An apprenticeship is a job that enables individuals to earn while they learn.  Apprentices spend the majority of their time in the workplace, where they learn new skills, but a proportion of their time must also be spent doing off the job training.  Apprentices may attend college, either on a day release basis or on block release, where they go to college for a week or more at a time and then go back to their workplace.

All apprenticeships are designed by a group of employers, known as a Trailblazer Group.  The group will have agreed between them an outline of the job role covered as well as the duties carried out by someone in that role.  An occupational standard will have been produced that summarises the occupation, as well as listing the knowledge, skills and behaviours (KSBs) needed by someone carrying out that role.

There are various levels of apprenticeship (Levels 1 to 7), from GCSE level up to postgraduate level. The main apprenticeships relevant to geospatial and land surveying are:

• Level 3 Geospatial Survey Technician apprenticeship (equivalent to A level)

• Level 6 Geospatial Mapping and Science Specialist apprenticeship (degree level)

• Level 7 Spatial Data Specialist apprenticeship (postgraduate Masters level).

Apprenticeships: a great way of training staff

Apprenticeships are a great and cost-effective way of training staff, with significant funding from the government.  Many companies find the geospatial apprenticeships a valuable method for ensuring that trainees have all the required knowledge, skills and behaviours to be a well-rounded surveyor.

Apprenticeships are assessed via an End Point Assessment – this can consist of multiple choice or written tests, project reports, project portfolio and professional interview.

It is not complicated to register apprentices and there is a lot of support available from the colleges and universities that offer the qualifications. This is a useful website https://www.apprenticeships.gov.uk/employers.

Look out over the coming weeks for our series of articles looking in more detail at how apprenticeships can benefit survey companies and help address the skills gap.

Join our online apprenticeship webinar tomorrow

To find out more about the Level 3 Geospatial Apprenticeship and the funding available, join our information webinar tomorrow Wednesday 26 March from 1pm – 1.45pm (link below) to hear more about what is involved in an apprenticeship and how to go about taking on an apprentice. Employer and profession experts will be joined by college tutors to answer all your questions.

Join the meeting now
Meeting ID: 346 808 189 430
Passcode: bT398xu9

The post Geospatial apprenticeships: a simple guide appeared first on The Survey Association.

Next week, the Careers and Enterprise Company, the national body for careers education in England, is hosting a webinar for an introduction to their Employer Standards.

Employer Standards is a framework and tool designed to assist employers in assessing where they have gaps in their workforce and then demonstrates how to improve an organisation’s careers education outreach, which ‘will help you open new pathways and opportunities in your sector for young people’. Over 850 employers nationwide already use this framework to provide focus for their outreach and, importantly, make sure that their efforts are aligned with their business goals too.

Every young person should know about land surveying as a career

At recent member events and at numerous networking meetings, we have had many conversations with members about how best to engage with young people and make sure every young person knows about land surveying as a career. Without doubt, everyone understands the importance of doing this to help address our current critical skills gap. However, finding the means of doing so can sometimes seem an overwhelming challenge.

At TSA, we are working with members, organisations and academic institutions to find the best way of doing this, at a national, regional and local level. Many of our members are already doing fantastic work, whether they are going into local schools and colleges to talk to students, offering apprenticeships or visiting nearby scout troops to introduce children to basic survey skills.

Join the webinar on 3^rd December

The Careers and Enterprise Company has national coverage, with skills hubs covering all regions, each one having responsibility for the schools in their area, bringing employers and educational establishments together. Find out more about the organisation here https://www.careersandenterprise.co.uk/employers/employer-standards/

The Careers and Enterprise Company’s webinar is just one further resource which may help our members with their talent pipeline by improving their outreach to schools, making contact with potential trainees and attracting the next generation of land surveyors.

As well as finding out more about Employer Standards, there will be an opportunity to have your questions about the tool, framework and resources by a member of the Employer Standards team. You can register for the webinar here

The post Discover how to open new opportunities in geospatial for young people appeared first on The Survey Association.

28 individual employment reforms

The Bill, introduced within 100 days of the General Election, will bring forward 28 individual employment reforms, including a number of day-one rights for employees and the end to zero-hour contracts.

These transformational changes will re-shape the workplace landscape for years to come so this urgent session is not to be missed.

Join representatives from our HR advisors Croner, who will navigate these changes and explore with you the impact they could have on your organisation.The session will also consider the potential disruption these measures can have on the workplace, and your employees.

This free of charge session will cover:-

– What the reforms mean for your business

– How to prepare your policies and processes

– The most significant changes and when they are likely to kick in

This event will run from 9.30 to 1.00pm on Wednesday 27^th November at Croner’s office at Croner House, Wheatfield Way in Hinckley and is open to all TSA members. To book your place please register by emailing office@tsa-uk.org.uk.

The post Take Five with TSA: Business Improvement Seminar on Employment Rights Bill appeared first on The Survey Association.

The Covid-19 pandemic has cast a long shadow for many people’s mental health, which in turn has meant that many organisations, including our own, are now prioritising wellbeing as an important part of our day-to-day working life.

Jenny Evans has provided TSA members with a special downloadable guide to Good Mental Health, which is in the Members Area of TSA’s website. With some great ideas and techniques to improve your wellbeing, the guide includes a helpful resilience checklist, designed to help you work out how resilient you are feeling, before diving deeper into how to develop resilience traits. This will increase your ability to bounce back in times of particular challenge and help improve your overall mental health. In the guide, Jenny also covers how to identify your core values, deal with stress, provides practical suggestions on mindfulness and also some excellent simple tips for setting achievable mental health goals and lifting your spirits generally.

Health, Safety and Wellbeing Day for TSA members

We are delighted to confirm that Jenny is also one of our guest speakers at our next member event, the TSA Health, Safety and Wellbeing Day, scheduled to take place on Wednesday 15^th March.

As well as a practical wellbeing workshop with Jenny on recognising and tackling stress in ourselves and others, we will also be including Health & Safety sessions. These will comprise Legislation and HSE Statistics updates from Martin Mulholland of MD Safety Management, followed by a focus on ‘Promoting a Positive Safety Culture’ within the business of each member company. Make sure you put the date in your diary and register directly with the Secretariat.

The post <strong>Free guide to good mental health from TSA available now</strong> appeared first on The Survey Association.

New developments to deter criminals outlined at seminar

TSA will host a morning seminar, dedicated to the problem of equipment theft, on Wednesday 22 May, the second day of the GEOBusiness show.

The session, from 10.15-11.15 is chaired by TSA Council member Oliver Viney and features updates on the last 12 months from a panel comprising the police, security professionals, insurers and leading equipment manufacturers. 

In recent years high value survey equipment has been consistently and ruthlessly targeted by criminals across the country.

Crime fighting experts will explain the progress that has been made to halt criminal activity and identify the routes used to dispose of stolen survey equipment.   

TSA Secretary General, Rachel Tyrrell, said, “Equipment theft continues to be a problem for our Members, and I expect the debate to be robust. The seminar will explain the benefits of some of the new developments designed to deter thieves and outline the challenges that remain.”

Following the presentations, delegates will have the opportunity to share their point of view with the speakers: Chief Superintendent Tom Harding, West Mercia Police; Rachael Oakley, SmartWater; John Fraser, Leica Geosystems; Ian Pennington, Trimble; Simon Crowhen, TopCon Positioning; Dave Luscombe, Datatag ID and Andy Barton, Jelf Insurance Brokers.

New security initiatives introduced by manufacturers include systems that can track in real time and remotely disable stolen equipment. The presentations will cover the use of technologies such as GPS, GM, ultra-destruct warning labels and UV etching.

Further details on TSA’s Seminar on Equipment Theft are available here

TSA’s stand at GEOBusiness is C2, at the entrance to the show at London’s Business Design Centre. TSA’s promotional giveaways over the two days are themed to be environmentally friendly.

If you still need to register to attend the most important event in the geospatial calendar, you can do so here 

GEOBusiness and the full programme of seminars and workshops on 21 and 22 May are free to attend. 

The post Update on Equipment Theft at GEO Business 2019 appeared first on The Survey Association.

The topic for the day was ‘The importance of ‘Wellbeing’ in shaping Health & Safety Management Systems’ – perhaps not the most attention-grabbing subject for busy surveyors, but it proved to be an absorbing and challenging topic that got the attention of everyone present.  While safety seems to be improving somewhat, the ‘Health’ side of H&S is seeing an increase in adverse performance.  Some shocking statistics were presented throughout the day, such as men working in the construction industry being SIX times more likely to die from suicide than fall from a height.

Members were taken through steps to help identify what a ‘Wellbeing Programme’ might look like – with benefits for both employees and employers, with  a reminder that good health – both physical and mental – equals good business.

After networking over lunch (with fruit and cake in equal measure!), members worked in groups to tackle a Wellbeing Workshop with Martin and Geoff in full role-play mode.  Everyone gathered together for a final Wellbeing Audit, with some thorough and tough questions, before a final summary and answering any questions.

Feedback from attendees:

“Another helpful H&S seminar……very informative!”

“We always come out of it with something that we then implement into our business, no matter how small or trivial it may seem.”

“A good informative day.”

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The seminar, delivered by Will Brown from Prestwick Centre, was jam packed with over 30 delegates in attendance. This emerging technology which opens up many avenues of opportunity, also sets many new questions and challenges with, in particular, the ever changing legislation. This is also likely to increase in 2017 according to Will, so who better to speak to our members than NATS? The satisfaction ratings for the presentation reaching an almost unprecedented 94%.

Background, legislation, operational considerations and H&S issue were all covered in a free flowing five hours interspersed with a networking lunch. All of this being FREE to TSA members.

The feedback has been excellent with all respondents expressing that the day was worthwhile. Other comments received were:

“Presentation was really well put across and very helpful for me and as a company moving forward.”

“Learned so much that we wouldn’t have even thought about while flying our RPAS in and around open/busy areas,”

“The best UAV / Drone / RPAS event I have been to. No sales and lots of practical information.”

“Excellent choice of subject and pitched just right for me. I’ve been looking for this type of awareness day for some time and this was by far and away the best.”

All in all a very successful, informative and well received day. Discussions are now taking place to organise and run a series of training days specifically for TSA members. Watch out for dates.

The post Up, up and away appeared first on The Survey Association.

TSA supplier member Citation today held its first breakfast session in Blackpool, which I attended, as part of a nationwide tour on HR, Employment Law and H&S issues. The early morning session being promoted as a “Background to Awareness!” These two hour sessions are delivered in a friendly yet informative manner with the opportunity for questions on any of the issues discussed at the end. The point was made that over the last twelve months very little has changed in employment law but this is likely to change as we move towards Brexit.

For any business that does not employ a dedicated HR person, the advice and guidance given is essential to ensure that a company is working within the law in relation to its employees. Topics covered included recruitment, advertising of jobs, dismissal, CVs, interviews, application forms, productivity, absence, self-certification and employee rights of which there are a total of eighty three (83) currently in law. The need for employee contracts of employment, now to be issued after eight weeks employment, and employee handbooks was covered in great detail and was quite an eye opener at times.

Sometimes, these types of seminars can be used to frighten the attendees but this was never the case here as the seminar moved on to H&S issues and some of the new legislation in place.

TSA circulated the membership on the 12^th September about this series of seminars and having attended one I can honestly say that it is one of the most informative two hours I have spent in a long time. If you employ staff, take a morning of your time out of the office and see if you are complying with the law. If you are unable to do this, Citation will visit your offices and make sure that you have procedures in place to ensure that you will minimise the possibility of you ever becoming a victim of our ever increasing litigious society.

The post Looking after your staff appeared first on The Survey Association.

The topic for the day was Vehicle Safety and all that it means for surveying companies.  The day began with a welcome from Leica and then straight into the latest Legislation Updates.  Attendees were able to then focus on why a Vehicle Management system is an essential part of any business, with the opportunity to work in small groups.

Networking over lunch is always an essential part of any TSA event and this was no exception.  Work then resumed in the afternoon, with a Risk Assessment focusing on Working in the Highways and all the H&S elements to consider.

Due to the heavy rain and awful driving conditions on the day, the seminar ended slightly earlier to practice what it preached by helping members to have a safer drive home!

The post TSA’s 10th Annual H&S Seminar appeared first on The Survey Association.

Martin Mulholland and Geoff Davies from MD Safety Management ran the seminar, with nearly 30 delegates in attendance.  Mike Skicko, Field Sales Manager for Leica, welcomed everyone and also provided tours of the building at lunchtime.

The morning session kicked off with a sobering video, impressing upon everyone the fact that health and safety is all about people – quite simply preserving life and keeping people safe from harm.

Martin and Geoff brought everyone up to date with the latest updates to Health and Safety Legislation, including RIDDOR and CDM2015.

The subject for the day was Working at Height and the background in legislation and requirements was covered.  Members were then divided up into small groups, where they carried out a Risk Assessment exercise.

After a tasty lunch and some valuable networking time, the afternoon session was wholly taken up by a Work at Height Safe System of Work workshop.  Members were able to spread out across three rooms and proceeded to work very hard.

The day finished just after 3.30pm, with a lot of ground having been covered.

MD Safety run TSA’s Health & Safety Scheme and will be contacting members in April to renew.

Members got a great deal out of the day – 100% of them found the day worthwhile, which is exactly what we hope for, and why we lay on such events.

“A worthwhile seminar which definitely increased my awareness of working at height”

“Very informative presentation and I liked the break out sessions which helped put some real context to the information contained in the slides.”

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