Closing the Safety Gap, Why Policy Alone Won’t Protect the Workforce

As a freelance education consultant with over 20 years’ experience in Further Education, I’ve spent my career helping institutions design the best possible provisions to maximise student success and staff retention.

My work has always been driven by one belief: education should be accessible, relevant, and empowering, not just for traditional learners, but for every sector of the workforce.

That belief was tested when an industry worker explained that there was no formal vulcanising qualification in the UK, even though technicians in other countries, such as Australia, could gain structured training and accreditation in this safety-critical skill.

To me, this gap wasn’t just an oversight; it was a risk. And one that placed UK workers at a disadvantage compared to their international peers.

Summary

UK policy ambitions for net zero, safety, and green skills are rising fast. Yet on the ground, sectors like waste, logistics, and manufacturing face critical gaps in workforce infrastructure.

This article explores why policy isn’t landing, and what needs to change.

Closing the Safety Gap: Why Policy Alone Won’t Protect the Workforce

Across the UK’s safety-critical sectors, quarrying, waste, logistics, and manufacturing, policy ambition has never been higher. From zero-harm targets to ambitious green transition mandates, government vision is accelerating.

Yet in the sites and sectors that underpin the economy, a consistent problem emerges: policy ambitions are outpacing workforce readiness.

This isn’t a question of intent. It’s about the lack of practical systems to turn good policy into real-world delivery. Nowhere is that clearer than in the rollout of net-zero goals and safety-critical work.

The Policy Context: Green Skills and Clean Energy Commitments

Two developments have recently reshaped the skills policy landscape:

• Skills England, launched in 2024, was tasked with setting national priorities for technical education. Its 2025–26 goals include clean energy, manufacturing, and logistics, all of which depend on highly skilled technical workers.
• The UK Parliament’s Energy Security and Net Zero Select Committee is conducting an inquiry into workforce planning for the clean energy transition. Their central question: how can we meet climate targets without the people to deliver them?

This renewed focus is encouraging, but ambition alone won’t install retrofits, electrify plants, or maintain operations. These goals require accredited professionals, especially in under-recognised trades like conveyor belt technicians and site engineers.

A Case in Point: Conveyor Belt Technicians

Conveyor belts form the unseen infrastructure of modern industry, from waste processing and logistics to food production and quarrying.

The technicians maintaining them are often unaccredited, under-recognised, and operating without formal development pathways. Despite handling high-pressure systems and working in hazardous environments, many still fall outside national training frameworks.

It’s not just an oversight, it’s a gap that puts both safety and productivity at risk. These roles must be included in national skills planning. Without integrating essential technicians into workforce development, safety and uptime will continue to depend on informal, inconsistent methods.

What is Vulcanising?

From my own work in the sector, vulcanising has always struck me as one of those processes that quietly holds industry together. In simple terms, it’s the method of bonding and strengthening rubber using heat, pressure, and sometimes chemical agents.

That transformation turns soft, unstable material into something durable, elastic, and resistant to the harsh conditions found on sites. In practice, this means conveyor belts can be joined or repaired instead of being scrapped, cutting downtime and saving costs for employers. Beyond belts, vulcanising underpins tyres, seals, gaskets, and hoses, the very components that keep plants, quarries, and waste facilities running safely every day.

Where Policy Breaks Down

Three barriers routinely stop policy from landing:

1. Lack of standardisation: many technical roles have no universal training standard. Skills England is building “occupational maps,” but coverage and adoption remain uneven.
2. No mechanism for verification: policy assumes skill levels without providing ways to confirm or track them, especially in contractor-heavy environments.
3. Fragmented funding: short-term, reactive training programmes dominate. Long-term capability requires stable, consistent investment.

Bridging the Gap: Practical Infrastructure, Not Just Policy

The most effective safety and skills programmes begin at the field level.

Technician-first tools, such as mobile competency apps and QR-based training prompts, support real-time decision-making and frontline accountability. These innovations often come from sector-led initiatives, and they’re working.

Now, policy must catch up. That means:

• Aligning Skills England’s occupational standards with clearly defined technician roles.
• Supporting sector-specific accreditation and verification models.
• Backing long-term funding through coordinated government efforts.

Without mobile, skilled, and recognised technicians, safety and sustainability goals will stall.

Global Comparisons – Training Beyond UK Borders

Training in other countries shows both strengths and gaps—and provides models worth replicating.

Vocational & Dual Training Models

In Germany, Siemens delivers trainee programmes that blend practical placements with academic study. As of 2025, around 10,400 participants were enrolled globally, including nearly 7,300 in Germany, and similar models are now delivered in the UK, U.S., South Africa, India, and Canada. These programmes keep technical training both accessible and relevant by combining classroom theory with on-site experience.

Publicly-Funded Green Upskilling Programmes

A 2024 OECD review found that across Australia, Germany, Singapore, and the U.S., between 2.1% and 14.1% of available training courses include green content, a modest starter, but still a measurable baseline. Over 40 publicly-funded green upskilling initiatives were identified across OECD countries, often offering subsidies and incentives to employers.

Real-Time Green Skills Data Across 77 Countries

According to World Bank–LinkedIn data, the share of workers possessing at least one green skill increased by 12% between 2022 and 2023. Demand, however, grew even faster, with job postings requiring green skills rising by approximately 22% in the same period. This signals an urgent global shortage, one that extends well beyond the UK.

A Technician-First Test for Policy

Effective policy is not measured in white papers, it’s tested at the start of every shift.

Do technicians have access to tools, training, and recognition?
Do employers have pathways to develop in-house capability?
Are sector frameworks practical, portable, and accountable?

If the answer is no, then we’re not policy-ready. We’re still building on uncertain ground. To succeed, policy must reflect the pressures, rhythms, and risks of real work.

A Reason for Optimism

Employers, to their credit, have stepped up where national systems have lagged. Many have developed their own in-house training programmes to keep teams safe and operations compliant. These sessions—often designed by experienced technicians, offer highly practical, hands-on skills development.

But this has come at a cost,borne largely by employers themselves. Training is often delivered during downtime by senior technicians already stretched, with limited access to recognised accreditation or funding. Despite their commitment, these employers are essentially propping up the national training system.

Now is the moment for the government to match that commitment. By recognising the vital role of technician roles like belt splicing and vulcanising, and by investing in structured, accredited, and funded training pathways, we can ease the burden on employers and raise the standard for everyone.

Despite the challenges, momentum is building. Across the UK, technician-first frameworks are being built with the people who do the work. Trusted qualifications, hands-on training, and digital verification can translate ambition into progress.

Closing the safety gap won’t happen overnight, but with each accredited technician, each training day, we move closer.

With shared commitment, the future of safety-critical work can be not only compliant but resilient, respected, and world-class.

By Nick Lakin, Director of Education & Quality, Virtual & Skills College (VSC)