Training

In 1997, 25,000 construction workers passed through Heathrow Airport. Of these, half were first-time construction workers and the other half had spent less than six months working at the airport.

ACTA
This transient workforce was having a detrimental effect on project teams by preventing learning and experience being applied from project to project. To address this we set up the Airport Construction Training Alliance (ACTA) in partnership with construction employers and local training providers. Our aim was to create centres of construction training excellence and to control the quality of construction training in building and civil engineering skills.

Since then many hundreds of staff have passed through ACTA's doors.

Training
Through ACTA, construction training is available to contractors who are already working or are due to work with BAA and to local school leavers wanting to take advantage of employment opportunities at our airports. Training takes place on-site and at training centres in the south-east. The standard of each course is set by the construction alliance which is made up of companies who want skilled, competent employees. All new construction recruits are trained to at least National Vocation Qualification (NVQ) 2 in a construction-related vocation. Every construction worker at our airports is now expected to produce evidence of competency to NVQ2 or equivalent.

ACTA has also implemented a passport card scheme that documents an individual's skills and helps ensure that all construction workers at the airports have appropriate competencies.

ACTA's work to stabilise the workforce has also proved beneficial in terms of safety. During 2004 the reported accident frequency rate in construction projects fell to 0.23 per 100,000 man hours, less than one-fifth the industry average.