Guide to becoming a certified fall protection training company

This guide is for those who want to be certified as a training company. The purpose is to make it easier to understand how the standard is structured and understand what it takes to become a training company.

Certification
When you want to be certified, it means that you request that an external, independent party assesses whether you comply with the applicable requirements. The certification body will then ask for proof that this is the case. This is done through documentation, inspections and interviews. It is important for the certification body to be confident that the certified party actually complies with what it says it does. The certification body is responsible for the entire scheme and thus the quality of everything that takes place in connection with it. Certification is simply an approval process. The certification body owns the scheme and can change the status of the company if requirements are not adequately complied with. This does not mean that you cannot have errors or deviations, but these must be corrected within the agreed time.

Principles
NS 9610 moves away from the term "Basic fall protection" that has been used in other contexts. One of the main principles of NS 9610 is that the candidate must receive necessary and relevant training in the use of fall protection equipment. Therefore, it is important that training is related to the work tasks to be performed. In other words, it is not sufficient to provide training on a safety line and only explain some general principles. You must provide training on the fall arrest system in the environment in which it is intended to be used. In other words, a scaffolder will use the fall arrestor in a different way than an electrician on a mast. This should be reflected in theory teaching, demonstration and practice.

Areas of work
In order for the training to be as relevant as possible for the participants, 9610 is divided into the most common work areas for fall protection. The areas describe the equipment to be trained and ensure that participants do not receive irrelevant training.

Scope of certification
To be certified, training must be offered in at least one area. It is not a requirement that training must be provided in all areas. Before applying for certification, you should consider which areas are relevant to provide training in. If the goal is to offer complete fall protection training, SSE recommends that you initially certify in the areas you have experience in. The certification can later be expanded to cover more areas.

It is not a requirement to offer instructor training.

Risk assessment
Working at height is associated with risk. As a provider of courses for work at height, it is important to assess any hazards that may arise during training, and measures to reduce or eliminate the hazards. If you have a course hall, you must assess hazards and measures for use of the course hall. Similarly, if you deliver courses at customers' premises. This is in addition to the risk assessment that must be carried out before each individual course.

You are expected to have routines for this in documented form (procedures). Furthermore, it is expected that such assessments are evaluated and updated. This can be done through the use of reported incidents or suggestions for improvement, or if you need to do something you are unfamiliar with. The document must state when and what was last changed (document management).

Curricula
The curriculum must provide a detailed overview of the content of the courses. This means that it must be clearly stated which theory and practical exercises are to be reviewed. All demonstrations and exercises for each equipment and methods of rescue must be described. This can be pictures, videos, illustrations etc.

There must be a curriculum for each area (Table 3 NS 9610).

Teaching aids
It is important that the principles in chapters 5-10 are reflected in the training. These chapters describe how to plan, assess solutions and handle equipment when working at height.

The teaching materials can be designed in different ways; it can be a booklet (compendium), a digital presentation, or a description of what will be carried out as blackboard teaching. As a minimum, the teaching materials must cover the theoretical teaching, but may also include what is demonstrated and practiced in the practical part.

You must have teaching aids for each area (Table 3 NS 9610).

Course certificates
Course certificates must include an indication of the area and learning topics. This is because it should be easy for others to check what the person has been trained in. Learning topics must not be merged into sack terms.
The terms defined in the standard must be used (section 11.3.1).
Nor should reference be made to areas or equipment for which the company is not certified on course certificates with a certification mark.

Before applying for certification
All documents described in the application must be ready for submission before the certification process can begin. If documentation is missing, the application will be rejected.