NVQ Level 2 in 1 hour....

[Oblickta]

I spent 3 years as an apprentice bricklayer (1975-1979) and worked hard to get my qualification: City & Guilds Craft Certificate. I learned today that my qualification is no longer valid/recognised and I need a NVQ 2 (min) and a CSCS card (construction skills certification scheme) to be a bricky, why.............?

\"The construction industry is getting qualified. More and more clients and contractors are demanding that workers carry the right qualifications before letting them on site. And this is set to increase as we approach 2010 - the commonly recognised deadline for the whole industry to be qualified\"

\"WHAT IS A CSCS CARD?
The CSCS card is an individual identification and registration card which lasts for three or five years and shows that the holder is considered to be competent at his or her job, lists any relevant certificates and also shows that the holder has undergone health and safety awareness training or testing.\"

This is all fine and dandy but how does an old timer like me with a craft certificate and 30 years experience get a NVQ 2 and a CSCS card? Simple! I fill out some forms then someone from the CSCS takes a photo of me with a trowel in my hand and it\'s sorted. Oh, and then there\'s the fee of course, about £400 (dont quote me) which my employer will pay.

So where\'s the problem (free NVQ in 1 hour) you may be asking yourself! I filled out a dozen forms today and not once was I asked to qualify myself or provide any proof or reference of my skills! So I could be any old scummer/cowboy/builder from hell/whatever, and I still get the NVQ as long as the photo is taken and fee is paid!

So, the winners are the scummers/cowboys/builders from hell who get free NVQs and the looser (as usual) will be joe public; no more builders from hell when they\'ve all got CSCS cards!

Sorry if I waffled on too long, rant/rave officially over but when you need a builder and he/her flashes their CSCS card, think about this thread and ask for some references. Good advice!!

Hi, hope your all well tonight

[sless]

ive got loads of the cards
every site i work on needs a different one
my wallet is empty of money but full of cards to allow me to work on sites
i am trained to drive a cherry picker and go to heights of 200 feet
i hope they never make a roller shutter that big

[Charlie_Thompson]

Re: Your last statement - Very well thanks
Re: The rest - World gone mad
Re: IMHO Yer general Builder / Tradesman - Too many ****heads ripping off people with sub standard work and stupid prices.

[alan]

Got my NVQ Level 2 in half an hour,total joke,company paid for it but I wont say who took us for our NVQ,I\'m sure our firm got a back hander of some sorts off the government,it started off where you were assessed for the whole day,as time went on it got quicker and quicker,I was one of the last batters,\"Here Alan just sign that mate\" I kid you not,all the paper work was filled in by our on site tutors,asked a couple of questions etc,like \"did you see the match lastnight ?\".Told our managers it was a f##king joke,they agreed btw,somebody somewhere made alot of money out of that.My mate at work said it took his wife 12 months to do the same course,she was round the bend with the paper work.

[Charlie_Thompson]

These training providers make a bundle lobbing out certificates, wait till they\'ve given you your\'s then grass them up.

[sless]

yesterday i was trained how to lift an empty box off the floor and put it on a table 5 feet away
what a pile of sh ite

i said i dont fit empty boxes i fit heavy steel roller shutters
how do you lift them safely i asked

i dont know he said
load of rubbish
your only allowed to lift 25 kilo\'s(guide line)so im told
i wish

[SIXFOOTSTEVE]

We\'re going through a program of NVQ\'s at our place as well ,level 2 and 3 ,on instruction from the examiners the students are told to read through the workbooks and all of the answers are there !
The company I work for gets a grant from the government of around £200 per person completing the course ( which is insulting to anyone with intelligence ) and as there are around 4 to 5000 employees I reckon it\'s a canny little earner eh .

[willywetegg]

Swmbo has just done an NVQ. I know for a fact she will be raging when I show her this later.

Graham, I also was trained to C & G standard. Finished my course at Gateshead Tech (God knows what it is called now) in 1976 and was proud as punch to say so. I am a Coach Painter by trade.

A few years later we were inundated with people that had done a six week course and then were expected to help them to do their job. Wasn\'t impressed at all. About 1980 or 81 I think.

Not a lot of time served people about now. Wonder how long it will take before they realise that these new ways just don\'t work at all.

Cracking post by the way.

Jim.

[DaveMason]

Good post . I have a absolute mountain of documentation just the same . It\'s odd though when there\'s a major breakdown and the customer needs you , it\'s straight on site with no questions asked

Btw sless , i had to be shown to lift cardboard boxes too , its purely so that the company cant be sued as the employee has been shown the correct way to lift . Bollocks .

[Stores]

You\'ll be pleased to know it\'s no different in education. Eileen is doing a Librarian NVQ and she\'s stuck because she\'s now ahead of the course tutor, who \"examines\" her work to see where to go next. She has worked really hard and is 100% conscientious but you can bet the rest of her class will pass as well as to fail is a slur on the course administrators. Wonder how long it will take for someone to question their failure to pass a course on the grounds of abusing their human rights. See what the HSE has to say about that.

[Oblickta]

safety awareness training or testing.

We had roofers working directly above us today and ineviably one of us got a tile of the heed (not hurt). This was brought to the attention of the site manger and we thought he would organize something...........wrong! His exact words were

\"The brickies and the roofers should have a big fight and the hardest gets to work in this area. I wont mind, in fact, I\'ll quite enjoy it\".

I questioned his attitude and he said

\"Netto\'s are selling 8 cans for a fiver, get urself away and chill out

Then he went up on the roof and told the roofers that the brickies were gonna fill them in at bait time and on his way back down he told us that the roofers were gonna have us at bait time.

We seen the roofers in the shop and they agreed to move around the corner \'til Monday so we can finish our side safely. Who needs managers lol?

BTW the site manager is a great guy and i\'m not putting him down here. This is just an example of what happens in the real world

[BriH]

your only allowed to lift 25 kilo\'s(guide line)so im told

i wish

I hope Tomsk never collapses , never heard you mention you had a fork lift truck card in your wallet . Ha Ha :P :P

[Norman]

Real world Graham ??? .... never seen that fior a while

ps same in my industry (manufacturing) NVQ`s like they`re going out of fashon . . . . . . they even photocopy the course work (all 3 days of it) to make it look as if everyone`s learnt the same ...... oh and then sign off with NO TEST.

Wouldn`t get me near it !!!!

[Oblickta]

Re: IMHO Yer general Builder / Tradesman - Too many ****heads ripping off people with sub standard work and stupid prices.

2 true. As Jim said, \"not a lot of time served people about\". The world is doomed.

But it\'s not just the general builder/tradesman! I cant mention names because of nesa rules but my employer (a well known house builder) has managed the quintessence of all rip offs: build a block of 63 flats (\"for the elderly\") out of sterling board and put some bricks around it so it looks like a real building.

If you dont know what sterling board is then cast your mind back to when you had your first rabbit/s and you went to the pet shop and bought it/they some stuff to pi**/sh** on (like sawdust and wood shavings). Now it\'s mixed up with epoxy resins and sold to old people for £100 000 and described as \"state of the art design/engineering\"

[Codfather]

Got a wallet full aswell;
Cherry pickers
chainsaws
Climbing trees
dumper driving
and a load more

Training companies must make a bomb