Bridgwater College has maintained a successful partnership with the Babcock training team at Devonport Royal Dockyard for the past three years, and to date over 30 Babcock candidates have achieved their Level 2 NVQ in Radiation Protection, with seven of them moving on to higher qualifications at Level 3.

The success of the programme has resulted from the close collaboration between the College and Babcock, who have enrolled a further 13 trainees for 2015. Commercial Manager for Nuclear at the College, Dave Bawler said,

“Right from the start of this project the Bridgwater College training team has been committed to supporting Babcock employees in gaining a nationally recognised qualification, and has also supported two of the senior training team in gaining their assessor qualification. This is reaping dividends for both parties, as Babcock now have assessors permanently on site to evaluate candidates’ progress as and when required.

“They work closely with me as the Internal Verifier and attend nuclear assessor standardisation meetings hosted by the College, which means that candidates can complete their NVQ in a timely way, to the required quality. The training team has really embraced the qualification and dedicated both time and resource to making this an ongoing success. What’s especially rewarding is that as a result of this training, Babcock have seen real business benefits and improvements on the shop floor”.

Helen Palmer Senior Specialist Trainer (Health Physics) at Babcock said,

“It has been a great success working with Bridgwater College. It has enabled members of our Health Physics Operations Group to gain a nationally recognised qualification whilst undertaking their normal job role. These awards have been gained by both experienced members of the team and trainees. For trainees, this is a good introduction and demonstration of their newly learned skills and, for experienced members, it cements and refreshes their under-pinning knowledge, which can be susceptible to skill fade if not reviewed.

“The training process has had other benefits too. I have noticed that, through undertaking the award, many of the learners who do not routinely have access to computers have improved their IT skills. Team morale has also improved, with both team members and supervisors inputting to the award for each person.

“Participation in the award also drives candidates to consider and look beyond our normal processes. This has resulted in them identifying potential improvements within their working environment. Each successful candidate has the opportunity to receive their certificate from the Head of Health Physics Operations and the Submarine Business Unit Managing Director, which endorses the importance of professional training within the group.”

If you would like more information about Apprenticeships or studying at Bridgwater College please contact our Information and Guidance team on 01278 441234.