Competence, termed as “the ability to do a particular activity to a prescribed standard”, is central to improving any industry and it is instrumental in enabling improvements within the construction sector’s health and safety performance.
Unfortunately, reading ‘construction’ and ‘competence’ in the same sentence will raise a few incredulous eyebrows.
Construction has recently been awash with sad stories, including the unfortunate fatality of some weeks ago, which left our country shocked and with many fingers pointing at this industry’s key players.
The 2016 White Paper on the construction industry entailed various targets to improve this sector, one of which was to increase its depth of competence and attractiveness.
This new policy acknowledged that there is still more that can be done to improve the industry’s workplace competence. In 2016, the industry responded positively to the Skill Card policy, which aims to improve its health and safety record by training and certifying over 100 trades in this industry. It invested in this goal through various approaches, including taking up the challenge to train and qualify its workforce.
Since the launch of the Building and Construction Agency, health and safety education in the construction industry has been underpinned by two main conceptual approaches.
The first is the competence approach, whereby a system of qualifications, courses and skill cards has been set up.
To date, 20 national occupational standards have been established and skill cards for their respective trades are being issued. When all standards are in place, we will be in a position to issue skill cards for every worker, for every trade in the construction industry.
In the meantime, safety awareness training for tradespersons and for professionals is available to all workers, who are provided with a safety card upon successful completion of this training, which is provided by various entities.
The million-dollar question is, will the safety card replace the skill card? The answer is no- Ian Borg
The competence approach without a corresponding systems and regulatory approach will not attain the full extent of the intended improvements in workplace health performance.
The latter will be implemented through the setting up of the Building and Construction Authority’s administrative and operational structures. At this point, all workers in the construction industry will be required to have a safety card.
The human approach
Another important factor, besides job competence and health and safety awareness, is the human factor. Competence is thus extended and enhanced to a new approach – the human approach.
The Considerate Constructors scheme is a human approach which strives to elevate the safety, integrity and reputation of construction skills. It is a collaborative working model for best practice in the construction industry. A set of standards concerning the industry’s most impacting factors, namely the public’s well-being, the workforce’s competence and safety and protection of the environment, are being drafted. Construction sites and related service providers and suppliers will be able to register with the scheme, pledging to abide by the codes of considerate practice.
Digitising the industry
Government agencies have been partnering with leading IT experts to help the construction industry factor the digital world into this field so as to enable it to be on a level playing field with other sectors as well as to gain additional resources in its mission to enhance its health and safety record.
Last year, the E-Construct programme was launched as a first step to unlock construction’s digital future. It includes a skills plan for the industry to support and emphasise the industry’s skill card and to retain existing human resources while attracting new generations of talent to our sector. This programme has already reached over 232 workers.
But how are we are going to achieve our training and change objectives with strict social distancing measures in light of the coronavirus pandemic? As we adapt to living and working with COVID-19 measures, demystifying and promoting digital skills is becoming more important than ever before. Construction workers now need even more support to improve digital literacy. Sharing and showcasing best practices and new standards through digital tools will support this industry’s transformation.
Strengths and weaknesses of the skill card
The skill card requires workers to show their level of competency. A prerequisite of the skill card is the health and safety certificate. Around 2,000 skill cards have already been issued.
Under this scheme, applicants must take and pass a health and safety awareness test. The test demonstrates a basic awareness of risks, hazards and health and safety principles in construction. However, it does not waive the employers’ need to provide further safety training to their workers. It has always been emphasised that the health and safety training required to obtain the skill card does not free employers and employees from their obligation to also meet additional requirements set by the Occupational Health and Safety Authority.
Up until last year, construction site visitors were issued with a white card. Unfortunately, there was a trend where people in the industry were using this card as a loophole to overlook their training needs and access construction sites anyway. This difficulty is being overcome by replacing the white card with the safety card, which can only be obtained after passing the health and safety test. All skill card and safety card holders will be listed in our Skill Card Register.
Last but not least, the million-dollar question is, will the safety card replace the skill card? The answer is no. A skill card is still needed to assess the level of competence of a person. A safety card is essential as it wholly focuses on health and safety and will be the passport to access a construction site in a safe manner.
In parallel with these developments, the Malta Building and Construction Authority will require employers to ensure that construction companies and their operatives are competent to perform construction work in a diligent and human approach. Intrinsically, the new competence policy represents a total transformation in the way that health and safety is regarded and implemented.
The above approaches are a first for our country. They will not simply be introduced and forgotten.
Following in the footsteps of the Building and Construction Agency, once set up, the authority will continue assessing their implementation at all levels of the industry in the years to come while making sure to keep pushing for any improvements necessary to keep improving the competence and health and safety performance of all workers involved.
We will continue to collaborate with all stakeholders, in our mission to accelerate the pace of improvement and sustainability in the construction industry.
Ian Borg is Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Capital Projects.