TRAINING - NVQs and CSCS Cards

The Bridge Deck Waterproofing Association (BWA) has been playing a full part on the CITB Occupational Working Group (OWG) for Structural Waterproofing. The objective is to offer operatives the opportunity to attain NVQ Level 2 status and thereby qualify for a CSCS Card. Not only will it contribute to the ongoing aim to raise standards but also provide enhanced employment opportunities for the successful operatives.

After careful consideration, it was recently acknowledged that the syllabus being developed by the OWG was appropriate for bridge deck waterproofing, subject to the provision of a series of questions and answers specific to bridge deck waterproofing for use during the assessment of each operative. BWA accepted responsibility for carrying out this task and have submitted their proposals to the OWG for approval.

HIGHWAYS AUTHORITIES PRODUCT APPROVAL SCHEME (HAPAS ) - SPECIALIST GROUP 7

HAPAS was set up by The Highways Agency, CSS and The British Board of Agrement (BBA) with the objective of developing approval processes for products, materials and systems for use in highways and associated areas. Various Specialist Groups have been introduced, each concentrating on a specific market area and each producing Guidelines which provide details of tests, assessment criteria and quality assurance requirements which are used in the evaluation process carried out by BBA.

Representatives of BWA have sat on HAPAS SG7 for several years, developing such Guidelines specifically for bridge deck waterproofing in UK. They have consistently and vigorously fought for the raising of standards to an appropriate level for modern products and systems, particularly in performance trials and testing procedures, but regrettably, this effort has not been universally accepted. Despite forcibly offering strong evidence, including data obtained from other European countries, they fear the bar has been set too low. Members of BWA have been able to demonstrate that they already meet much higher standards than those contained within the Guideline document produced by SG7 and they consider that a great opportunity to promote excellence has been missed.