Welcome to the Plant Sector Representative Organisation Website

The Voice of the Construction Plant Sector

The Plant Sector Representative Organisation (PSRO) is an employer-led partnership, through a Board, that comprises of representatives from construction-focussed employers and their federations, associations and other bodies, including from allied sectors, who have a valid interest in setting standards and delivery requirements for plant-based certificating bodies and card schemes in construction and which fall within the scope of the Construction Leadership Council’s (CLC) requirements for certification schemes.

Update: Employer Webinar on the Super Sector Competency Frameworks

The PSRO are hosting an employer webinar titled ‘Understanding the Competency Frameworks for Plant Occupations’ as described below. (Note: This session replaces the original event scheduled 14th January which was postposed due to bereavement).

The rescheduled session will take place on Tuesday 24th March commencing 2.00pm for approximateley one hour.

Registration for the rescheduled event can be made here

Feature: ICSG Super Sector Competency Frameworks Programme

Following the tragic fire of the Grenfell tower in London a number of years ago, the issue of industry competence was identified as a factor by the investigation report. This led to new legislation – the Building Safety Act 2022 and Amendment Regulations 2023 – that imposes minimum requirements for those involved in building works, with a particular focus on competence.

The Indsutry Competence Steering Group (ICSG) was formed to lead the programme on the development of competence frameworks for all construction occupations, including is including plant. A frameworks programme is being implemented to enable everyone in construction to be deemed occupationally competent.

The frameworks identify the skills, knowledge, experience and behaviours – shortened to SKEBs. The Plant Sector Representative Organisation (PSRO) is the lead organisation for all of the plant-related occupations competencies, with the Construction Plant-hire Association (CPA) acting as developers and project-managers.

An industry working group was formed, consisting of expertise across the sector and includes representation from construction contractors, plant owners/hirers, training providers, construction federations as well as the unions and the HSE.

Part of the development is the production of ‘routes-to-competence’ – a graphic illustration of how competence can be attained and maintained – along with where relevant certification and carding would apply in terms of training and competence measurement recognition.

The group has now completed Phase 1 of their project and have devised competency frameworks for plant operators of mainstream construction plant and as part of the frameworks development, a public consultation exercise is underway to ensure that industry requirements are met, allowing those from industry to suggest additions or improvements, or where technical inaccuracies may exist for particular machine types or groups.

The plant operator frameworks for public consultation and a feedback form can be downloaded from the downloads page at Updates, Downloads & Links | psro.org.uk

Phase 2 is now underway for other plant occupations such as plant maintenance, installations, loading/securing and lifting operations/slinger-signaller.

Feature: PSRO Supporting the CITB Plant Operations Training Standards

CITB has introduced a first set of new standards for the training of plant operators and allied occupations and have been developed in collaboration with industry working groups, made up of employers, providers and federations. The PSRO Technical Review Group have further provided technical and delivery guidance and support the implementation of the new standards and forms an integral part of the PSRO Competency Framework to ensure high and consistent standards for plant card scheme issue.

The new standards are made up of learning outcomes that encompass the technical content and assessment criteria as well as specifying training durations for both novice operators and those with some experience. These new standards are intended to provide consistency to plant training and testing requirements across the construction industry and alongside the new standards, the grant rates for plant training and tests will also be changed, where a single grant will be available for all CITB registered employers.

For employers to be able to claim grant, training will need to meet the technical and assessment content of the standard, be delivered by a CITB-Approved Training Organisations (ATO) and leads to a plant card that carries the CSCS logo.

More information on the new training standards can be viewed at https://www.citb.co.uk/levy-grants-and-funding/grants-and-funding/plant-standards-and-grants/

Feature: PSRO/SCSS Eco-operations National Training Delivery Framework

The PSRO and the Supply Chain Sustainability School’s (SCSS) Plant Group have worked together in order to develop a training-delivery framework for courses on plant-based eco-operations to encourage low-carbon based operations

The framework sets out the parameters for consistent delivery and identifies and provides guidance on areas such as core and optional learning outcomes, delivery content and methodologies, assessment strategies and course durations. As the learning content can vary for a number of occupations, the framework further identifies individual course content and delivery factors for plant operatives, supervisors, plant and site managers, planners, plant procurers, maintenance personnel etc.

The aim is that on completion of a course based on this framework, delegates should have attained a required level of understanding on the principles of reducing machine-based carbon emissions, enabling them to recognise and apply learnt reduction techniques, operational processes and emerging machine technologies with a desired outcome that each delegate takes personal ownership of the need to reduce emissions.

The framework can be downloaded free of charge from the ‘Updates, Downloads and Links’ page.