Members' meeting places focus on competence

26 Jan 22

Delegates attending the GIRI Members' Meeting on February 10th will be able to hear a series of presentations focussing on competence and its relationship to error reduction, alongside an update from GIRI executive director Cliff Smith.

Competence in construction has been under increased scrutiny since the publication of the Hackitt Report in 2017 and the subsequent Setting the Bar report by the Competence Steering Group of the Construction Industry Council. 

All members of professional engineering institutions have an obligation to maintain their competence through continuing professional development, and to support the learning of others. This requirement is now being given even greater weight by key professional bodies such as the Institution of Civil Engineers, RIBA and the CIOB who have reviewed and are taking steps to strengthen their competency framework in the light of recent events.

It’s clear that there is a direct link between competence and error and GIRI’s goals include improving skills across the sector, and creating a culture and working environment to support people to get it right first time. Our speakers will examine this relationship and consider best practice for improving competence in the context of error reduction. 

Dawn Hillier, head of strategy for standards & qualifications at the CITB will talk about developing competence frameworks for installers and consider what are the opportunities for GIRI training/resources. Her talk will include an overview of the different elements of the Building Safety Programme that relate to competence and when they are expected to be in place; an overview of the scope of Working Group 2 and its approach to developing and delivering competence frameworks, including projected timescales and a summary of learning so far. She will outline what is meant by a competence framework, and will ask in what areas do we think the industry will struggle to meet the regulator’s requirements?

Clare Price is sector lead – built environment, at the BSi. She will provide an outline of the BSi competence standards work programme and an update on progress, including expected roll-out and implementation. This will include details of the core criteria for building safety competence frameworks in BSI Flex 8670: 2021, and the ongoing development of three new PAS standards on competence requirements for the Principal Designer, Principal Contractor, and Building Safety Manager roles. She will also provide information on the new BSI Technical Committee and future developments of British Standards in this area. 

Brendan van Rooyen, head of professional services, Institution of Civil Engineers will talk about the ICE's new continuing professional development framework. He will explain why the ICE is enhancing its approach to CPD and talk about the new products that the ICE is launching to support continuing professional development.  

The online event is open to all GIRI member companies and their staff. To confirm your place for this online event, please register now via this link.

Deadline for registrations is close of business on February 8th. 

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