Hi Folks, thanks for clicking through to this document. I wanted to take a moment to briefly discuss some of the changes IRATA has made to the Training, Assessment and Certification Scheme (TACS). As you are aware, the TACS was recently updated and will affect the way we conduct our training. These changes will also impact the way we go about our registration process.
Here’s a brief overview of some of the changes and how it impacts us:
Logbook submission
The revised edition of TACS (4.3.4) requires: “Rope access Technicians who are upgrading or revalidating shall provide their logbooks to the IRATA Trainer Member company prior to the start of the training course. Where rope access Technicians have lost their logbooks, they shall arrange for a replacement to be issued, completed and verified before training commences.”
What it means to us
As it says, Technicians shall provide their logbooks prior to the start of the course. We have the responsibility of verifying the hours have been logged correctly and that the Technician is eligible for their required training course (TACS 7.8.1). Consequently, we won’t be able to confirm a reservation for a student until we have verified his/her logbook. So, we need your help. You’ll be asked to submit a logbook for any IRATA technician who is seeking a revalidation or upgrade. Once we receive it, we’ll look it over and either confirm the technician or we’ll offer advice as to how to improve the logbook. Once the improvements have been addressed, we’ll issue a confirmation of the reservation.
Time will be pretty important to this process. Because a technician will not receive a confirmation until the logbook has been submitted and verified, we may issue a confirmation to another student as necessary. I expect many of the logbooks submitted will need a bit of help, which will increase the amount of time needed to finish the verification process. Please help us by getting these logbooks into us quickly. Hopefully it becomes part of the registration process and everyone will submit a logbook with a course reservation form.
Conversion and accelerated entry to IRATA certification
The Direct Entry scheme permitted candidates to be trained and assessed at the IRATA certification level equivalent to their rope access experience and skills. This scheme is now obsolete.
Candidates with significant rope access experience evidenced outside the IRATA system may be eligible for conversion or accelerated entry into the IRATA certification scheme. The requirements for conversion are available from IRATA Training member companies.
What it means to us:
This really isn’t a big issue. We’ll continue to process SPRAT to IRATA conversions, but again, this process will take a bit of time to go through. Firstly, candidates must complete an application and submit certain documents to IRATA and then gain approval prior to the start of a course. Give us a call and we’ll walk you through the process.
Logbook entry verification
Logbooks are issued by IRATA Head Office and shall be maintained by the rope access Technician.
Logbook entry verification signatures and company contact details shall only be provided by the following persons:
a) An IRATA Level 3 Technician who was directly involved in the supervision of the rope access activities;
b) A Director, General Manager, Rope Access Manager, or Technical Authority of the rope access company responsible for the undertaking of the rope access activities;
c) A rope access site Project Manager who is responsible for the project management of the worksite where the rope access activities were undertaken.
What it means to us:
As part of the verification process, we’ll have to ensure the logbooks have the proper signatures. IRATA has actually expanded the type of signatures which are valid for the verification of logbooks by including b) and c) above. It’s going to be really important that these signatories include position and contact number, though.
There are more changes that clean up the TACS, but these are the ones which will immediately affect us and, by extension, you. We appreciate what you do for us and we want this transition to be as painless as it can be. You’ll notice a change to some of our documents in the near future which will have important information about IRATA registrations. If you want a copy of the TACS, just click here. This will open another window and take you directly to the document. If you have any questions, please let us know. Again, we appreciate your help and your trust.
Dwayne