New CPD refreshers raise concerns

From 1 July 2017, CISRS will be introducing a two-day Continuing Professional Development (CPD) course which will become a mandatory requirement prior to either a Scaffolder or Advanced Scaffolder card being renewed but there have been calls for more flexibility in how courses are delivered.

Industry sources told AccessPoint that safety must not be compromised but a more flexible approach to the way CPD scaffolding courses are delivered would be more effective. The course content is said to cover areas many scaffolders don’t require and that two days out of work is too long.

CISRS has said it is making changes to course content following two CPD refresher pilot courses which were held at NCC Midlands. Dave Mosley, CISRS scheme manager, said: “The pilot schemes have proved to be a huge success and have given us the opportunity to fine tune the two-day course content before the July roll-out.

UK Event Equipment Hire sector now worth around £600m

The event equipment hire market is forecast to increase by a further 2 per cent in 2017 to reach a value of around £600m according to a new report published by AMA Research. However, growth has been restricted by its highly competitive nature which has tended to increase pressure on prices.

The UK has a well-developed infrastructure of event destinations, venues and service suppliers, with estimates of around £40bn annual income from UK events, which provides good opportunities for the event equipment hire market. There is no universally accepted definition of the ‘event hire’ sector, but AMA’s definition includes the key product groups of staging & structures, portable buildings, audio-visual, power generation and climate control, interiors, traffic & crowd control, security, signage & portable access solutions and access & other plant hire.

It is difficult to quantify the product mix as no two events are alike, but it is estimated that the largest equipment hire sectors are ‘staging, structures & seating’ and ‘portable buildings & sanitation’ – with a combined share of around 50 per cent of the market according to AMA estimates.

Andrew Hartley, director of AMA Research, said: “Whilst future growth rates can be significantly affected by changes in the climate in any given year, the underlying rate of growth is set to be positive.”

Events that should have a positive impact on the market include the 2017 World Athletics Championship in London and the 2019 Cricket World Cup.

“Some had initially been sceptical due to comments made on social media and the internet about costs, duration and content. But having attended, [delegates] felt it was worthwhile and that they had been reminded of information they’d forgotten since they last attended a centre, whilst also being brought up to date on current industry guidance.”

Robert Candy, chief executive at the Scaffolding Association, said: “We welcome moves to make our industry safer. Our members have told us that they would like to see more continuous assessment as part of a comprehensive renewal process. We advocate regular training on an ongoing basis rather than two days every few years. The wider industry could then benefit from a move ultimately designed to make us all safer in our work.”

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Billions owed to UK’s top construction companies

More than £1 billion of cash is estimated to be owed to the UK’s top 12 construction companies according to analysis carried out for leading construction representative body the Specialist Engineering Contractors’ (SEC) Group. This figure was ascertained from the fact that nine of the top 12 that published separate figures for retention were owed more than £800 million.

SEC Group also found that the money owed to the construction companies was then, in turn, owed to their supply chains, the overwhelming majority of whom are SMEs. In one case the research even showed that the cash retention held against the company in question’s supply chain was significantly greater than the amount withheld against it by its clients.

Robert Candy, chief executive of the Scaffolding Association, said: “As a trade association that is proud to represent a high number of SMEs it worries us that such a large amount of money is owed to such companies. The analysis comes at a time when we await a government review of the retentions system and we watch with hope that this brings further protection of SMEs via legislation or ring-fencing of cash retentions.”

He added: “More often than not, the cash being held in retention by these large companies is the difference between making a profit or not on any given job for SMEs. The Scaffolding Association would certainly welcome any legislation that ensures all our members receive all cash owed to them for work completed.” FIND