Safety & Access are piloting a new digital portfolio system at it’s Nottingham and Humberside centres.
Candidates will be able to complete their e-portfolios by uploading work based evidence which counts towards a scaffolding qualification.
As from the 1 March 2013 all Safety & Access learners that need to complete a VQ Level 2 & 3 qualification to comply with the CISRS Scheme rules to obtain a CISRS Scaffolder or Advanced Card. They will all be registered to
use the SKILLFILE system.
What is an e-portfolio?
An e-portfolio is electronic storage of your learners portfolio, traditionally a paper-based collection of your learner’s information and their evidence and learning outcomes for their qualification.
Skillsfile enables you to view portfolios, assess evidence and verify assessment decisions anywhere you have internet access.
Who can use Skillsfile?
Skillsfile is available to any Cskills Awards approved centre like Safety & Access Ltd.
Skillsfile provides a number of different user types, to support the variety of different activities within our centre. These include:
- system administrators (superusers)
- centre managers
- centre administrators
- internal verifiers
- assessors
- work-based recorders
- employers
- learners
- external verifiers for non-Cskills Awards qualifications.
All system roles have different access and permissions, and can use Skillsfile simultaneously. Additional permissions can be given to each user on an individual basis to provide flexibility for you and the way you operate.
Can learners’ employers access Skillsfile?
Yes, we can create access for employers. The employer role can access the learners’ plans and portfolios to view their progress through the qualification. When a learner registers on Skillsfile they must agree to their employer being given access, to comply with the Data Protection Act 1998.
Skillsfile will allow Learners, Employers and Assessors to upload any workbased evidence onto each learners e-portfolio qualification Skillsfile enables lots of file types to support different evidence types, including: professional discussions
- photographs
- movies
- diaries
- commentary against every piece of evidence
- test results
- reports
- drawings
- letters
- interviews.
Would you like to see how easy this system is, then why not book a place on a demo session. Please call or email to arrange a demo on the following contacts below
Nottingham Centre – 0115 9794523 or
[email protected]
Humberside Centre – 01469 552848 or
[email protected].
Safety & Access Ltd have successfully secured more funding upto the 31st July 2013, to help employers qualify their Workforce within Scaffolding.
Work Place Learning is a Government funded programme to help employers train and qualify their workforce.
The training helps your employees improve their skills and gives them the opportunity to establish their vocational competence by gaining a nationally recognised NVQ level 2 & 3.
Who Can Apply?
Fully Funded CISRS Part 2 Scaffolding Training Including NVQ level 2
Funding is available for anyone who:
A project to refurbish a highly distinctive office building in Woking has underlined the versatility of the scaffolding services supplied by Harsco Infrastructure, who provided access to the entire building using its Cuplok scaffold system. This provided safe, effective access for the various trades who needed to work on the building’s exterior facades, giving wide, clear work decks free from obstructions and trip-hazards.
The building presented a number of challenges including a long, curved elevation adjacent to water and lightweight exterior walls that required the scaffolding to be self-supporting. “The Cuplok system was ideal for this project,” comments Harsco’s Site Services Manager, Sean Byles. “Despite the fact that the building has a sweeping curve to its main elevation, Cuplok allowed us to build a structure that followed the profile of the building precisely and provided excellent access.” The systemfeatures aunique node point which allows up to four horizontal components to be connected at any angle in one simple fastening action. This allowed the scaffolding to accommodate the curve and still be erected considerably faster than traditional scaffolding.
The building’s two end elevations also presented their own challenges, as Sean explains. “These facades have steel louvered screens which stand beyond the glazed wall. Although these are actually fixed in position, they were not robust enough to tie the scaffolding into. We therefore erected the scaffolding on both sides of the louvers and linked the structures together to create the required degree of stability and safety.”
In other areas where the scaffolding could not be tied to the building, the CUPLOK structures were braced by tower assemblies incorporating counter-weight kentledge to provide stability. The perimeter scaffold also incorporated a large access staircase, a mechanical hoist and rubbish removal towers.
The 6-storey building sits on the bank of a large lake – a factor which influenced the system design that Harsco created. “Fortunately the lakeside timber decking and its steelwork support structure had been recently replaced,” adds Sean. “This meant that we had a firm base on which to build, but space was still at a premium, and the presence of the water meant that safety was, as ever, a vital consideration.”
Safety is a key characteristic of Harsco’s Cuplok system, which features advanced guardrails and steel boards that provide maximum protection on site. This helps create fully integrated, systemised access solutions, and Harsco continues to add new components to the system to expand the versatility it offers.
Simian Risk Operations Director Ian Fyall said the new contract was testament to the strong partnerships built up with Shell, the Southern Oil Company and the Iraqi companies working on-site.
“This is great news for Simian Risk and for our partners in Iraq, as we will be able to continue working together and building on the foundations laid over the past year. Our on-site supervisors Lee Standring and Dave Faulkner have been doing great work in training the local workforce with a strong focus on health and safety.
“They have engendered a culture of teamwork, collaboration, quality and safety, which is vital when working within an industrial environment. This is a huge project and we are proud to be playing a part in creating an ethos of self-sufficiency in Iraq. A whole infrastructure is being built up around the Majnoon oil field and therefore it is essential that those who work on the site operate within strict health and safety guidelines.
“The oil companies we are working with place a real emphasis on local employment and we have forged excellent relationships with Iraqi firm Ratbaa and Middle East scaffolding company AMS, who have both supplied workers for the Majnoon project.”
The Simian Risk team have been teaching local workers the basics of scaffolding, including Harness Training, correct anchor points to work from on a scaffold structure, manual handling techniques and housekeeping practices to provide a safe erect and dismantle of all scaffold procedures.
Lee Standring said: “The local workers are adapting to working in the construction environment very well and have achieved a good understanding of the requirements needed to work safely as a team. We have to thank the team of scaffolders that have worked very hard to keep to the standards that our industry requires. We would also like to thank our Shell management for their support in driving forward and believing in what we can achieve together, planning and executing work safely and to schedule.”
Simian Risk opened a training centre in Dubai in 2011 and also has offices in Abu Dhabi.
Mr Fyall added: “Companies in the Middle East are working hard to improve health and safety and we are determined to play a part in this drive by providing first rate work at height training programmes to help reduce the number of industrial accidents in the region and provide a safe working environment for all.
“The region’s petrochemical sector offers some great opportunities and this is a very niche market that we have been able to expand into. It is still within scaffolding and working at height, just with a more industry orientated focus rather than construction.”
Directors Ian Fyall and Simon Hughes launched Simian Risk Group in Warrington in 2005. With more than 40 years of experience within the scaffolding industry, the business specialises in providing health and safety consultancy for work at height.
In 2010 Ian and Simon split the company into two divisions – Simian Risk and Simian Skill, taking on two new directors, Dave Randles and David Abraham for the respective divisions. Dave Randles became a shareholder in 2011. Dave and David also have more than 40 years of experience to add to that of Ian and Simon.
