1998 No. 20
ROADS
STREET WORKS
Street Works (Qualifications of Supervisors and Operatives) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1998
Made 26th January 1998
Coming into operation 9th March 1998

The Department of the Environment for Northern Ireland in exercise of its powers under Article 27(1), (2) and (4) of the Street Works (Northern Ireland) Order 1995, and of every other power enabling it in that behalf, hereby makes the following regulations:
S.I.1995/3210 (N.I. 19); see Article 2(2) for the definitions of “the Department” and “prescribed”

1 Citation, commencement and interpretation
1 These regulations may be cited as the Street Works (Qualifications of Supervisors and Operatives) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1998 and shall come into operation on 9th March 1998.
2 In these regulations—
“the Order” means the Street Works (Northern Ireland) Order 1995;
“approved assessment centre” means an establishment approved by an approved body for the purposes of assessing achievement of units of competence;
“approved body” means a body mentioned in regulation 4;
“approved register” means the register mentioned in regulation 4;
“certificate of competence” means a qualification, award or an equivalent thereto granted by an approved body;
“EEA Agreement” means the Agreement on the European Economic Area signed at Oporto on 2nd May 1992 as adjusted by the Protocol signed at Brussels on 17th March 1993;
“EEA State” means a State which is a contracting party to the EEA Agreement;
“supervisor” means a person by whom street works are required to be supervised under Article 27(1) of the Order;
“trained operative” means a person whose presence at the site of street works is required under Article 27(2) of the Order; and
“unit of competence” in relation to a trained operative means one of the units of competence set out in Schedule 1 and in relation to a supervisor means one of the units of competence set out in Schedule 3 and “unit” shall be construed accordingly.
Cmnd 2073
Cmnd 2183

2 Qualifications of supervisors
1 A supervisor has a prescribed qualification for a particular type of supervisory work specified in column (1) of Schedule 4 if—
(a) an approved body has issued him with a certificate of competence showing that he has been assessed by an approved assessment centre as having achieved the relevant units of competence as set out in column (2) of that Schedule and that certificate is currently registered in an approved register; or
(b) he has obtained a qualification of another EEA State which gives an equivalent guarantee of skill and competence to that given by the certificate of competence required by sub-paragraph (a),
provided that, for a period of two months beginning with the day on which he is assessed as having achieved the requisite units of competence, a supervisor shall be treated as having a prescribed qualification for that type of supervisory work, notwithstanding that an approved body has not issued him with a certificate of competence or that the certificate issued to him has not been registered as required by sub-paragraph (a).
2 A supervisor shall not require to have a prescribed qualification for supervising the replacement of poles, lamps, columns and signs, pole testing or similar works involving minimal breaking up of the street.
3 A prescribed qualification for a supervisor may relate to all types of work which may fall to be done by a supervisor, or may be restricted to some types of that work and the requirements of Article 27 of the Order shall be deemed to be satisfied only in relation to the types of work to which that qualification relates.

3 Qualifications of trained operatives
1 A trained operative has a prescribed qualification for a particular type of work specified in column (1) of Schedule 2 if—
(a) an approved body has issued him with a certificate of competence showing that he has been assessed by an approved assessment centre as having achieved the relevant units of competence as set out in column (2) of that Schedule and that certificate is currently registered in an approved register; or
(b) he has obtained a qualification of another EEA State which gives an equivalent guarantee of skill and competence to that given by the certificate of competence required by sub-paragraph (a),
provided that, for a period of two months beginning with the day on which he is assessed as having achieved the requisite units of competence, a trained operative shall be treated as having a prescribed qualification for that type of work, notwithstanding that an approved body has not issued him with a certificate of competence or that the certificate issued to him has not been registered as required by sub-paragraph (a).
2 If the works do not involve breaking up the street or are works only of the type referred to in regulation 2(2), a trained operative has a prescribed qualification if he has achieved the unit of competence set out as Unit 2 in Schedule 1.
3 A prescribed qualification for a trained operative may relate to all types of work which may fall to be done by a trained operative, or may be restricted to some types of that work and the requirements of Article 27 of the Order shall be deemed to be satisfied only in relation to the types of work to which that qualification relates.

4 Approvals
1 The bodies approved for the purpose of issuing the certificates mentioned in regulations 2 and 3 are—
(a) the City and Guilds of London Institute,
(b) the Scottish Vocational Education Council, and
(c) the Certification and Assessment Board for the Water Industry.
2 The register approved for the purpose of registering certificates mentioned in regulations 2 and 3 is the register to be kept by the Scottish Vocational Education Council as the registration body approved for the purpose by the Department.
3 Where an approved body has issued a certificate of competence to a supervisor or a trained operative (as the case may be) it shall within one month thereof register that certificate in the approved register.
4 The Department may withdraw any approval given by paragraph (1) or (2) if it is satisfied that the body to whom the approval is given has failed satisfactorily to discharge the function of certification or registration under any of the provisions of these regulations.

5 Expiry of certificates
1 A certificate mentioned in regulation 2 or 3 shall cease to be registered on the expiry of five years from the date of registration in accordance with regulation 4(3).
2 A certificate may be registered for further successive periods of five years provided that an application for registration is received by the Scottish Vocational Education Council no later than three months after the expiry of the previous registration.

6 Transitional provisions
1 For a period of two years from 9th March 1998 a person may act as a supervisor without having a prescribed qualification.
2 For a period of five years from 9th March 1998 a person may act as a trained operative without having a prescribed qualification.
Sealed with the Official Seal of the Department of the Environment on
J. Carlisle Assistant Secretary 26th January 1998.

SCHEDULE 1 UNITS OF COMPETENCE FOR TRAINED OPERATIVES
UNIT 1	Location and avoidance of underground apparatus.
UNIT 2	Signing, lighting and guarding.
UNIT 3	Excavation in the highway.
UNIT 4	Reinstatement and compaction of backfill materials.
UNIT 5	Reinstatement of sub-base and roadbase in non-bituminous materials.
UNIT 6	Reinstatement in cold-lay bituminous materials.
UNIT 7	Reinstatement in hot-lay bituminous materials.
UNIT 8	Reinstatement of concrete slabs.
UNIT 9	Reinstatement of modular surfaces and concrete footways.

SCHEDULE 2 QUALIFICATIONS FOR TRAINED OPERATIVES
Type of Work	Units of Competence Required
(1)	(2)
1 Excavation in the highway.	Units 1, 2 and 3.
2 Excavation, backfilling and reinstatement of construction layers with a cold-lay bituminous surface.	Units 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6.
3 Reinstatement of construction layers in hot-lay and cold-lay bituminous materials.	Units 1, 2, 6 and 7.
4 Reinstatement of concrete slabs.	Units 1, 2 and 8.
5 Reinstatement of modular surfaces and concrete footways.	Units 1, 2 and 9.

SCHEDULE 3 UNITS OF COMPETENCE FOR SUPERVISORS
UNIT 1	Location and avoidance of underground apparatus.
UNIT 10	Monitoring signing, lighting and guarding.
UNIT 11	Monitoring excavation in the highway.
UNIT 12	Monitoring reinstatement and compaction of backfill materials.
UNIT 13	Monitoring reinstatement of sub-base and roadbase in non-bituminous materials.
UNIT 14	Monitoring reinstatement in bituminous materials.
UNIT 15	Monitoring reinstatement of concrete slabs.
UNIT 16	Monitoring reinstatement of modular surfaces and concrete footways.

SCHEDULE 4 QUALIFICATIONS FOR SUPERVISORS
Type of Supervisory Work	Units of Competence Required
(1)	(2)
1 Monitoring excavation in the highway.	Units 1, 10 and 11.
2 Monitoring excavation, backfilling and reinstatement of construction layers with bituminous materials.	Units 1, 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14.
3 Monitoring reinstatement of construction layers in bituminous materials.	Units 1, 10 and 14.
4 Monitoring reinstatement of concrete slabs.	Units 1, 10 and 15.
5 Monitoring reinstatement of modular surfaces and concrete footways.	Units 1, 10 and 16.

(This note is not part of the Regulations.)
These regulations prescribe the qualifications needed for supervisors (regulation 2) and trained operatives (regulation 3), one of each of whom is required by Article 27(1) and (2) of the Street Works (Northern Ireland) Order 1995 (subject to exceptions) to supervise or be on site at all times when an undertaker executes street works involving, in the case of both supervisors and trained operatives, breaking up the street, or any sewer, drain, or tunnel under it, or tunnelling or boring under the street and, in the case of trained operatives, opening the street. A supervisor or a trained operative has a prescribed qualification if an approved body has issued him with a certificate of competence showing that he has been assessed as having achieved the relevant units of competence for the work being executed as set out in Schedules 1 and 2 (operatives) and Schedules 3 and 4 (supervisors). Provision is made for the recognition of equivalent qualifications obtained in another EEA State (regulations 2(1)(b) and 3(1)(b)). Regulation 4 prescribes the City and Guilds of London Institute, the Scottish Vocational Education Council (“SCOTVEC”) and the Certification and Assessment Board for the Water Industry as the approved bodies for the issuing of certificates of competence and provides that SCOTVEC is the approved registration body to keep the register of certificates. Regulation 4(4) provides that the Department may withdraw approval from a named body if it fails satisfactorily to discharge its functions.
Regulation 5 provides that a certificate expires after five years, but may be re-registered if certain conditions are satisfied.
Regulation 6 makes transitional provisions.