Welcome to TTS UK Group
Transport and Training Services Ltd
TTS UK Group, the best in the North West, offers courses in many areas of the Freight, Passenger, Rail & Light Rail transport industry, such as Health & Safety, Driver Certificate of Professional Competence DCPC & CPC, Digital Tachograph and Drivers Hours plus many more. Check our site regularly for updates & special offers. We also offer a wide range of Transport Audits on Staff, Vehicles & Operations.
Don’t Ignore the Value of Refresher Training
Every year, the media is filled with stories relating to workplace incidents. However it appears that a number of these industry related incidents are not a simple, unfortunate event but are often a direct result of improper or lack of adequate training.
The recession has had a massive impact on the industry which in many cases has caused business owners to make some ruthless budgetary cuts. Training, in particular refresher training, can be regarded by some to be an area of their business they can affordably abandon. Costing from as little as £35 per candidate, refresher training is a small expenditure but many opt to disregard this with disastrous and costly effects.
Investing in refresher training is beneficial for both employees and employers alike. For an employer, this investment can help you to comply with Workplace Transport Safety: An Employer's Guide (HSG136), paragraph 651, which suggests that refresher training is considered every 3-5 years.
For an employee, refresher training can ensure that their skills and abilities are kept at the required, safe level. As an employer, removing this area of an operator’s development could incur huge costs as a result of damaged stock, downtime due to injuries or in more severe cases, even the death of an individual. In these instances, these costs could be within the region of £10,000s and in some cases could even result in the closure of your business.
The message here is clear: cutting corners will not help you to cut costs. Not only will the elimination of refresher training greatly put the safety of your workers at risk, but may also put the future of your business in jeopardy. The question is simple: is it really worth the risk?
Getting to Grips with Operator CPC
In December 2011, the structure of the Operator CPC was changed, meaning that no longer were National and International CPC qualifications obtainable as separate qualifications, but they would now be recognised as a dual qualification.
For many there is some confusion over what this new syllabus will entail and what their eligibility for each qualification will be. As a result, awarding body OCR, have released details of the new CPC qualification and what this will mean for operators.
Now referred to as Certificate of Professional Competence in Road Haulage, the new exam will consist of one multiple-choice paper and one case study assessment. Both aspects will test national and international knowledge and have been condensed to include more relevant information compared to the earlier exams.
Operators wishing to sit the entire exam will not need to fulfil any specific entry requirements, but will need to possess sound industry knowledge and good literacy and numeracy skills. Any operators who wish to complete just their International CPC qualification must have passed their National CPC after 1st October 1999 and will have until December 2012 to complete this. Should the operator fail to do so in this scenario, they will be required to re-sit the entire restructured exam.
It is not just the structure and content of the exam that has changed, however. No longer will candidates be required to obtain a specific mark on each paper, but will now only need to achieve 50% across the multiple-choice and case study papers collectively to pass the whole exam.
Furthermore, candidates will also be able to use notes and books for the case study assessment paper and will be able to sit each unit separately – it is not a requirement for the operator to sit both units on the same day to pass the entire exam.
For more information on the Management CPC in Road Haulage Qualification, visit the Management CPC webpage here or contact our Sales team on +44 (0)1952 243500
