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Visual concrete - perception, practicalities and specifying

We have doubled the grant rates for short course tiers 1 – 3. To address rising costs, you can now receive higher rates on course achievements from 1st April 2023

Grant Tier

Achievement date before 1 April 2023

Achievement date on or after 1 April 2023

Grant Tier 1

Grant Tier 1 Refresher

£30

£15

£60

£30

Grant Tier 2

Grant Tier 2 Refresher

£70

£35

£140

£70

Grant Tier 3

Grant Tier 3 Refresher

£120

£60

£240

£120

Overview

The purpose of this standard is to highlight the nuances of visual concrete specification, interpretation and achievability.

Standard details

CITB has developed this standard in discussion with industry

Duration

1 day of 6 learning hours

Purpose/Scope

The purpose of this standard is to provide the delegate with the knowledge to support the following:

Scope:

  • effect of concrete composition
  • effect of form-face materials
  • visual concrete specifications
  • formed concrete
  • unformed concrete
  • practicalities in placing visual concrete
  • significance of blemishes
  • making good

Occupational relevance

Training delivered against this standard would be relevant to the following occupational group(s):

  • operative and craft
  • supervision
  • management and leadership

Delegates pre-requisites

There are no delegate pre-requisites as part of this standard, however a basic knowledge of concrete terminology and techniques would be beneficial.

Instruction/Supervision

As a minimum, course trainers must be able to demonstrate that, in relation to this standard, they have:

  • an award in education and training (or equivalent, as per requirements for approved training organisations)
  • successfully completed training to this standard
  • at least 2 years relevant industrial experience
  • a verifiable CV

Delivery

Delivery may be in an on or off the job environment.

All materials and equipment must be of a suitable quality and quantity for delegates to achieve learning outcomes and must comply with relevant legislation.

The class size and delegate/trainer ratio must allow training to be delivered in a safe manner and enable delegates to achieve the learning outcomes.

The following delivery methods may be used in the delivery of this standard:

  • classroom

This standard is considered to contain 51% or more theoretical learning.

This standard is considered to be set at a basic level.

Assessment

Methods of assessment considered appropriate for training delivered against this standard are:

For the successful completion of training, delegates must complete an end of course practical assessment or knowledge test that measures all learning outcomes and has a pass or fail criteria.

Where this training is assessed using multiple-choice questions, a minimum of 10 questions must be asked and delegates are required to achieve an overall pass mark of at least 80%.

Quality assurance

Assured

Quality assurance against this standard will require initial approval of the training organisation and their content mapped to the standard.

CITB will also conduct an approval intervention, either desk-based or centre visit, to ensure the training organisation can meet the requirements of the training standard.

Approved training organisations (ATOs) will be required to present information on records of training and assessment upon request to CITB for desk-based analysis. They will also be visited annually by the CITB quality assurance team.

Renewal/refresher

There are no mandatory renewal or recommended refresher requirements for this standard.

Classification

Lifetime

(Please note standards using this classification will only be grant aided once per delegate)

Approval date

December 2021

Review cycle

On request or 3 years from approval date.

Learning outcomes

The delegate will be able to:

  • recognise origin of specification
    • EN 13670, BS 8110, NSCS, CESWI, NBS etc.
  • list form-face types
  • describe finishes and practicalities
    • Formed, unformed
  • explain how to reduce risk of blemishes
  • recognise blemishes and describe their formation
    • Visual concrete series-CS

Additional information about this standard

Concrete Society guidance documents:

GCG 8 Concrete practice
Visual concrete series
Plain formed concrete finishes
On-site 8 Making Good

Concrete Society CA 6 Reinforcement ripple,  CA 8 Crazing: power trowelled concrete floor slabs, CA 18 Delamination of concrete surfaces, CA 21 Dark discoloration on smooth formed concrete surfaces (mottling) CA 36 Blemishes in power trowelled floors, CA 38 Rain damaged finish, CA 52 Staining by pyrites and lignite on concrete surfaces, CA 61 Cold joints, CA 62, Pour lines and shadow marks, CA 63 Brushed and tamped finishes

Health & Safety Executive (HSE) guides:

Legislation

www.legislation.gov.uk:

  • Health and Safety at Work etc Act (HSWA) 1974
  • The Work at Height Regulations (WHR) 2005
  • Work at Height (Amended) 2007
  • Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) Regulations 2002
  • Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) at Work Regulations 1992
  • Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations (PUWER) (1998 UK 1999 NI)
  • Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations (COSHH) 2002
  • Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations (LOLER) 1998
  • Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR) 1995
  • Construction (Design and Management) Regulations (CDM) 2015
  • Construction (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1996
  • Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 as amended 2002
  • Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005
  • Control of Vibration at Work Regulations 2005.

Related standards

  • Concrete identity testing
  • Concrete aggregates awareness
  • Concrete polishing
  • Concrete strength assessment
  • Concrete placing compacting and finishing
  • Cold weather concreting
  • Identifying blemishes defects and deteriorating concrete
  • Introduction to concrete and its constituents
  • Insulated concrete formwork
  • Industrial concrete flooring laser screeder operator
  • Post-tensioning theory and practice refresher
  • Post tensioning for supervisors
  • Post-tensioning theory and practice
  • Reinforced concrete for engineers and supervisors
  • Supervision of concrete pumping operations
  • Specifying concrete and receiving onsite