Chairman of the CSCS, Trevor Walker resigned this week, to be replaced by former Labour MP Michael Clapham, after a four month leadership stand-off.
Building magazine reported that Walker stepped down on Tuesday after a crisis meeting between the four employers and three unions that run the Construction Skills Certification Scheme- a skills accreditation scheme used by over 1.7M workers in the UK. Walker had only survived an earlier no-confidence vote in the summer after using his board vote to tie a ballot and save himself.
Michael Clapham, Labour MP for Barnsley West and Penistone until April last year has a union background and is a former officer of the National Union of Mineworkers. Construction News stated that he was nominated by the union owners of CSCS and accepted by the employers- they are understood to have sought assurances that the relationship with CITB-Construction Skills, which administers the scheme, will be repaired.
CSCS chief executive Brain Adams last month pledged to postpone his retirement for a further three months to ensure a seamless handover of power, with a new chief executive to be recruited in the new year.
Adams said ‘Michael Clapham has a strong passion for improving health and safety in the construction industry and increasing the skills of the workforce. We look forward to working with him to continue to drive CSCS forward as the pre-eminent scheme for construction,’ reported Construction Enquirer.
both SCHEMES a total waste. only people making money are the ones doing the training.
i have been steel erecting and rigging all over the world for the last 30 years. now they want 2000 pounds off me to prove that i know my job
no bloody chance.
plus let me add so called health and safety has created its own industry..
I am fully in favour of ensuring that tradesmen going on any site are aware of any safety risks and requirements on the site, through my years within the industry there have been far to many health and safety mistakes which in some cases resulted in a death.
The C S C S card system dose give a certain amount of coverage by ensuring to get the card or renew your card you have to up date yourelf on health and safety to pass the test.
What problem i have is the qualification of your trade to get the correct card is very poor, i have a diploma in site management & maintenance management but have only been allowed a red card as a trainee even though i have passed the safety test for management.
The big problem is it will cost me money to get the correct card off the C S C S programme when it has already cost me a lot of money to pass my exams for M C I O B.
The fact that the programme is cost related is detering tradesmen from the mainpoint which is health and safety.