Committed to ensuring that it contributes to the professional development of personnel from within the quarrying industry, EPC-UK, a leading force in the field of commercial explosives and blasting services, has announced ‘record breaking attendances’ during this year’s series of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) seminars.
Renowned for the knowledge and expertise it generates across five activities, comprising explosives, blasting services, fuel additives, defence and logistics, EPC-UK has built a reputation for investing in the skillsets and development of industry professionals. Together with the assistance of the Institute of Quarrying (IOQ), the company has sought to improve internal capabilities, and critically involve the wider extraction industry.
EPC-UK has committed to developing employees through the CPD programme; a process which recognises professionalism through lifelong learning and ensures employee experiences and skills remain relevant and up-to-date.
By delivering a programme of free, informative seminars to delegates across the industry, the organisation is helping to increase the number of CPD hours attendees can generate and impart practical applications which delegates can apply to their particular job roles.
As the Institute of Quarrying works to promote the professionalism of people working within its industry – through a combination of work experience and qualifications – EPC-UK’s decision to make its seminars accessible to all relevant industry personnel has been warmly appreciated.
This year EPC-UK has attained a record number of delegates to its biennial CDP seminars, which have been held in Scotland, Cumbria, Nottingham, Newport and Cornwall. The seminars have included several topical issues in order to ensure current industry practice and have featured subjects including The Evolution of Drilling; Imaging Technology; Seismograph Reporting and a presentation titled “Managing the Blast” delivered by the HSE.
Ian Davies, General Manager at EPC-UK, has been part of the team working to promote CPD training and encourage attendance, believing that by securing the additional hours of CPD required to maintain different levels of IOQ membership, more employees can be accredited as Technical Members, Members and Fellows:
“Through our series of seminars, providing six hours of CDP accreditation, up-to-date and relevant information has been successfully delivered and we’ve effectively demonstrated our commitment to the extraction industry,” he explains, “enabling personnel to attain the hours of development needed for their own career progression.
“It’s has been reassuring to get such positive feedback from the delegates. The comments have been documented, together with the recommendations for topics to be included in the future, enabling us to set a similar standard of seminars for delivery in 2019.
Plans are in place to include an even wider range of subjects, greater speaker diversity, increased social media engagement and audience participation, together with physical delivery across further venues.
