Winter Service Training

Training & Assessment

A cost effective way of ensuring that winter service operations are being carried out safely and correctly, is to ensure that operatives, supervisors and managers are adequately trained and assessed.

In relation to required competence levels, the Institute of Civil Engineers Design and
Practice Guide recommends that all drivers salting or ploughing on roads must be trained and successfully assessed in accordance with the City & Guilds qualification standards.

Skills Training Centre Ltd (STC) have many years of experience delivering high quality on-site training and City & Guilds assessment for a comprehensive range of Winter Service vehicles; Ploughs; and Snow Blowers throughout the UK.

Our experienced trainers/assessors put staff at ease and ensure they have sufficient knowledge to enable them to operate safely and effectively. Our instructors have many years of experience which enables them to deliver a practical hands-on approach to this subject. Practical training & assessments are delivered using your own equipment, this helps to ensure the training is relevant and specific to your own fleet.

In addition to the practical training & assessment we also provide training and assessment for Winter Service Supervision and Monitoring. Under City & Guilds 6159, there is a specific module (Unit 521) which ensures that the first tier of management is aware of their duties and are sufficiently competent to fulfil them. It is essential that appropriate staff within a Highway Authority or Contractor organisation undergo this training.

All training provided by STC is in accordance with Section 13 of the Code of Practice for Highway Maintenance Management.

It is essential that any operative involved in the use or operation of any plant or machinery has received relevant formal training to do so. Where reserve drivers are available as part of an authority's contingency plans it is essential that they are also trained to an equal standard of competence.

Those who pass their Health & Safety and Practical Assessments receive City & Guilds 6159 Certificates and qualify to receive a Winter Service Photo ID Licence from NEREO, this provides details of their qualification and the date they qualified.

Please check with your client what their requirements for re-qualification are as this can vary. Refresher training intervals are also dependent on Risk Assessment; the frequency of the activity being undertaken; changes to equipment; and a number of other factors. The maximum period between refreshers for Winter Service is normally no more than 5 years.