Eggborough Power Station in North Yorkshire has become the first power station to adopt the new and innovative health and safety course ‘Managing Safely for the Power Sector’ as a minimum training standard.
Accredited by the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH), the new course, delivered by ARMSA, is aimed at owners and operator managers of power stations, as well as contractors, sub contractors and employees working in the power sector. The course has been specifically designed to address the reported shortfalls in operationally focused training for power generators and their associated contractors.
Course delivery is precisely matched to the target audience and concentrates on encouraging delegates to apply sound management principles to operational, contractual and health and safety issues. This approach, plus combining on-site and role-specific training, delivers real value to the business, as Eggborough Power Station has discovered. Eggborough is the first power station to benefit from fully implementing this unique approach, further supporting its drive to become the UK’s safest power station.
With ARMSA’s ‘Managing Safely for the Power Sector’ course setting new standards in industry training and Eggborough already leading the way in health and safety, it has proven to be the perfect partnership for safety standards at the coal-fired station, a sentiment echoed by Eggborough Power Station engineering director, Paul Cook: "I received fantastic feedback from our employees who were enthused with the relevance and engaging content of the course. We have adopted it as a minimum training standard at Eggborough, making ARMSA an important part of our business and valued partners for safety. Together we have delivered a step change towards continuous improvement."
At a time when budgets are a little tighter, the bespoke nature of ‘Managing Safely for the Power Sector’ is particularly appealing, saving the need to spend extra money on multiple courses to cover all relevant health and safety issues. This was an outstanding benefit for Paul Tomlinson, chief operating officer at Eggborough Power Station: "In these challenging economic times, there is a demand for training providers to deliver fully integrated solutions eliminating the need for extensive, expensive and time-consuming top-up courses. ‘Managing Safely for the Power Sector’ more than satisfies these requirements, delivering added value through its relevance and the ability for it to make an immediate and positive effect on the organisation."
Commenting on the course from a manager’s perspective, Eggborough group head of planning, Jason Hughes, added: "I have noticed a significant and immediate improvement in my team’s performance following the course and they are now leading the rest of the team and indeed the rest of the power station by example. It has increased their confidence in both their role and their ability to challenge others and highlight potential risks and dangers."
Jason continues: "This course is unique in the marketplace as it is so specific to the power sector that delegates can actually relate to it and retain the information."
Further praise has come from delegates at Eggborough Power Station with many people highlighting the benefits of the course above and beyond safety awareness:
"The course covers managing contractors which was extremely beneficial to my role. It made me aware of my responsibilities to contractors and has made working with contractors so much easier; it has really brought us together so that we are singing off the same song sheet." (David Blenkhorn, contracts technician)
"Historically we would rely on assessments that contractors provided us. I now have the ability to self-assess the situation and investigate it in more depth, identifying potential hazards and dangers that I wouldn’t have previously. It has given me an appreciation and understanding of how the whole power station works as well as an appreciation and understanding of other people’s roles within it." (Graeme Warman, planning and processes)
"ARMSA’s trainers explained risk control in a very practical way thereby simplifying what could be a legislative minefield and making it easy to understand. It made me think about risk assessments in a completely different way, especially with the real-life examples of hazards within a power station." (Wayne Hall, electrical support technician)
On Thursday 10 June, certificates were presented by ARMSA managing director Rakesh Maharaj to all Eggborough Power Station employees who successfully completed the course. Speaking after the event he said: "It was a pleasure to present the certificates to Paul Cook and his staff at Eggborough Power Station. With their existing reputation for safety, it’s a real endorsement for us that they benefited from our course in so many ways, confirming that ‘Managing Safety in the Power Sector’ is a unique course in the marketplace and one that adds significant value to not only the delegates but to the entire organisation."
The five-day ‘Managing Safely for the Power Sector’ course comprises four days of classroom training plus a further day on-site looking at specific hazards within the delegate’s actual role and workplace. The content is interactive and industry-relevant using real-life case studies. ARMSA normally runs the course in-house.
For more information about the course and how to enrol, please contact Nia Humphreys. Email nia.humphreys@armsa.co.uk, call +44 844 880 5111 or visit ARMSA’s website.