This is a petition to Permanently ban the idea, notion or suggestion, aswell as the use of, De-skilling proffesional tradesmen and thier respective profession, to cut corners and save money on ALL, not just major, projects throughout the uk.

Tradesmen spend at least 4 years qualifying for thier respective trade and with good reason, the knowledge and experience gained during these 4 years is paramount to a job being completed, not just to a high standard, but safely and correctly. 

Companies always talk the talk and say, safety has no budget, then turn around and undermime proffesionals in favour of untrained, cheap labour to maximise profits and line thier own pockets, or those of the shareholder.

This is unsafe and would not be accepted in any other walk of life, so why is it acceptable on construction sites? You wouldnt allow someone to perform open heart surgery after an 8 week fast track course, so why is it allowed on the construction of a major tax funded NUCLEAR facility? 

This practice should be banned outright and never be mentioned again, a few years ago it was BESNA, now its ESO or HSO, a deliberate attempt to skim money and cut corners on the biggest tax funded cashcow in the country right now, and if succesful, will be rolled out nationwide on all projects by all companies. 

Tradesmen dont train for the fun of it, we dont spend our hard earned money renewing the latest regulations and resitting safety qualifications, or learn how to install, operate and maintain the latest technology and tools, just to be cast aside and replaced by untrained, inexperienced personel, who not only cannot install to the standard of a trained proffesional, but have no clue exactly what it is they are installing, how it works or why its there, or the planning and mathematics behind the materials or routing of materials, the segregation, the process safety, even the type of material used and why. This is all taught during  the time taken to serve apprenticeships, not just in a classroom but hands on, doing the job, becoming familiar, step by step and under the guidance of a vastly experienced senior professional, not to mention the experience taken from job to job on how to overcome obstacles having encountered them on other jobs previous. 

I cant speak about or describe other trades with regards of how to do their jobs, but, as an electrician, i know that materials, segregation, cable routing, temperature, cable size and type, desimiliar metals, eddy currents, glanding, splicing, terminating, testing, design, reading drawings, symbols, earthing size, types of protective devices, size & rating, electrical safety and the awareness of working near live exposed parts, the types of earthing systems, direct or indirect contact, potential faults, Selv, pelv, elv, lv & hv, ip ratings etc etc, the list goes on and simply CAN NOT be taught in 8 weeks, i would bet my trade, on every single 8 week trainee, not knowing what half of the basic containment and earthing, fixing types, materials and routing is, even after 6 months of working. Stainless,galv or double/hot dipped, fault paths and equipotential to prevent possible shocks and why the need to ensure this is correct and installed to a high standard then proven with continuity tests. 

Cable pulling and not damaging insulation, bunching of cables and segregation and why? Why certain cables such as HV are cleated, spacing between supports or cleats.. i could literally go on and on. The knowledge gained cant be done in 8 weeks. 4 years is a minimum! Then comes all the extra courses that lads have to do which include compex, 2391, regs, electricty at work, ecs, safety passport, ptw systems etc, another exhaustive list.

Tradesman cost more because they can do the job safely, efficiently and to a high standard. They know what they are installing and why, they understand the job, they understand other tradesmen and how not to negatively impact eachother on the job. They have experience with ptw systems and mutual respect, so they can avoid unsafe conditions, and have the ability to spot the potential risks to eachother and assetts so can then avoid serious accident or injury.

Throughout many, many years of working and learning, it is drilled into you at safety meetings and safety awareness courses, how untrained, unskilled, inexperienced personel and human error are the root causes of the majority of incidents, accidents and deaths on sites. With that in mind, it then, should NOT be an acceptable practice to force everyone of these factors to become common place on any project. This is begging for an incident, accident or death.

With this being a nuclear build then it should be under COMAH, and one of the top priorities of a COMAH site is the control of major accidents and hazards. Unskilled, inexperienced and unqualified labour is the opposite to control and is begging for a major accident or hazard to occur, examples such as Chernobyl and Grenfell come to mind.

Sign this petition and get deskilling removed off the table for good, this should not warrant an argument every few years because of profiteering whilst putting the immediate workforce and long term wider general public at risk.

Support the trades and support apprenticeships, keep sites safe and get the job done properly, to an impeccable standard without cutting corners.