Specialist training company invests £300,000 in teaching facility

A oil and gas training company has invested £300,000 in a new state of the art teaching centre to become the second UK firm to offer industry approved courses.

Advanced Industrial Solutions (AIS) offers specialist training for the oil and gas sector and now offers OPITO approved offshore blasting and painting courses.

AIS has developed Blaster Painter courses, to qualify offshore workers to prepare, paint and blast offshore structures.

The company has invested £300,000 in a 10,000 square foot fabrication centre with dedicated teaching areas and specialised environmentally controlled painting and blasting booths where trainees are able to learn the latest techniques in a safe and controlled environment.

This new centre will also house AIS’s growing portfolio of fabrication services such as engineering metal pipe work to insulate offshore installations and industrial sites.

Run over three days, the level 1 training course is the only blasting and painting qualifications outside of Aberdeen to achieve formal approval from OPITO – the standard setting body and authority on training for the oil and gas sector.

AIS is also launching an advanced competency assessment service for individuals and employers in the sector who want to check that any potential or existing painting and blasting employees reach the required industry standards.

Emma Spiller, training operations manager at AIS, said: “We are delighted to gain OPITO-approval for our Blaster Painter courses as it clearly demonstrates the high quality of our training provision.

“Our new facilities have been tailor-made allowing us to offer the very best painting, blasting and fabrication services and training premises that the UK has to offer.

“The UK’s oil and gas industry is enjoying a period of renaissance with sustained growth and record levels of investment and renewed government support.

“With an ageing workforce, skills shortages and high earnings there has never been a better time to look for work offshore.

“And for those wanting an offshore career in painting and blasting, or those already working in the sector, these qualifications offer great currency to finding employment. Indeed we find that increasingly employers are coming to us to identify new recruits.

“We already have an excellent reputation as a world-class training provider for the offshore sector and these new courses expand our portfolio offering.