Barbados offers safer houses course to workers in building trade

Bridgetown, Barbados, February 10, 2014 (CDEMA) - The Samuel Jackman Prescod Polytechnic (SJPP) will be offering a safer building course to workers in the building trade from this month (February 2014).  This course is an adaptation of the Regional Code of Practice for the Construction of Houses Course which was developed by the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) in collaboration with the CARICOM Regional Organisation for Standards and Quality (CROSQ).
The course was first piloted in four countries, Saint Lucia, British Virgin Islands, Belize and Grenada at institutions offering technical and vocational training. Others countries, namely, Dominica, Haiti and Bahamas and now Barbados have adapted the course for national level training.
The course seeks to enhance community resilience to disasters by promoting safer building standards throughout the Caribbean. It targets contractors, foremen and other experienced workers in the informal construction sector and covers techniques for making houses more resistant to hurricanes, earthquakes, land slippage and floods.
CDEMA has provided support for the training through the Comprehensive Disaster Management Harmonised Implementation Programme (CDM HIP) Phase I which is funded by international partners, United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID), Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development (DFATD) and Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT).
The 40-hour course starts on Tuesday, February 11, with an official opening in the Gazebo Classroom Village, SJPP, Wildey, St. Michael, at 4:45 p.m. SJPP’s Principal, Hector Belle and Deputy Executive Director of CDEMA, Elizabeth Riley, will address the event.