SEPTEMBER 2018 | 29
Skills
Read online at www.proinstaller.co.uk
COSTAIN LAUNCHES ENGLAND’S
FIRST SHE APPRENTICESHIP
Costain has announced the launch of England’s first
Safety, Health and Environment (SHE) apprenticeship. The
new scheme has been developed to address the impact
that changes in technology and innovation are having
on business working practices and to offer an entry level
apprenticeship to enable people to start their career in SHE.
The creation of the new
qualification was spearheaded
by a working group compris-
ing Costain and many other UK
businesses and other organisations
including HS2, Thames Water,
Sapa UK, Mitie, Morrison Utilities,
Permission Homes, Sisk, Skanska,
and Balfour Beatty. Their work
was also supported by experts
from the Institute of Occupa-
tional Safety and Health, Unite
the Union and others. The first
cohort of twenty apprentices have
started their apprenticeships in a
wide range of companies, includ-
ing those in the working group.
A further 160 are due to com-
mence their apprenticeships in
the coming months; two of which
will be working with Costain on
its A-one+ Joint Venture in Kent
starting in September.
The SHE apprenticeship is a
level three qualification which is
the equivalent of two A Levels and
allows apprentices to learn while
they earn – 20% of their time will be
spent on additional off the job train-
ing. Those who start the two-year
course will develop an in demand
set of skills as they learn how
to spot health risks and mitigate
safety concerns. Employers gain by
expanding the safety knowledge of
their business and can reclaim their
apprenticeship levy contributions by
running this and other apprentice-
ship schemes.
The course will give trainees a
general grounding in all aspects
of SHE and the working group
intends to explore developing in-
dustry specific SHE apprenticeship
pathways in the future.
www.costain.com
85% of construction industry
would recommend a career in
construction to young people –
so what isn’t working?
In response to survey
results from the UK and
Irish construction industries,
the Considerate Construc-
tors Scheme has launched
the ‘Spotlight on…the next
generation’ campaign to pro-
vide essential information
and resources to help the
industry address the urgent
issue of attracting the future
workforce.
The survey revealed that
although 85% of respond-
ents would recommend a
career in construction to
young people, 84% feel the
ongoing perception of con-
struction as being manual
work is the main reason it
remains an unpopular career
choice.
The survey of the con-
struction industry in the UK
and Ireland received around
800 responses, and uncov-
ered that:
• 77% view the skills
shortage as the most
pressing issue facing the
construction industry.
• 72% cite the challenging
nature of work as the
main benefit of a con-
struction career.
• 53% know young peo-
ple who are, or could
be, interested in a con-
struction career.
About what the industry
can do to attract the next
generation:
• 37% mentioned chang-
ing perception/promot-
ing benefits.
• 26% suggested engaging
schools and colleges.
• 15% mentioned appren-
ticeships and training.
The campaign contains a
wide range of practical case
studies of what organisa-
tions have done to help
attract more people in to
the industry.
In addition, the Scheme
has collaborated with CITB’s
Go Construct initiative
to produce promotional
posters for registered sites,
companies, suppliers, clients
and professional partners to
use to help attract potential
workers to consider a career
in construction.
Read ‘Spotlight on…the
next generation’ at https://
ccsbestpractice.org.uk/
spotlight-on/spo