SpanSet – Taking Training to the Highest Level

The first training company to be audited by the BSI to the New Standard BS8454 code of practice for the delivery of training and education for work at height and rescue

As designers and manufacturers of Personal fall protection equipment it was quite an obvious choice for SpanSet to move into training. We felt we had acquired a great deal of knowledge that could assist users to both work safely and overcome the challenges of the work task.

There was however also another aspect that would benefit us as a manufacturer and supplier. We received many common questions and were aware of problems occurring due to user error where the customer initially felt the product was to blame.

If we could help increase users understanding then we could all benefit.

SpanSet courses have always been carefully created to meet the needs of our product customers. We have built up an understanding whereby information from trainees and workplaces we visit influences how we develop products. This in turn improves the products we supply and helps to ensure the message we deliver during training is both relevant and addresses real needs.

At an early stage of our development our courses were split into modules that allows users to tailor courses from standard sessions. One key element of this was to have a theory module as the foundation for all practical sessions. The theory module was now delivered regularly providing the user with all the background knowledge they required before they got involved with a practical session. Users reacted well to these sessions taking the opportunity to ask the questions they wanted and revealing that without explanation many solutions appeared to users as paper exercises rather than effective safety measures.

Having created courses, training materials and a whole infrastructure to control it we were still missing one thing. With all our other products we were able to put in place a quality control system that demonstrated to clients our commitment and pushed us to maintain standards. In the case of height safety training the requirements of ISO 9001:2000 that we had implemented were not very specific and did not address many of the key areas. We needed a more specific and robust standard or code of practice to work to.

The opportunity to contribute as part of a working group to create a Code of Practice specifically dealing with work at height training eventually resulted the drafts moving on to ACWAHT and finally to BSI. The result was BS8454:2006.

Having been involved at the start and been keen to help set a high standard we took the new code of practice and began to integrate it into our procedures. This provided a welcome opportunity to take stock of where we were and what we did. It also created the anticipated workload as we were no longer a small operation and implementing new standards can get more difficult the larger you are.

We now have what we feel is a great product in the form of our training courses and as with any other product we are able to control it with an externally audited quality assurance system that relates to it. The step of including BS8454:2006 in our procedures and into the scope for our ISO 9001:2000 audits  has allowed us to use the BSI to audit every part of our operation and hopefully demonstrate clearly our commitment to the quality of all our products. As far as training is concerned we now believe that our “product” is therefore relevant to the height safety products we supply, to the customers we work with and the industries we encounter, with the assurance to all that we will maintain what we have achieved. 

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