Schemes

Plant training genrally creates an image of construction sites and excavators and dumpers etc. This is not the case as all industries have plant in many different forms from warehouses with Fork Lift Trucks to Waste management companies with loading shovels. Every individual who operates any form of plant needs training for each item they operate. Competence on one item doesn’t automatically carry over to other items of plant.

Employers have a general duty under section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 to provide information, instruction, training and supervision to ensure the health and safety of their employees. Under the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 employers are required to “ensure that all persons who use work equipment have received adequate training for purposes of health and safety, including training in the methods which may be adopted when using the work equipment, any risks which such use may entail and precautions to be taken.” The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 also places duties on employers to provide training for lift truck operators. By not providing you with any training at all, your employer could be breaking the law.

The construction industry has two recognised schemes the largest been CPCS and then NPORS but the actual law itself doesn’t require either of these schemes to be used. Employers are entitled to require their plant operators to be trained to any scheme which they think is appropriate to their workplace, as long as completion of the training certificate the company chooses means that employees are competent to operate the mobile plant they will be using.For rider operated lift trucks, the HSE recognises each of the six accrediting bodies equally, but has no powers to dictate to companies which of the schemes they accept.

Please use the links at the top of this page for information about the two major schemes or contact us directly to discuss your plant training needs. No matter what industry you work in if there is plant operating involved then there will be plant training required.