Rethink on CPCS testing spaces

The Construction Plant Competence Scheme's (CPCS) management committee is to reconsider the space requirements for the new test centres following industry disquiet.

Under the current proposal, in order to test the competence of an operator on a dozer or a 360º excavator over 10t, the test centre would require an area 90m x 90m and the test would last up to two hours and 45 minutes. At 70m x 70m the space required to test competence on a mobile crane isn't much smaller and few, if any, training providers would have such a large area available to them, precluding them from becoming test centres.

Requirements for off-centre testing are "in accordance with the machine and test specifications" and critics say the space needed to test operators on excavators and cranes should follow the same methodology.

"If you put a 10t excavator in the corner of a 90m x 90m test area, you'd have a job to see it from the far side, let alone assess the operator's competence," one critic told CJ.

CPCS chairman Trevor Gamble said: "These requirements are not set in stone we will look at what comes out of our roadshow meetings." He said there have been more applications for testing centre status than anticipated, and while some may not gain approval, it wouldn't delay implementation of the scheme, due to start on 1 August.

"I'm not going to pass training centres that aren't fit for purpose, but we don't want to see people treated unfairly," he added.