Transitioning into the lifting industry: Jamie Morris’s story
Jamie Morris’s move from the infantry into the lifting industry shows how a free industry qualification, followed by Enhanced Learning Credits, can turn Army experience into a skilled civilian career.
Seven years with the Fusiliers
Jamie served for seven years with 1st Battalion, Royal Regiment of Fusiliers. He started as a Warrior gunner and driver, moved to the Sniper Platoon and finished his service in a Reconnaissance Platoon. Those roles taught him to work as part of a team, keep his head under pressure and take responsibility for getting a job done safely.
After leaving, he joined JK Lifting Equipment in the North East, where he has spent the past two and a half years and is now a site engineer. “After seven years in the Army, I found my next career in the Lifting Industry,” he says.
Finding the Military Transition Scheme
Working in the industry brought Jamie into contact with the Lifting Equipment Engineers Association (LEEA) and its Military Transition Scheme. Through the scheme he gained the LEEA Foundation Certificate, which gave him a grounding in the industry and a qualification employers recognise.
Using ELC to keep progressing
Jamie has since used his ELCAS funding to complete NVQ Diplomas in Lifting Supervision and Appointed Person. He says the chance to earn recognised qualifications while continuing to develop made a real difference to what could have been a hard move into civilian life. His military skills helped, but lifting also gave him something completely new to learn.
What the scheme offers Service leavers
The scheme is open to all regular Service leavers worldwide, whatever their branch, trade, experience or existing qualifications. You can join from six months before you leave until two years after.
It starts with a free LEEA Foundation Certificate e-learning course. Pass the assessment and you hold a qualification recognised worldwide and valid for life. LEEA’s Advanced Diploma courses are then available at reduced rates, subject to conditions.
Members of the scheme can also see vacancies posted by LEEA member companies, with openings in more than 80 countries, and members recruiting locally can see a leaver’s basic background and location. The work covers the design, fabrication, manufacture and supply of lifting equipment, and its inspection, testing and maintenance, for employers in renewables, construction, offshore and nuclear.
LEEA’s view
Ross Moloney, LEEA’s chief executive, said: “We know the military services are full of high calibre people with important employability skills, together with the technical expertise required by our industry. Those skills will need to be transferred into industry recognised qualifications – a bridge that LEEA wants to help them cross by offering the next step in their work life.”
About JK Lifting Equipment
JK Lifting Equipment has more than 38 years’ experience and works from bases in Newcastle and the Port of Blyth. It carries out on-site rigging, vessel mobilisation, testing and bespoke manufacture in line with LOLER, and sells and hires PPE, working-at-height equipment, tools and lighting to construction, engineering, renewables, oil and gas and marine customers.
About LEEA
The Lifting Equipment Engineers Association represents companies working in every part of the lifting industry worldwide, from design and manufacture to hire, maintenance and use. It has been involved in training, standards and safety in the industry for more than 80 years.
About the LEEA Military Transition Scheme
Questions about the scheme: [email protected]
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