TrainingTraining focus has changed! The full implementation of the 1992 “Six Pack”, PUWER 1998 and the Woodworking ACOP Legislation has caused many changes in the way that training activities and assessment of competence of existing employees is carried out. It was traditional to recruit and train an apprentice in woodcutting machining skills either as a dedicated trade or as an addition to other prime skills (eg joiner, cabinet maker, pattern maker etc). There was often general training in woodcutting machining, due to the low numbers recruited in any one field, putting saw miller, boat builders, furniture and joinery machinists in the same group. For the employees personal development this often worked, well, but the degree of multi-skilling in the lower and mid skills bands sometimes led to migration away from the original job into other machining areas. There are few Colleges of Further Education offering courses for woodcutting machinists due to the effect of low recruitment levels and the costs of maintaining up-to-date machinery. The cost to industry of running short courses in these establishments is very high, they no longer receive local authority funding and must now “make a profit”. Many of the machinists that supply materials to the cabinet, joinery shops, boat buildings or sales areas of an organization, have no recorded training. Who has assessed their levels of competent and safe working practice? What are the benefits of good training?
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