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Institute of Advanced Technological and Commercial Studies

Careers

Works team leader

The team leader is a site's first line of supervision: turning a drawing into tasks, allocating people and equipment, holding both pace and safety. It is the role where a good tradesperson becomes a recognised supervisor.

The site, hour by hour

The day opens with allocation: who does what, with which equipment, on which zone, towards which end-of-day target. The team leader checks supplies, adjusts when a delivery is missing, protects the area and enforces protective equipment. They inspect the work as it goes, because rework costs three times the time saved. In the evening they report to the works supervisor: real progress, difficulties, needs for tomorrow.

  • Read a construction drawing and turn it into allocated tasks
  • Organise a work face and check material supply
  • Lead a team, hold the pace, settle an unexpected issue
  • Enforce safety rules and inspect quality of work

The sites that are hiring

Building and housing

Apartment blocks, public facilities, refurbishments: demand for middle supervision is constant across the region.

Civil engineering and roads

Earthworks, structures, buried networks: linear sites where organising the work face decides progress.

Works on industrial sites

Erection, heavy maintenance, planned shutdowns: co-activity and work permits structure every day there.

What the institute puts in writing

A duration, taught hours, credits and a level of responsibility: these are the four commitments the institute makes on this programme, and they are public. You will find them identical on the qualification page, in the official catalogue and on the certificate issued at the end. One figure, three surfaces, no divergence.

Skilled employee and operative

qualification level
4
months of programme
9

Led by an instructor.

taught hours
600 h

1 credit = 25 h of work, 10 of them taught.

credits
60

Framework of the « Works Team Leader » qualification, code TP43.

competency blocks
5

The blocks that make up the framework

The framework is split into self-contained blocks, each with its own taught hours. That split serves three purposes: organising the training, organising the assessment, and letting an already experienced professional have what they already command recognised. The same structure is what makes prior-learning validation possible.

Reading plans and setting out
160 (27 %)
Construction techniques
180 (30 %)
Team organisation and supply
140 (23 %)
Site safety
80 (13 %)
Professional conduct and employability
40 (7 %)
Total: 600 taught hours
  • Reading plans and setting out · 160 h — Drawings, dimensions, setting out, marking, dimensional checks
  • Construction techniques · 180 h — Earthworks, foundations, masonry, structure, finishing trades
  • Team organisation and supply · 140 h — Task allocation, pace, materials, equipment, daily reporting
  • Site safety · 80 h — Hazards, personal protective equipment, signage, scaffolding, co-activity, first aid
  • Professional conduct and employability · 40 h — Frontline authority, reporting, job search

Supervising a site: where to start

This table sets side by side what genuinely prepares for this role. Credits and taught hours measure the gap between two options; fees relate that gap to a budget. Those are the three questions a candidate asks, and the three answers sit on a single row.

ProgrammeDurationCreditsTaught hoursFees
Health, Industrial Safety and Environment · Bachelor's degree2 years1201200 h5 400 000 GNF per year
Certificate in Industrial Site Safety Management · Professional certification6 months18180 h3 800 000 GNF in total

Your questions, our answers

Do I need an existing building trade?

Hands-on practice helps a great deal, because it gives credibility in front of the team. The qualification supplies what a good tradesperson lacks in order to supervise: reading drawings, organisation, team leadership and safety responsibility.

What progression follows this qualification?

The works supervisor, at level 6, takes on several teams, the schedule, the budget and the relationship with the client. The design and quantity surveying technician, at level 5, opens the other direction, that of the design office and pricing.

Works team leader — Careers | IHETC — IHETC