Asbestos Labour Feedback App (ALFA

The Performance Rating App for Asbestos Labour

New Rating App to support quality of Agency Operatives for Members

On the 1st September 2020 ARCA announced the availability of a performance rating app for short-term asbestos removal operatives.

The Asbestos Labour Feedback App, ALFA, the first of its kind in the industry, enables ARCA member licensed asbestos removal contractors to rate the performance and behaviour of operatives supplied by ARCA labour supply members.

Having an overall performance rating for an operative, as well as certificate information, available in one App, will provide contractors with a better understanding of the competency of an agency operative before they arrive on site.

ALFA, a web-based application, has been developed by ARCA to provide a number of benefits for all parties, including:

w Reassurance of labour competence – being able to view an overall performance rating of agency labour enables ARCA Member Contractors to be reassured of the competency and attitude of an operative.

w Performance feedback – an ARCA Member Contractor can rate an operatives’ performance across nine categories, with ratings used to calculate an overall performance rating.

w Identifies training needs – feedback from contractors can identify areas where an operative can improve, therefore supporting the operative’s development and future selection.

w Automated system – ALFA provides labour supply agencies with an online system for the selection and assignment of short-term operatives to asbestos removal jobs. Once operatives are assigned the member contractor can log into ALFA to view overall rating and certificate information for those operatives.

w Certificate management – certificate information is easy for an agency to input and actual certificates can be uploaded, so all information is immediately available within ALFA, for an Agency, Contractor and the Operative to view. Also, certificates due to expire within 30 days are highlighted within ALFA, and the Operative is also notified by email, to support renewal management.

“The Association has a membership of virtually half of all licensed asbestos removal contractors in the UK, and many have told us that their biggest issue is the quality of labour. That is the capability, knowledge, skills and behaviour,” commented Jason Davy, Chairman of the Asbestos Removal Contractors Association (ARCA).

“Therefore, supporting better performing labour became a key goal for us [ARCA]. The question was how? ARCA already delivers asbestos training, and has developed and provides qualifications, needed by the industry. So, we held discussions with some member contractors and labour supply members, which resulted in ARCA taking the initiative to resource the development of a performance feedback app.”

The development has taken a huge effort from the ARCA team and the developers over the last 20 months. This has been due to the complexity of the requirements, such as the performance rating systems and certificate management, and the number of parties who can use the App [also COVID-19 put work on hold for a while].

The development was completed in phases with feedback along the way from Labour Supply Members. The initial pilot phase, supported by three Labour Supply Members, together with a number of ARCA Member Contractors, was completed successfully earlier this year.

Over the last two months ARCA has been contacting member contractors, providing briefings on ALFA and setting up the contractors’ principal users, as using ALFA for short-term labour from ARCA Labour Supply Members is a requirement of ARCA membership.

Jason Davy, concluded,

“I believe, ARCA has delivered a very powerful App.”

“DKF were delighted to be a part of the ALFA pilot scheme from the very beginning and fully supportive of the aims and objectives of ARCA. I think it is fair to say that ALFA is a big step forward. This initiative from ARCA allows the best operatives to demonstrate how good they genuinely are, as ALFA will quickly and independently confirm to ARCA member contractors that there are many excellent operatives who choose to work via agencies.” Dominic Fagan, DKF Recruitment.

“We were really pleased to be asked to be a part of the pilot. The ALFA App will improve the standards of the industry and we were excited to help implement something that will make us all see a positive change. We pride ourselves on the level of service we provide our clients and this App will enable us to enhance this even further.” Laura Perry, PB Recruitment.

“The introduction of the ALFA App is one which, we at Tradeslink, welcome to the industry with open arms and believe this is long overdue. As one of the members involved in the ALFA pilot, we support this wholeheartedly. ALFA very much aligns with our own compliance and quality standards. We believe that using this App will ensure the quality of personnel, we place with ARCA Member LARCs, exceeds expectation and improve the industry as a whole.” Seán Doyle, Tradeslink.

How does ALFA work?

After receiving a request for short-term labour for a specific job, an ARCA Labour Agency uses ALFA to set up the job (who for, where and when), and then finds and selects suitable operatives to send to the contractor. They can search for operatives by various criteria, including location, specific training (e.g. confined space) and CSCS Card.

Then when an operative is working for an ARCA Member Licensed Asbestos Removal Contractor, the contractor’s site supervisor will receive an email from ALFA requesting a performance rating for the operative. Ratings, which cover nine categories from RPE to time keeping, are requested on the last day of an assignment or every two weeks where applicable. Once rating information is provided, ALFA will automatically update the operative’s overall performance rating.

Ratings, which can be from a number of contractors across a number of assignments, are used to calculate the overall performance rating for an operative, which is displayed by stars. An operative’s overall performance rating, and average rating per category, is then available to an ARCA Member Contractor if/when that operative is selected for their asbestos removal job by an Agency within ALFA.

ALFA registration is open to all ARCA Member Contactors and Labour Supply Members’ Operatives. The Asbestos Labour Feedback App, ALFA www.alfa.reviews