Bringing on the young blood

Tue 24 Oct 2017

Bringing on the young blood

Taking a look back at one of my articles that was previously published in Earthmovers Magazine, with this unedited version about training new plant operators at college's in Devon and Cornwall.

Let’s face it, it’s highly unlikely to hear the parent of any young school leaver say “well Johnny, how about a career in the construction industry?” This is probably caused by ignorance about the earning potential in the industry or from some kind of misguided snobbery in thinking that the industry is the domain of non-achievers. Of course that could not be further from the truth, the construction industry can offer a superb and well paid career, as it has for many of us over the years. However statistics reveal that there now around 324,000 less people working in the construction industry than there was before the financial crash and subsequent recession in 2008. Many of the “old school” breed of construction workers have become so disillusioned and in many cases overwhelmed by the relentless H&S red tape and all that goes with it, that they have turned their backs on the industry. Over the past few years the industry has become more and more reliant on workers coming in predominantly from Eastern European countries, who are perfectly happy to knuckle down and get their hands dirty. It is estimated that nearly 12% of the UK’s construction workforce now come from overseas and add into the equation last year’s Brexit decision, which is likely to further deepen the UK’s skills shortage and its clear to see we are facing a crisis if steps are not taken to bring in young blood.

The skills shortage is also having a massive effect on the plant & machinery game and during my travels around the country, the thing I hear most from the people I talk to is the problem of sourcing good quality machine operators. The fact that young lads and girls generally cannot learn the ropes in the time honoured way on site under supervision like many of us did, has had a massive impact on the number of young people being able to get a foot hold in plant operating, in addition to the fact that everyone now has to pay for the privilege using the CITB CPCS scheme. To try and address this national shortage of plant operators many colleges up and down the country are now running Plant Operations courses for school levers from the age of 16. Cornwall College is no stranger to running these courses, which they have been undertaking for some time now at two of its facilities in Rosewarne, nr Cambourne and Stoke Climsland nr Callington in Cornwall. Having recently acquired Bicton College, which is located close to Exeter in Devon, the management are expanding plant operations courses to this facility, for which they have acquired a fleet of new JCB machines.

At the moment the college is running a level 1 qualification for new beginners who have just left school at 16 years old. They are taught the basics of machine driving including pre start checks, how to use the machine safely and all the health & safety aspects. Then at the end of the first year of the course (assuming they are good enough) the students can go for a CPCS ticket on the red card but only initially for a forward tipping dumper category. Duchy College team leader Glen Miller said, “What with their health & safety CSCS test, CITB ticket and their qualification to think about the students have a lot to do, so we try not to overload them too much”. Talking about the students and the course in general, Glen who is himself a former experienced plant operator said, “We do get quite a few students who are pretty good and who have had experience on their parent’s machines in the past either on farms or on private build jobs. However sometimes we have to rein them in a bit if they get too over confident”.

Pictured Left to Right: College Staff, Mark Sheridan, Connor Edwards & Glen Miller. “After the first year students can then go on to take a level 2 qualifications that will run at Bicton in addition to the other two campuses. The Level 2 qualification in Plant Operations involves the students learning to operate 4 items of plant, alongside 4 theory tests and 4 practical tests. This is the one I really like to see them doing as it gives them the maximum amount of knowledge, having already gained the basics during the level 1 course. Level 2 offers them a higher level of learning, so they are not like an individual who just passed the test and straight out into the wide world, it gives them more experience, which in turn makes them a better driver and they have a much better understanding of what is required of them and gives them much more confidence to take with them into the construction environment”. Of course the South West is going to become something of a hot bed for construction activity over the coming years with the much talked about Hinckley Point project getting the green light. Coincidently the EDF Hinckley Point Project is working in partnership with Cornwall College and government funding has also helped with the supply of new JCB machines from another partner in the form of dealership Holt JCB.

To deal with the demands of the busy South West sector the college is planning to open up more courses including setting up “friendship schemes” with local contractors. Some local companies are already connected using this route with Steve Hoskins Construction, Fred Champion and MJL Group already using the colleges to train up apprentices on aspects such as slab and kerb laying, drainage and tarmac laying. These courses are run at Bicton in conjunction with South West Highways (SWH) and are expected to be rolled out at the Rosewarne and Stoke Climsland campuses soon working in conjunction with Cormac. The aim of the courses is to make learning as real to life as is possible in the college environment and to offer the students a chance of employment at the end of their respective courses. In 2015 at the Stoke Climsland campus they had 14 Level 2 students on the course and only 1 didn’t go on to full time employment, the only reason being he wanted to come back in 2016 to do another level qualification. Most of these individuals took a job with the aforementioned contractors SHC, Champion or MJL. Some of these and other local contractors are planning to start talent scouting at the college, which will see them coming in and hand picking young operators that they feel will make the grade in the industry and potentially offering them a position on completion of the course.

With around 90 students learning their skills on courses across the 3 venues Glen Miller and his team are kept busy and with all locations now kitted out with the same items of plant there is plenty to keep an eye on. In general terms, all 3 venues are running forward tipping dumpers, mini excavators, midi excavators, hydraulic excavators above 10 tonne and 12.5 metre telehandlers. Helping Glen run these courses at Bicton is Mark Sheridan, who is a lecturer in Plant Operations Level 1 and Connor Edwards who is an instructor at both Bicton and the Stoke Climsland sites. At Rosewarne lecturer duties are covered by Mark Rushton including both levels 1 & 2, while at the Stoke Climsland facility lecturing duties are undertaken by Vlad Coman who was once a former student at the college. Glen was keen to praise Andy Daw who is the Vice Principal for Bicton College and has been making things happen by supporting the project, helping with the students and the facility and by having the vision to see the future potential from plant operations courses at the college and understanding what is required to make it all a success.

At the new Bicton facility, JCB, via their dealer Holt JCB, put together a fantastic package of brand new machines for the students to hone their skills on. The package included 2 x JCB 6T ST swivel skip dumpers, 1 x JCB 8018 CTS mini excavator, 1 x JCB 67C-1 midi excavator, JCB JS131LC 13 tonne class excavator in its Plus Pack variant and a JCB 535-125 Loadall telehandler. Further expanding his thoughts on the course Glen Miller said, “We see huge potential here working with the wider industry, offering first class instruction and training and turning out people with a high skill level who are up to speed and industry ready”.

“Of course we know that not everyone is born to be a machine operator, but there are some who can fall straight into it and turn out to be really good, it’s our job to produce these individuals and it’s the satisfying part of the job. We feel everyone should get the chance to have a go, that’s why it’s great for these guys to come into us at 16 years old, have a play on the machines and see if it’s a career that would suit them and to get a good understanding of what is required as a plant operator, then after a year of learning they can make that decision if it’s for them or not”.

On the day of Earthmovers visit to the Bicton College venue it’s was this batch of students first time at digging with the machines and it was great to see the enthusiasm on their faces as they were put to work. This was followed by grimaces of concentration on their faces as the focused hard on operating the pieces of equipment. We spoke to 3 of the students who gave us their thoughts on the course so far.

Pictured above, Jordon Skinner (16) came onto the course with no real background in the machinery industry but has worked part time at the local Diggerland attraction, so has a natural interest in bigger machines. Asked for his thoughts on the course Jordon said, “I’m enjoying it so far, but it’s really early days”. Asked if he is likely to go into plant operating as a career he said, “I’ve no real ambition to go into it full time, but I would like to work on machines on a part time basis”.

Pictured above, Dominic David (16) has been exposed to diggers from a young age as his father is a general builder so he already had a keen interest in plant and machinery. Asked for his thoughts on the course Dominic said “I’m finding the course really good and I’m especially enjoying all the new JCB machines we have here, it’s been great getting hands on today!” Dominic made it quite clear that he would like to pursue a career as a plant operator in the future, which was good to hear.

Our final student selected from the batch was another 16 year old Matthew Baker, pictured above. Matthew has previously had experience working part time on farms, which is not uncommon in this neck of the woods. His father is also a building surveyor for the National Trust and Matthew had been lucky enough to gain some work experience on sites with him. Talking about the course Matthew said, “I’m really enjoying the course so far and am looking forward to learning more. As far as the future is concerned Matthew has bold ambitions to set up his own contracting business both doing groundwork's and agricultural works, so he’s one to look out for in the coming years.

The growing shortage of operators is extremely worrying for the industry but it’s good to see colleges up and down the country trying to address the shortages which can only be a good thing for our industries future.

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