Qualifications

Civil engineering is concerned with establishing the infrastructure of society. As the name suggests, it links infrastructure with citizens and civilisation.

Civil Engineers deal with the design, construction and maintenance of the physical and the naturally occurring built environment. This includes roads, bridges, canals, dams, power stations and buildings. Civil engineering takes place in the public sector - from local authorities through to national governments. It is also evident in the private sector from individual homeowners through to major contracting companies. Civil engineering has many sub-disciplines such as: highway engineering, environmental engineering, geotechnical engineering, structural engineering, municipal engineering, transportation engineering, water resources engineering, materials engineering, wastewater engineering, marine engineering, construction surveying, construction engineering.

Civil Engineering is at the heart of QFI’s qualification service. We award numerous qualifications that support most the key roles within civil engineering and construction. QFI proudly award qualifications both for delivery to the private and public sectors.

Employers have identified five core skills that are key to learning and working in today’s world. These core skills are: Communication, Information and Communication Technology, Working with Others, Numeracy, Problem Solving. Every job requires people to have some level of proficiency in some or all of these core skills.

The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 is the primary piece of legislation covering occupational health and safety in Great Britain. It lays down clear guidelines and duties for employers, contractors, managers, people in control at work, employees and general persons. The Act also places responsibilities on employees to consider the health and safety of themselves and others. It is also underpinned by several health and safety regulations which, together with environmental laws and standards, have been developed to comply with EU Directives.

QFI’s qualifications cater for those working as health, safety and environmental advisors or managers. We also provide qualifications for those whose job roles are of a safety-critical nature. QFI has found many socially responsible organisations within the construction, mining and roadbuilding sectors that go beyond just providing basic health and safety. Such companies monitor and evaluate their health, safety and environmental performance. They develop management approaches in line with best practice across the industry in which they operate. They may set up their own health, safety and environmental targets or combine with other organisations and set up group targets.

To support construction and civil engineering, we need building materials to construct and maintain our infrastructure. Mining is the extraction of minerals from the earth such as: metals, coal, oil shale, gemstones, limestone, dimension stone, rock salt, potash, gravel, clay, oil, natural gas. QFI award many qualifications that confirm the competence of those working in extractives. These qualifications help employers to comply with UK and EU regulations to reduce the environmental impact of mining and to improve recycling rates.

QFI qualifications apply to those working in open cast mining, hard rock quarrying and in the processes leading to the manufacture of roadbuilding materials and concrete products. Individuals employed in mining and extractives are responsible for the environment, for expensive plant and machinery as well as the health and safety of others in society. Modern mining processes involve: searching for material deposits, analysing the financial potential of a proposed mine, the extraction of the sought-after materials, the reclamation of the land after the mine is closed. QFI is developing qualifications that contribute to the development of individuals who work across all these mining related processes.

It is the ambition of QFI to expand our offer of qualifications into the following occupational areas: Building Services, Architectural Technology, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Waste and Environmental Management, Learning and Development.

While roadbuilding and road maintenance relate to construction and civil engineering, QFI considers this sector to be one of its specialist occupational areas. Roadbuilding includes the construction of new roads, widening of existing roads, road maintenance and repair.

QFI offers qualifications which cover both the building and repairing of roads as well as qualifications that certificate those who: construct roads, inclusive of verges and central reservations, the painting of road markings, the installation of crash barriers, road signs, traffic lights and street lamps, deal with the laying of drainage and services, maintenance of existing roads, temporary traffic management, winter gritting of roads and clearing of snow.

Proper management of waste is important for creating and maintaining sustainable living environments. Waste management includes collection, transport, treatment and disposal of waste, as well as monitoring and regulation of the waste management process.