UKCG recognises piling course

PSSTS is a two-day safety course from the Federation of Piling Specialists, which welcomed the recognition from its biggest client group.

FPS chairman Jim De Waele said: “PSSTS is more appropriate than the SSSTS for supervisors on piling sites, as it gives greater prominence to those aspects of site safety that are particularly important for piling, such as piling platforms and rig guarding as well as auger cleaning requirements.”

In addition, UKCG has confirmed that the site managers safety training scheme (SMSTS), often asked for by UKCG members, is only applicable on a very small number of particularly complex sites and that they [UKCG] do not require it under their policy for piling site supervisors.

FPS said that the clarification that PSSTS is an acceptable alternative to SSSTS, and that SMSTS is not required except in a few complex sites, should help its members gain access to sites.

Mr De Waele added:  “This clarification by UKCG is important as we [the FPS] are keen to get this message out there and onto construction sites, so that there is no confusion over what is and is not applicable on site. We still get some clients insisting that they will only accept SSTS.  It is difficult to understand why they think that a general course is more appropriate on a piling site than a course specially tailored for piling site supervisors.  It is equally baffling why they try to insist on SMSTS, which is for site managers, for foremen whose role is to supervise the piling.”

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