The new Be Covid Smart digital learning toolkit is intended to help Scotland’s building sector get safely back to work.
The immersive online training programme aims to raise awareness of Covid-19 safety by:
- educating those working on site, in homes or in places of learning;
- encouraging the use of safe working and learning; and
- empowering the construction workforce to call out unsafe behaviour.
The quiz-based toolkit can be accessed via mobile, tablet, or laptop and will be hosted on the CSIC website.
The programme is being led by Iain McCaskey, head of devolved nations at the Building Engineering Services Association and head of the CICV Forum skills group. “The Forum had identified the need not only for a safe return to work but also for reassurance for apprentices their families and employers,” he said. “This innovative learning solution will not only raise awareness of safety in the current climate but also identify and test the user’s knowledge of the necessary steps to take to protect themselves and others.
“Be Covid Smart will be available to everyone within Scottish construction to use freely. However, initial targets will primarily be small site operators and companies employing apprentices, as we feel this is where support is needed.”
The toolkit will start by supporting domestic work and apprentices and their colleges, and will explore the health and safety aspects of working within a college workshop, manoeuvring around the building and how to get to and from work or college.
Lisa Deane, lead future skills manager at CSIC, said: “We are launching the platform with ‘place of learning’ and ‘domestic work’ modules, followed closely by ‘on-site’ modules.
“We’ve worked closely with the Glasgow School of Art to bring an innovative and fun way to learn important Covid-19 safety best practice, which we hope will give the workforce, businesses and customers confidence that the industry promotes high safety standards.
“This is a new approach to engaging learning within the construction industry, which can be continually updated as circumstances change and which could also support markets outside of Scotland who are interested in the innovative ways we’re dealing with a safe return to work.”
The new project is one of six funded by CSIC’s i-Con Challenge Fund, an initiative to support the construction industry with innovative solutions to challenged brought about by Covid-19. The CICV Forum is made up of more than 70 trade associations, professional services bodies and companies. Other recent CICV Forum initiatives include travel advice, underpinning operating guidance for the industry and a series of free commercial and employment webinars to give advice on topics including redundancy, payments and conflict avoidance.
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