Education and Training The reputation of a company to provide quality products in an efficient and reliable manner fundamentally depends on the workforce it employs. The bedrock of any company is its employees and the investment put into their wellbeing and skills set is one of the most vital aspects of a company’s success. With this in mind, training becomes a key aspect for the development of a sound well-functioning workforce that is skilled in their job roles and above all safe in the working practices they adopt. The BFPA believes that this positive attitude towards employee training is not only good for the individual company but also of huge benefit for the fluid power industry. A well-trained workforce in the basics of working with hydraulics or pneumatic systems or equipment should be the very least any customer or end user should expect from the company it is dealing with. Fluid power systems training courses Over the past few years, the BFPA through its Education and Training Committee has developed a series of qualifications which cover what we believe to be the minimum requirements for understanding the systems surrounding working with hydraulics and electro pneumatic equipment. These Minimum Educational Recommendations (MER) provide candidates with the essential fundamental knowledge to maintain a system safely. To have a basic awareness of what should and should not be happening with that equipment and a knowledge of what they can safely deal with and what needs to be passed on for further advice and guidance. Many existing companies and training centres within the Association already have effective well-established foundation training courses. The great news is that there is now a steady flow of these providers applying to have their courses approved by the BFPA to establish that they meet these minimum educational recommendations. In addition, other BFPA members are specifically developing new training courses guided by the MERs to offer to their employees and customers here in the UK and Europe. The success of a training plan can depend on providing a clear progression route to increase skills and enable employees to continue developing further. To this end the BFPA are devising a threetiered competence-based qualification programme for hydraulics and electro pneumatics of which the Level One and Two qualifications are now complete and up and running. The BFPA Level One competence-based qualifications aim to be the next step up from the MERs. The knowledge gained through the foundation course will be cemented and then applied through a series of practical tasks undertaken on the level one course to enable the candidate to demonstrate their skills and ability to apply that learnt knowledge. These Level-one qualifications are new and recently approved but are already being delivered by several BFPA approved training centres which is very encouraging. The BFPA aims to continue working hard throughout 2023 to expand the network of companies delivering both the MERs and the BFPA Level one qualification to widen the accessibility of these courses to both employees and employers and thereby encouraging the growth of a trained, skilled workforce. 13,000 trainees to date – the BFPA continues to expand its range of courses 48 www.bfpa.co.uk DRAFT BRITISH FLUID POWER ASSOCIATION BFPA MINIMUM EDUCATIONAL RECOMMENDATIONS – HYDRAULICS DRAFT BRITISH FLUID POWER ASSOCIATION BFPA MINIMUM EDUCATIONAL RECOMMENDATIONS – PNEUMATICS By Martin Kingsbury, Membership and Training Director, the BFPA.
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