BTS – UNDERGROUND HEALTH & SAFETY COURSE | PREVIEW
BTS H&S COURSE
The BTS is offering its annual Underground Health & Safety course in November to a wide range of participants – engineers, asset owners and other stakeholders, and professional service providers to projects. Former BTS Chairs Rod Young and Roger Bridge talked to T&TI about the renowned two-day course.
Bookings have opened for the latest annual BTS Underground Health & Safety course, which this year runs on 23-24 November in London. While the final details of the 2026 course are being
finalised, former BTS Chairs Rod Young and Roger Bridge explain that the two days of training have a core that is always covered and keeps up with current best practice. It does so in a broad approach to raise awareness among a wide contingent, ranging from engineers beginning in the industry to those seeking refreshers and perhaps with raised responsibilities, to others from client organisations and others stakeholders in infrastructure project development, such as experts in insurance sector, ecology, noise, and more. In recent years, attendees are more in the early 20s and up to early 40s. Before that, there were more older attendees as they were being promoted and taking on greater responsibilities, in different settings, strict engineering or otherwise. The core of the course is relevant to them all and the overall programme is refined with time and feedback. The course arrangements also provide scope for
social mixing and team-building between people, companies, organisations and stakeholders. The course lets them meet away from their normal environments and duties, away from offices and construction sites, and so supports opportunities to tune-in afresh and discuss aspects with others, including the expert speakers. Subsequently, if questions or problems arise in their work, there can be someone to ask and explore the issue with further. Deep and detailed technical instruction is not the
focus. The course aims to raise awareness on many aspects of tunnelling and do so, each year, through a core focus on BS 6164:2019 – ‘Health and Safety in Tunnelling in the Construction Industry. Code of Practice’. This is the framework and reference, the touchstone, for awareness building among all attendees. While there is no exam, as such, there will be a
“rapid immersion” experience with BS 6164 through a ‘quiz’ that raise presents questions and creates opportunity to go look into particular parts of the Code of Practice and so quickly start to get a practical feel for the highly-respected and utterly vital industry document. There will not be a qualification or certification to work underground; the value is in the awareness built and contacts made for if and when a “deep dive” for such may be helpful, or needed, on future projects. For further reference, attendees also get to take away copies of the presentations, given by industry expert practitioners. Roger, for example, will
BTS UNDERGROUND H&S COURSE: KEY TOPICS
Among the key topics and themes in underground health and safety to be covered in the upcoming BTS course, in November, are:
Day 1: Underground Risks ● BS6164 & legislation: introduction ● TBMs ● Human Organisational Performance and Human Factors
● Health & Welfare ● Ground Risks: identification & mitigation
● Exercise, based on BS6164 ● Risk Management ● Confined spaces: entry, monitoring
Day 2: Underground Safety ● Technical and practical aspects of design
● Shaft sinking & emergency procedures
● Spray Concrete Lining (SCL) ● Mental health wellbeing ● Compressed air ● Underground machinery ● Case study ● Quiz
discuss shaft design and construction, while Rod will focus on small diameter tunnelling. The speakers introduce their area of focus and highlight the health and safety aspects through anecdotal stories – which they say “makes it very real” and “brings it home.” What, then, is safety? Roger and Rod say it is a mindset and BS 6164 is the
foundation to build upon in working with others on projects. No single person can know it all, always. “You don’t do it all by yourself,” says Rod. Roger agrees. “Talk to others.” Meeting people concerned with health and safety is
therefore important and opportunities are best taken. Therein lies the specific value of the BTS Underground Health & Safety course, where experts share. This year, the course is being held at Arup’s central London office, at 80 Charlotte Street. Delegate numbers vary, depending broadly on tunnelling industry activity. Usually, there are 60-70 attendees. The price to attend is being kept to the range of last year’s training. The expert speakers give their time free of charge. A breakeven outcome is fine for the BTS for, as a learned society of the ICE, its goal is to enhance understanding of health and safety and promote awareness for such in the underground space and tunnelling industry, which has particular needs and circumstances. The course schedule provides for a slightly later
start in morning – and a social gathering at the end of the first day. Places on the course can be booked now..
For more details and to sign-up, go to:
www.britishtunnelling.com
October 2026 | 37
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45
