Vicky Welch Case Study

The UK’s First Female Advanced Scaffolder!

We’re delighted to announce that the UK’s first female Advanced Scaffolder has successfully completed her CISRS Advanced Scaffolding course.

Newcastle-based Vicky Welch successfully completed the course at our Waltham Forest centre, late last month. Vicky heads a growing line of female Scaffolders in what has long been a male-dominated industry.

Vicky, who currently works offshore, but who has also been employed in various scaffolding and supervision/management roles, was sponsored by Simian, after we became aware of her own ‘females in scaffolding‘ initiative, which is aimed at attracting more females into the industry.

Speaking of her career and time training with Simian, Vicky said:

I started as a scaffolding apprentice around 11 years ago, and this led to various office-based roles, before returning to the ‘tools’ in 2018 on starting an offshore job in 2019.

I got to know the guys at Simian through my ‘Females in Scaffolding’ Facebook page and we discussed various initiatives to encourage more women to consider a scaffolding career, and they kindly offered to sponsor me through my Advanced course.

Simian has a great reputation for their quality of service and instruction and so the opportunity to broaden my skills and knowledge with them was one I couldn’t refuse.

Whilst on the Advanced course, I received expert tuition on slung scaffolds, which sits nicely with the type of work that is actually done offshore, and in addition to that, I also got to experience the erection and dismantling of raking and dead shores and temporary roof scaffolds, so my confidence on work of this nature will be increased massively.

The level of teaching at Simian was exceptional. Class sizes on CISRS courses are relatively small, so that encourages a strong sense of teamwork amongst all the delegates as well as not being lost in a huge class of people. The amount of classroom and practical training was perfectly balanced, and this enabled me fellow delegates the opportunity to fully comprehend the training that was being provided.

Since working offshore, I have worked with a wide range of age groups and abilities I have learned more about myself and my abilities and this has been a huge boost to my confidence, and this, coupled with the Advanced course, will be an even greater benefit.”

Neil Bewick, Centre Manager at Simian’s London site said:

“It’s superb to see that the barriers to diversity in the scaffolding industry are being broken down. It’s long been the case that a career in scaffolding was seen as something that is just for men. Simian has always taken the view that there is no reason whatsoever that the construction industry as a whole shouldn’t be open to all, regardless of gender, race or background and because of that, we are working hard to encourage a very diverse range of entry into what is a very rewarding career, and to break down those tired old stereotypes.” 

Those interested in following Vicky’s steps should contact Sara Calvo on 0345 6022418 or via scalvo@simian-risk.com.