“In my 35 years employed in training and development, STATS stands out as very special in the approach the company applies to nurturing and supporting staff to make the most of their talent.”
That’s the view of Andy Buckworth, Training & Competence Manager at STATS Group, as he reflects on the company winning two awards in as many years for its dedication to learning and development.
In November 2023, STATS was named Small/Medium Employer of the Year at the ECI Training and Development Awards (pictured) for its commitment to fostering competency and a culture of improvement across the organisation.
It followed this up in March 2025 by claiming the Outstanding Skills Development Award at the Offshore Achievement Awards, with judges particularly impressed with the company’s policy of promoting a culture of continuous improvement.
“To be recognised by our peers in industry like this twice is very humbling and shows the strides we’ve taken,” says Andy. “But our staff’s commitment to skills and development is the biggest reason we can all celebrate winning such significant awards.”
STATS Group’s training and development ‘journey’
With a strong training ethos running throughout the organisation, STATS Group works with its ECITB Relationship Manager to ensure its people get the training they need to work in the engineering construction industry (ECI).
STATS Group, based in Kintore, Aberdeenshire, is a market leader in the supply of pressurised pipeline isolation, hot tapping and plugging services to the global energy industry.
In 2023, STATS launched a new on-the-job training programme that focuses on areas such as competency and leadership development. It also has a long-term commitment to “growing our own” by recruiting graduates and apprentices and then developing them beyond and into senior roles.
“These awards are nice, but for us it’s about the journey we’re all on and the robustness of setting up a new competency management system and embedding development into our CPD (continuing professional development). That comes down to getting the core fundamentals correct and always having your focus on skills.
“The way we do training, we look at the end game of our people’s skills and development needs for their roles and then work backwards to determine the appropriate starting point.
“Once we have a clear understanding of what the required foundations, knowledge and skills are, we build up to the defined full level of proven competency using various methods of delivery.
“When we reach out to our ECITB Relationship Manager, there’s always a solution. They spend more time asking me what we need and how we need it than me going to them saying ‘what’s available for development of this person in this area’.
“Having that support in place and someone that wants to listen to us and find out about our needs is really helpful.
“This demonstrates the value of the ECITB. It reaches out, listens to industry, is flexible and reacts to what we need.”
Andy Buckworth
Training & Competence Manager, STATS Group
ECITB training
As specialists in bolting (pictured), the ECITB-approved mechanical joint integrity (MJI) course is one that STATS has benefited from.
Approved Training Provider Patriot International delivered the training on its premises to ensure the learning was aligned with what the workers are doing on sites.
Another key area the company has been supported in by the ECITB is on developing project management skills, such as through the ACTIVE Cup, Chartered Project Professional (ChPP) programme and Skills Bootcamps.
Employees have also done the ECITB ‘Taking the lead’ supervisor course and small-bore tubing training.
STATS is an ECITB Skills and Training Charter Gold Standard holder in recognition of its work in upskilling and training workers. It also attends regional and national forums, has inputted into the ECITB’s Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) Working Group and supports with labour market intelligence.
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