THE Construction Industry Scaffolders Record Scheme (CISRS) has embarked on a reform programme, designed to transform scaffolding training and expand apprenticeship opportunities.
Following a governance review, the organisation has confirmed a series of measures described as essential to ensuring that CISRS provision remains fit for the future needs of the industry and able to support a new generation of scaffolding professionals, including school leavers and apprentices.
CISRS chair Wayne Connolly said, “The scaffolding sector needs a training system that is robust, inclusive and which can deliver the skilled workforce of tomorrow. This is the start of a progressive programme of change designed to strengthen CISRS, support our centres, and ensure that young people, including school leavers, have more routes into our fantastic industry. We are focused on building a modern, responsive training network that meets real-world needs while maintaining the high standards of safety and competence the sector demands.”
The new programme focuses on strengthening governance, improving the consistency and quality of training delivery and increasing the sector’s training capacity. A new quality committee will oversee training standards, course development, and the management of approved centres. This committee will include representation from employers, educationalists, and centres themselves, and will be chaired by an independent specialist.
Connolly added, “A recent independent perception survey identified clear areas of improvement. Improving on the relatively low Customer Satisfaction (C-SAT) scores the research highlighted will be a key metric for establishing future KPIs for CISRS, the centres and trainers.”
CISRS is a not-for-profit organisation owned by NASC, the trade body for scaffolding and access. NASC has worked with CISRS to develop a detailed strategy, business plan and operational plan and is starting to introduce change, including digitalisation.
CISRS will introduce a revised centre specification from June this year, aimed at making it easier for training providers to deliver ‘flexible, high-quality’ learning. Changes include encouraging the positives of enclosed learning environments, improving customer service expectations, and reducing minimum centre heights to enhance capacity in further education, rural and some higher cost real-estate areas such as London.
Measures to digitise training records and improve data collection will also be introduced.
As part of the initial phase, CISRS will also impose an 18-month moratorium on approving new Open-Air Craft Centres within mainland UK, allowing existing centres time to adapt and upgrade to the new standards.
Further details and support measures for centres will be announced in the coming months.
