vs ‘broad’ • ‘Inputs’ vs ‘Outcomes’ • NOS and S/NVQs tend towards a limited ‘outcomes’ approach, focussed on ‘job competence’ • Research found a widely used definition of competence in construction: • ‘Occupational competence’ - an S/NVQ • ‘Health and safety awareness’ verified by test

12. Construction NOS and S/NVQs • SSCs and Awarding Bodies have worked hard to increase the number and range of relevant NOS and S/NVQs for the sector • We identified 120 full suites of NOS covering the full range of construction trades • This includes 1660 individual NOS units, covering specific occupational tasks and requirements • And, 460 SVQ & NVQ qualifications covering most construction trades/occupations

13. Take-up and penetration • Number of certificates awarded shows a rising trend in most construction trades selected for detailed study • Particularly strong take-up of plant operative NVQs:1,107 (2005) to 22,889 (2009) • Increasingly high level of NVQ penetration being achieved in most construction occupations • Penetration remains relatively lower in wood trades, bricklaying, painting and decorating and plastering • Manager/supervisor NVQs have lowest penetration

14. CARD & CERTIFICATION SCHEMES

15. Card Types • Three types of card/certification schemes: • Skills Cards • Safety Passports • Regulated schemes • These categories are not mutually exclusive, contain different sub-categories and have differing qualification, training, and H&S requirements

16. Card and Certification Schemes • Cards/schemes are available for almost all occupations • Research has identified 40 industry card and certification schemes • Taken together, more than 300 distinct levels and categories of card • Some 2.6 million cards in circulation for a non-professional workforce of c1.8 million

17. ‘Competence’ in Card Schemes • Of 313 cards for which information was obtained, only 12 were found to be uniquely available through qualification-only routes • Of the 183 cards for which detailed information was provided: • 19 make no reference to H&S • 87 mention H&S but have no special requirements • 5 embed H&S in an associated qualification • 72 have some specific requirement, e.g. Safety test

18. Skills, Competence, Certification and Registration in Construction and Related Industries

19. Card Penetration • Penetration levels vary significantly in different occupations • Penetration is highest (102 valid cards per 100 workers) in managerial and supervisory roles • Penetration is high (average 98 cards per 100 workers) in a range of occupations including Plant Operatives and Scaffolders • However, penetration appears low (35 cards per 100 workers) in wood trades, bricklaying, painting & decorating, and plastering

20. Construction Health & Safety

21. Construction Fatality Incidence Rate of decline in fatality incidence over the past 10 years

22. Occupational Disease Occupational Disease – Construction & All Industries Compared 2005-2007

23. Implications • Declining incident rates for fatalities and serious injuries • The improving trends are incremental but showing signs of plateauing • Improvements are broadly parallel with those in other industries, but construction industry - • Has not met its own industry targets for improvement • Remains one of the highest risk sectors

24. INDUSTRY PROGRESS TO DATE

25. Achievements • Steady increases in numbers of workers with cards/registered with certification schemes • Greater number of construction competence-based NOS & nationally recognised qualifications in existence • Greatly increased take-up of competence-based qualifications in most building trades • Sustained incremental declines in fatality, major injury and 3+ day injuries, and declining trend in absolute number of fatalities

26. Issues (1) • Penetration of cards and qualifications remains low in several important trades/occupations • Research shows that the system of card/certification schemes is complex, confusing, and inconsistent, with variable and incompatible requirements • Large number of workers with cards which are not qualifications-based.

27. Issues (2) • Qualification take-up has lagged behind the number with cards/registered on certification schemes – particularly in site-based managers and supervisors • Improvements in H&S statistics, while sustained, have not shown evidence of the ‘step change’ needed

28. RECOMMENDATIONS

29. Cards – Towards transparency • Schemes need common standards of competence based on objective metrics • All cards issued only to those holding relevant nationally-recognised qualifications • Need for an independent body to accredit the schemes against the common standards

30. Competence in the Future • The primarily outcome-based ‘job competence’ approach is no longer sufficient to drive significant further improvements • Other comparable, high-risk industries implement ‘human factors’ • H&S legislation and literature requires consideration of ‘other qualities’ • Should accord equal importance to situational awareness

31. New Competence • Site supervisor/ manager - training as mentors • Sustaining of appropriate behaviours • Situational awareness

32. Today • Raise awareness of forthcoming strategic review of Construction Qualification Strategy • Consider the recommendations around New Competence and card registration authority • Report and presentation to be available at www.pyetait.com/construction