How many people in the timber trade know the difference between a strength grade and a strength class?
And how many could give an example of visually graded timber which meets C27?
The answer, sadly, could be very few according to training consultant Jim Coulson of Technology for Timber (TFT).
To help improve the situation, he has developed a Wood Product Knowledge Course (WPKC), which is now on offer to all companies in the timber trade.
The course recently won Institute of Wood Science (IWSc) accreditation and students who complete the test at the end, receive the IWSc Timber Studies Award, a new entry-level qualification for the institute’s full technical certificate course.
Someone else who has been concerned at the industry’s lack of training is SCA Timber (UK) Ltd managing director Rob Simpson. He pressed his Swedish bosses for permisson to devise some sort of programme for SCA customers. They consented and, together with Jim Coulson, he came up with the the SCA Customer Training Course, which incorporates TFT’s WPKC.
‘Guinea pigs’ for the new course were six young men sponsored by SCA Timber (UK) and their employers to take the first step on the training ladder.They started their training last autumn and for one day a month they were closeted in the classroom at Howarth Timber’s New Holland offices with Mr Coulson.
Two of the trainees – Paul Poelstra and Andrew Ireson – are employed by SCA. Kurt Coupland and Richard Cousins work for Howarth Timber while Dave Taylor and Steve Coxon are with Severn Timber Products Ltd.
Customers have to be invited by SCA to participate in the course – and word soon got around about what was on offer. As the first course came to a finale with a trip to Sweden where the students took their test, the second was under way, hosted by importer and merchant JF Goodwillie at its premises in Waterlooville, Portsmouth. Eight delegates were signed up from JF Goodwillie, HLC, Hoppings Timber and Snows Timber, and they will take their course exam at SCA’s Munksund mill in Sweden in mid-May.
Mr Coulson said: ‘This course is aimed at anybody within the timber trade who needs an update – and anybody who thinks they ought to know more. They may know how to run their business, but face them with a technical issue that could impinge on their ability to deal with complaints and they don’t know enough about it.
‘This is an industry full of old wives’ tales that need sorting,’ he said, listing as examples people who refer to ‘unassorted’ timber instead of ‘unsorted’ or ‘stress grading’ instead of ‘strength grading’. ‘It may be a small point,’ he added, ‘but it is important to stop that sort of wrong or seriously out-of-date information passing down the trade to new employees.’
Mr Coulson saw the demise of the Timber Trade Training Association as an opportunity to produce a course that would satisfy basic requirements and give people a certificate at the end.
The IWSc recognition, he said, gives trainees and their companies credibility.
Rob Simpson of SCA Timber said: ‘Delegates entering our courses are being offered an excellent opportunity to increase their knowledge and skills with the support of the IWSc. The Institute’s decision also gives recognition to the importance of the day-to-day working knowledge which SCA Timber is imparting through its training schemes.
‘We’ve had a tremendous response from customers wanting places on our courses.’
Mr Simpson believes there should be a follow up to the course to find what trainees have learned and how they have used their knowledge.
Alun Gape, managing director of Severn Timber Products which sent two trainees on the first course, said: ‘We are particularly keen to train our staff who deal with customers and handle product suppliers. We want to ensure people buy the right product for the right application.’
