Simm’s ‘Passport to Work’ programme is aiming to provide training for more than 500 people within five months when it goes live in March.

Subcontractors will have to prove their competency under the scheme to be allowed on site.

Gareth Simm, HE Simm Managing Director, said: “The Passport to Work is key in our aim to provide the safest possible working practices for all our staff and stakeholders.

“This is part of our overall Focus 30 initiative which launched to all stakeholders in May to improve the safety practices of HE Simm’s whole supply chain.

“The drive for us is to create an accident and incident free working environment while supporting our partners to up-skill their staff.

“We want to lead from the top and ensure that everyone working for HE Simm is fully trained to an excellent standard and can be relied on to work safely and responsibly.

“We are currently working with all our stakeholders to implement the scheme and get businesses signed up, with the Passport to Work going live across the business on March 1, 2013.

“We have held several workshops with more than 50 companies in our supply chain and they have all given their backing to the PTW.

“We are aiming to have everything in place for March 2013 and from then only those with the HE Simm Passport to Work, who have proved their competency, will be allowed on site.”