CPA Bulletin

www.cpa.uk.net CPA Bulletin > November 2019 13 Slido, the web-based Q&A platform, was also usedthroughouttheevent. The first panel session was entitled ‘The Plant-Hire Industry in 2019 and Beyond’ and involved three participants - Katie Kelleher, IanWebster and Belinda Naylor - facilitated by Merryn Myatt. Katie previously worked within sales and as a Recruitment Consultant, but had a career change in 2014 when she became a Lifting Technician Apprentice with Select/Laing O’Rourke on a brand new apprenticeship scheme. Now a Crane Operator currently working on the Tideway project, Katie has been named by Construction News as one of their 15 people to watch in 2019. Ian Webster and Belinda Naylor both work for Webster Technologies - Ian as the Chairman and Technical Director and Belinda as Business Development Manager. During the session, some interesting discussion was generated about the difficulties associated with attracting females to the construction sector and the need to encourage diversity. Katie is one of just five women out of a total of 250 Crane Operators and admitted that when she first looked into career opportunities in the construction sector, her first thought was that women don’t operate cranes. She spoke honestly about her first day on-site, where she was the only female working in an all-male environment, but she has since developed a love of working in construction. Katie stressed the need to focus more on apprenticeships and referred to her experience of speaking in schools as a STEM ambassador. She referred to the value of using crane simulators in schools to bring jobs to life and give children an insight into what it’s like to operate a machine on- site. A question from the audience urged more employers to offer vacancies in the construction plant sector, as delegate Lee Price fromMyerscough College asserted that the college recently had over 500 applications for 40 apprenticeship places. Another question asserted that students need to be introduced to the construction industry earlier than Year 8 and 9, as once they reach their GSCEs or A-Levels, it is deemed too late. Merryn posed the question to the panel of how the industry can face the future and Ian Webster asserted that innovation is key. Webster Technologies specialises in innovative cutting and trenching equipment for the construction and mining sectors and was the first such company to use hydraulics for cutting. One of Ian’s first designs was the first Rockwheel rotary cutting attachment now used across the world and he spoke about his latest development of a new hydraulic breaker which has lower vibration levels and utilises less fuel than other such breakers on the market. Ian’s colleague Belinda stated that ‘it’s not the strongest that survive, it’s the ones who are most adaptable to change’ and asserted that the products developed by Webster Technologies, despite the company’s small size, are competing with the rest of the world. Belinda also stated that any challenge brings forward an opportunity and issues relating to Brexit are beyond our control. The next panel session was ‘Mental Health Toolkit for Construction’. This involved Bill Hill , Chief Executive of the Lighthouse construction industry charity. Bill also plays a central role in Building Mental Health, the construction industry’s key mental health awareness and support programme. Also involved as panel members were Merrill Lynch , Director of L Lynch Plant Hire and Haulage, and Andy Burrows , UK Operations Manager, also of L Lynch Plant Hire and Haulage. Bill Hill kicked off the session with two major statistics in the construction industry. The fact that 20% of time taken off work as sick leave is attributed to mental ill-health CPACONFERENCEREVIEW2019: 2