As the construction industry returns to site many things will have changed.
How many workers are available to return to site, how many are allowed on site and how we work are all things we need to take think about.
We can’t do much about the first two but managing how we work on site is possible. This can make the difference between a job making a profit or a loss.
And much of this depends on the skills, knowledge and ability of the site manager or site supervisor.
The CIOB Certificate/Diploma in Construction Site Management programme has recently been overhauled by the Chartered Institute of Building and is designed to cover all aspects of a site manager’s role.
The syllabus has been changed, with participants only now needing to complete three modules, including Health and Safety, to attain the certificate and nine modules for the diploma.
Stephen Geraghty, pictured above, is a site supervisor with Collen Construction. He was the first person to graduate with a certificate from Construction Professionals Skillnet’s Chartered Institute of Building’s Construction Site Management programme last year.
“I have 10 years’ experience as a site supervisor and site manager. All my experience gained was from a practical background and my education was on the job,” he says.
“The course helped me understand why I was doing things the way I was doing them. But I also learned plenty of new things that I can apply on the job now, for example, the Environmental Aspects and Impacts unit was very helpful and I have used this on multiple occasions since.
“The CIOB Certificate is an excellent grounding in key elements of construction site management,” he added.
Geraghty believes that given the current environmental and sustainability focus in the industry, this sort of education is invaluable and a key element in the construction site manager’s role.
“You can learn a lot from the other participants, he says. “They come from a wide variety of backgrounds – from large and small companies, from main contractors to sub-contractors and specialist contractors.
“For me, the course was ideal. It helps me do my job better. I would recommend the course to anyone who wants to become a better site supervisor or manager and to further their career prospects.”
The new syllabus started at the beginning of March 2021.
Modules to be completed for the full diploma are:
Contractual and Legal Responsibilities, Managing the Quality of Construction, Project Planning, Control, Monitoring and Risk for Construction, Managing People in a Professional Construction Context, Organisation of the Construction Site, Construction Project Resourcing and Cost Management, Health and Safety Management, Managing the Technology of Modern and Traditional Construction Work, Managing Sustainable Construction.
Site perspective on education
Derrick Carroll from McGrattan & Kenny is a recent graduate of the CIOB Construction Site Management programme.
“The course was important to me as I was out of work at the time due to an injury and I didn’t know if I would be able to go back on my tools,” he says.
“I was new in the role of site supervisor and had never done this before. The course definitely helped me with the task in hand of supervising the job and getting it through to the finish.”
He feels a lot of what he learned could be applied straight to practice on the job.
“The programme is very flexible with modules being offered regularly,” he says.
“You can start the programme whenever you wish and pick the modules to fit in with your workload. There are four half day sessions over two weeks per module.”
This includes one-to-one sessions with the trainer to make sure you are progressing on the assignments and that you have understood everything,” he added.
“This allowed me to complete the certificate quickly and to use my results to apply to WIT for the BSc in Construction Site Management. I was accepted and am just finishing my first year.”
For further information on this or other Construction Professionals Skillnet training contact Liz Carroll at [email protected] or call +353 87 932 3749.
