NVQs in the quarrying and extractives sector are broadly divided into two types; Safety Health & Environment or Plant Process & Operations.
The Safety Health & Environment Award (SHE)
This award, which is recognised by the Health and Safety Executive as the preferred method of ‘proving’ competence, will result in the achievement of a nationally recognised NVQ award.
SERAC offers the SHE award for Supervisors (NVQ level 3), Managers (NVQ level 4) and Directors (NVQ level 5). The award usually takes a candidate between 6 and 12 months to complete. The candidate determines the speed of progress through planning and preparation, to achievement. The assessor visits the workplace, usually monthly, on an agreed schedule with each candidate, with the assessor guiding the candidate every step of the way. The candidate has to demonstrate competency in each unit of the award and satisfy the assessor that the relevant legal issues for each particular NVQ are understood.
The cost of a SHE award is variable depending on the level of assessor resource required. Candidates usually cost between £2000 and £5000 to progress to an award, which is also affected by how much training and support the candidate needs.
Read more about the SHE award
See overviews of various awards
SERAC offers training courses to assist the achievement of a SHE award.
If you want to see about client training courses please look under Learning
SERAC offers e-assessment of SHE awards for those candidates that wish to take this route.
Plant, Process or Weighbridge Operations
These awards are often the first time that a candidate has received any form of qualification and provide a real benefit to employee motivation and long term commitment. The process begins with a review of the candidate, from which an assessment plan is created. The assessment plan will highlight the outstanding items required to complete an NVQ. If there are existing safety and operational procedures in use within the workplace we will ensure that candidates understand them and we will reinforce them as part of the assessment programme.
We don’t carry out un-necessary training but, if there are learning needs identified at the planning stage we will develop short teaching sessions to fill any gaps prior to the assessment.
The assessment stage of level 1 and 2 NVQs takes between 1 and 2 days per candidate and is led by a fully trained assessor, who observes candidates in their normal work roles.
The cost of a non statutory award is typically somewhere between £900 and £1200, depending on how many candidates an assessor can observe in a single location.
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Read more about awards.
SERAC offers the following awards:
- Plant Operations Level 2
- Process Operations Level 1
- Process Operations Level 2 Process Operations Level 3
- Weighbridge Operations Level 2
Funding may be available for all or part of a level 2 or 3 NVQ.