Following the tragic fire of the Grenfell tower in London a number of years ago, the issue of industry competence was identified as a factor by the investigation report.
This led to new legislation – the Building Safety Act 2022 and Amendment Regulations 2023 – that imposes minimum requirements for those involved in building works, with a particular focus on competence.
The Construction Leadership Council (CLC) have advocated competence frameworks for all construction occupations, including plant. Through the Industry Competence Steering Group (ICSG), a frameworks programme is being implemented to enable everyone in construction to be deemed occupationally competent.
The frameworks identify the skills, knowledge, experience and behaviours – shortened to SKEBs. The Plant Sector Representative Organisation (PSRO) is the lead organisation for all of the plant-related occupations competencies, with the Construction Plant-hire Association (CPA) acting as developers and project-managers.
An industry working group was formed, consisting of expertise across the sector and includes representation from construction contractors, plant owners/hirers, training providers, construction federations as well as the unions and the HSE.
Part of the development is the production of ‘routes-to-competence’ – a graphic illustration of how competence can be attained and maintained – along with where relevant certification and carding would apply in terms of training and competence measurement recognition.
The group has now completed Phase 1 of their project and have devised competency frameworks for plant operators of mainstream construction plant and as part of the frameworks development, a public consultation exercise is being launched to ensure that industry requirements are met, allowing those from industry to suggest additions or improvements, or where technical inaccuracies may exist for particular machine types or groups.
A consultation pack has been devised, incorporating the various frameworks and routes to competence and can be downloaded from www.psro.org.uk As returnable feedback form accompanies the pack and the completed form or any comments can be made to enquiries@psro.org.uk. The closing date of the consultation is Friday 14th November 2025.
