Posted By snt Recruit somebody with the capabilities and train them up yourself. No point moaning about agencies. A good company should have the capabilities to train their staff to the level they require for their operations. There are good candidates looking for opportunities, give them a try. Good luck.

Posted By Paul1 Oh dear. Planning Supervision requires technical knowledge in respect of construction and knowledge of the design process. H & S professionals do not always make the best PS's. On the job training, very difficult. Competence is king and all too often those of us in the PS world see incompetent people all the time purporting to be Planning Supervisors when they wouldn't be able to hold a ten second conversation on the relative merits of different piling techniques or pro's,con's and implications of PT concrete frames over steel etc. Refer to the competence requirements muted in the draft acop to CDM2 and note that IOSH is not recognised as a construction related institution to determine competence, which speaks volumes. IOSH has definitely lost out on this area to the APS et al. Which is a pity as a member of both organisations.

Posted By Mal Shiels Dear all A lot of the former comments are corect in what they say, competence is the key. However to say that this is not the forum to advertise or recruit planning supervisors is in my opinion wrong. To fulfill the planning supervisor role you need some modecum of health and safety knowledge, both in the design process and the construction process, how else can you comment on the principal contractors construction phase health and safety plan, or liaise with them during the construction works? Alongside the design and construction knowledge you need to have some idea of the procurement process and the kind of people skills needed to manage, liaise with and co-ordinate design teams. Like all roles within the construction industry, there are core competence criteria needed with a bit extra area specific knowledge which is concentrated in the area of discipline. It will be interesting when CDM changes do come in just how many professional individuals and companies actually turn down a role because they do not assess themselves as competent! EG: Project in nuclear environment or project in pipeline industry, i would not take on the planning supervisor role in those instances because i do not know enough about the industries. Regards

Posted By Asha Matovu Correction!!!!!!!! Sorry Mal, that second paragraph was meant for Paul1

Posted By Christopher Kelly On the other hand there are lots of Planning Supervisors who should be planning safety issues in at the design stage who spend all their time on structural issues and do not have the health and safety experience to deal the issues which should be covered in the health and safety plan, leading to problems at the Construction phase due to poor planning. Result - lots of meaningless safety plans from the planning stage which then have to be developed by competent health and safety professionals !