Land Drilling New Entrant Training Scheme 2022/23 Launched

March 25, 2022

The British Drilling Association (BDA) 18-month Land Drilling Specialist Applied-Skills Programme 2022/23 has been launched and is designed to take a company employee, who is beginning their drilling career, through to the award of the National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) in Land Drilling, level 2, as a Lead Driller.

Specifically, the new entrant training scheme, which is open to BDA members and non-members, will provide a mix of formal off-the-job training and supervised on-the-job training at employer level, followed by NVQ assessment.

Open to all land drilling sectors and industry enterprises, the Scheme is fully endorsed by the CITB and forms part of their Specialist Applied-Skills Programme for the specialist occupations known as SAPs. It is supported by the Enabling Specialist Provision commissioned fund, alongside the availability of short duration and qualification grants to eligible employers. The BDA’s role is that of Training Provider whereby it carries out all the administration of the scheme, organises all off-the-job training, monitors with CITB the on-the-job training and arranges the NVQ assessment to take place.

The benefits to both company and trainee are enormous and include:

• Quality training to agreed national, industry and BDA standards
• Off-the-job Trainers will be industry experts in their field
• Fully documented training records satisfying legal requirements e.g., HASWA
• Trainee eligible for CSCS (Red) Trainee card following Health & Safety test
• Cost offset by CITB grants to eligible companies
• Retention of employees by offering nationally recognised training / qualification
• Recruitment of new employees seeking career path
• Training of new entrants on correct and safe operations
• Trainees working towards a set goal – NVQ qualification
• Trainee input into company practices following formalised training
• Exposure of trainees to a range of drilling activity not within their company
• Sum of the whole is greater than any single employer can provide

For more information, including details about the training, the NVQ assessment, costs & grants, and eligibility, contact Joel Stevens, General Manager – joel@britishdrillingassociation.co.uk