Leading construction companies commit to safety training for supervisors

The Major Contractors Group (MCG), a group comprising 12 large UK contractors, has called for all supervisors on its sites to attend a health and safety training course set out by sector skills council ConstructionSkills.

ConstructionSkills said its two-day site supervisors' safety training scheme includes welfare and environmental issues, and is designed to help supervisors acquire an understanding of the current legislation that applies to their work activities.

Supervisors will be given two years to obtain the qualification, which is part of the ConstructionSkills' Site Safety Plus (SSP) suite of courses. Following this, the MCG will adopt a zero-tolerance policy on its sites.

Its decision indicates a greater commitment to health and safety training, and means that thousands of supervisors will undergo training by 2010. The qualification lasts for five years and must then be renewed.

The SSP programme is to be delivered across the country through 130 training providers, the largest being the National Construction College. It plans to run more than 70 site supervisor courses during the year.

Vaughan Burnand, chief executive of building contractor Shepherd Construction and chair of the MCG Health & Safety Group, said: "Our front-line supervisors assume a huge responsibility, and we are very pleased to have been working with ConstructionSkills in the development of a course designed specifically to help these supervisors fulfil these responsibilities.

"The course has been designed not only to refresh their health and safety knowledge, but also to enhance their skills in intervention techniques, managing behavioural change and communication."