Balfour Beatty's construction business raised the profile of apprentices during Scottish Apprenticeship Week.

It began by taking a leading part in the Scottish Council for Development and Industry's Skills Summit that launched the campaign week and went on to include behavioural based safety training for construction apprentices at Forth Valley College, a gathering of apprentices from the company's engineering construction business at Grangemouth and even a job swap between an apprentice joiner and a managing director.

In Stirling, Harry Gardner, Balfour Beatty Regional HSE Manager, participated in a Safety Health Awareness Day (SHAD) for construction apprentices training at Forth Valley College. Harry said: "The SHAD group was formed in 2003 by representatives of major contractors, supply chain, FMB, CECA, CITB and HSE. Its purpose is to support smaller businesses that want and need assistance to improve standards in their workplace. The awareness day with the apprentices gets right to the foundations of the industry. It encourages people starting in their career to challenge the way they think about health and safety and to make safety personal."


Balfour Beatty apprentice joiner, Matthew Jolly, 19, said: "It was exciting to job swap with our Managing Director, George Hood. I was given the opportunity to chair a meeting in the company's boardroom in Aberdeen where senior managers pitched potential new project opportunities to me. I then had to decide which one I would pursue if I was in charge. It is great to be with a company that makes an effort to let someone who is an apprentice tradesman see how other areas of the business operate.Watching George on the tools was interesting too. He displayed a very professional approach to his joinery work."

Balfour Beatty's engineering construction business has 22 apprentices and adult trainees working at sites across Scotland. As part of Scottish Apprenticeship Week, many of them met at Balfour Beatty's project on the Ineos site at Grangemouth. Alan McCann, Balfour Beatty Regional Director for Engineering Construction Scotland, said: "I joined Balfour Beatty as an apprentice and actively support nurturing talent at all levels of the business. Gathering trainees together was a great opportunity for them to swap experiences and for us to reinforce what a great asset they are to the company. It is vital we secure the skills we need for the future."

(CD/IT)