Association News - Silvercard

SILVERCARD UpDATE

It recently occurred to hIanZ cEo rodney grant that some of our members might not understand Silvercard, especially the new members. So here’s a bit of background to get you all up to speed.

BacK manY moonS ago to the early 2000’s, HIANZ got involved in the ownership and management of an Elevating Work Platform Training and Assessment Programme. The main reason was to provide a consistently high-quality programme right across the country and create a recognisable competency system that gave counter staff of hire companies reassurance that the hirer knew how to operate the EWP they were hiring. The programme (training material, presentation, assessments, and unit standards) has morphed and improved over the years. At one stage, trainers had to sit an Australian course to become authorised trainers! In those early days there were certificates, then a silver and blue card branded, Silvercard EWP Operator.’ In 2014, a Best Practice Guideline (BPG) was published for Mobile EWP’s. This specified what was considered a measure of operator competency and pointed to NZQA unit standards as a way of showing competency, by setting a three-year refresher training timeframe. 2006/07 was the last time there was a big change to the EWP unit standards. Fast forward to 2021, HIANZ still operates the programme built around the BPG and unit standards, and has adjusted its marketing and communication, using the brand Silvercard. Trainers are now accredited using NZ measurements of abilities and all are independent suppliers of the Silvercard Training and Assessment programme. We have 43 trainers through 28 training companies, a massive database of close to 17,000 trainees and a very good assessment and reporting portal for our trainers to update trainee’s information and unit standards held. As of the end of March 2021, HIANZ accredited assessors delivered to just over 4,000 trainees, which is approx. 60% of the EWP training market. This is a great effort and shows that the Silvercard Operator card is well accepted. In the last few months we have freshened up the branding to stand out a bit more and focus on the Silvercard name. ‘EWP Operator’ has been removed and has been replaced with ‘Competent Operator’. Why the slight changes? Well, we want to build on the Silvercard brand and offer other training related and competencies requirements for operators. We are in the final stages of putting together a programme for NZQA Unit Standard US23229 using a harness whilst working at height. This is a good fit for boomlift operator competency and for those who use EWPs to work and move around on a platform. HIANZ is also looking to support The New Zealand Forklift Industry Association as they develop a training and competency programme to support their sector. The Forklift Competent Operator is in the early stages of development but when released will ‘piggyback’ on the Silvercard brand. You can catch up on the latest on Silvercard by visiting www.silvercard. co.nz or better still, come to the HIANZ Conference and visit the Silvercard exhibition stand to learn more about the programme and meet some of the trainers. They will be more than happy to talk to you about your EWP training needs. ■

WE HAVE 43 TRAINERS THROUGH 28 TRAINING COMpANIES, A MASSIVE DATABASE OF CLOSE TO 17,000 TRAINEES...