Page 5 - INDEX Winter 2024

CHAIRMAN ’ S S A Y

A momentous few months!

Firstly, a very big thank you to the CSA. I had the great honour to be formally elected as the
Chair at October’s AGM and I do so hope that I am able to do as good a job as those greats of
the commissioning world that have gone before me. Secondly, we are very fortunate that Rob
Cleworth from End Systems has agreed to take on the Vice Chair position. We are also grateful
to David Corner for stepping up to chair the Technical Committee. Along with Neil Burdess as
our shiny new CEO and Tony Anderson as our Chief Technical Officer and the marvellous CSA
office team we are bringing a younger and fresher look to the organisation that will stand us in
good stead. Some of them even understand this strange new technology thingy that has passed
me by! Webs and clouds mean spiders and rain to me………….

Talking of fresher looks, members of the Main Committee (MC) do sterling work in setting overall
policy and guidance for the association. Most of the current members have been in place for
some time and we could really do with representation from some of the newer CSA corporate
and associate members. There is even space for a couple of individual members. Of course you
are all busy people, but be honest. Are you really that stretched that you can’t spare a couple
of hours here and there to help the CSA. After all, if the CSA makes more of an impact on the
construction industry, that can only help the members; you’ll be helping yourselves in the long
run. We are planning four MC meetings next year – February, May, September and November. If
you are interested, please feel free to contact Jo in the CSA office to start with.

For those of you that were at the Awards, wasn’t it a great night. A full house, worthy entries
and winners in all categories, super entertainment and much merriment all round. For those
of you that didn’t attend, why not? You missed a great event, and I urge you to make sure you
are there next year.

I see that the CSA DLC training system is still proving popular for people wanting to get on the
ladder for their CSCS cards. As well as the commissioning side, the first batch of DLC As and Bs
for the water treatment side of things is out there and DLC C should be around early in 2025.
Further interest has been generated by the CSA making presentations at the CSCA conferences
in London and Manchester in November.

On that front, something that needs reinforcement is the fact that all applicants have to submit
a CV. Some corporate members have challenged that, saying that if they tell us an applicant is
a grade 1 or 2 then that’s good enough. That is Industry Accreditation (IA). Have they not taken
any notice of what SKILLcard have said? IA (not AI) is the main thing that they are trying to get
rid of in order to more clearly demonstrate the competence of construction workers. CVs for
everyone it has to be – no exceptions.

So, as 2024 draws to a close, it only remains for me to hope that every single one of you has
a really great Christmas and may all of us enjoy a happy and prosperous new year – unfair
construction industry payment terms permitting………………..

Keith Barker – CSA Chairman