E.T.C. (EDUCATION & TECHNICAL CONSULTANCY).

The Provision and Use of Work Equipment regulations (PUWER98) place a number of requirements on employers.  In particular, their employees must receive suitable and sufficient initial training in any processes which they are required to undertake and must also receive update training at regular intervals.

To meet the above requirements, Parliament approved Curriculum order 2000 which set up a framework for a code of practice in secondary D&T.  Essentially, this is a set of standards that are formally agreed by all interested parties in the sector.  In the case of schools they included the main teaching unions, the D&T Association, the DFE, the TDA, NAAIDT, OFSTED, BSI and the Health & Safety Executive.

The Downloads section of this website contains more detailed information on the knowledge and competencies expected in each area. The agreed period between updates is 5 years.

The normal route to meet the agreed standards is given below.

D&TA Accreditation - Key points

The D&T Association H&S scheme meets the nationally agreed standards for Health & Safety in Design & Technology in Schools and similar establishments.

It is widely known, is approved by the HSE and meets  both BS4163 and the PUWER requirements

Under this Scheme, only registered consultants can award initial and update certificates of competence.

ETC can provide both training and accreditation to these national standards.  (Consultant registration No. 0546).

To establish the probable time needed and cost, schools will first need to complete and return an audit grid.  This will list how many staff need training, which machines or areas are required and whether it is initial or refresher training.

The Audit grid can be found on the downloads page.  It is the last item in the right hand column Click here to go to it