At PASMA’s 2025 Annual Members Meeting in Glasgow, Steve Booker - Managing Director of Kentec Training and outgoing Chairman of PASMA - delivered a powerful speech to members, instructors, manufactures, and training providers alike:
“Training is a service, not a commodity.”
In his past two years as the Chairman of PASMA, Steve has championed safety and quality in training, working tirelessly to uphold and strengthen the PASMA brand. This legacy of leadership set the stage for his speech in Glasgow last night - a call to the industry to resist reducing training to a tick-box exercise.
In an industry under pressure more than ever to be faster, cheaper, and easier, we’ve seen training increasingly treated like a commodity. Click, book, certify, done. A bum on a seat, a tick in the box, and a certificate in the hand.
When we treat training as a commodity like this, we lose sight of the human being sat in the training room. They could be someone’s father, daughter, best mate - who expects to go home safe at the end of their shift. A certificate is not the outcome of training. It’s a by-product of the service as a whole.
Service is about people. Relationships. Listening. Understanding. Adapting.
All of our instructors at Kentec understand the difference a caring, empathetic and human approach to training can make. Delegates leave our courses not only with a brand new qualification and set of skills, but with a genuine understanding of their responsibility to themselves, their colleagues, and the people whose safety depends on them.
That’s why Kentec Training has never chased volume, we’ve chased value.
And that choice has built long-term relationships, loyalty, and trust with our clients - who know that we'll do right by them. Delegates aren’t just names on a register. They’re individuals who might be nervous, sceptical, or unsure - and they're trusting us as a training provider with their future safety, often for years to come.
Our mission isn’t just to teach; it’s to engage, to support, and to make safety grounded, real and relevant. When training providers deliver a genuine, quality service, they don’t just 'win' a booking. They build advocacy. They earn word-of-mouth. They create a brand that lasts.
That’s the legacy Steve has instilled into Kentec Training, and it's the same he leaves PASMA as outgoing Chair: a belief that providing a quality service strengthens safety, deepens trust, futureproofs our industry, and ultimately saves lives.
A Call to Raise the Bar
As Steve officially passes the torch of PASMA Chairmanship to Charles Wright of Lakeside Industries, he reminds us all that this isn’t just about Kentec, or even Steve’s time as Chair. It’s about the future of training across our entire industry for years to come.
PASMA offer more than just a certificate - they offer quality, and a promise that training will be:
- Human, not mechanical.
- Purposeful, not perfunctory.
- Impactful, not just informational.
We wish all the best to Charlie as he continues to ensure that the association is led with passion, innovation, and a commitment to raising work at height safety standards across the access industry.
📞 Want to find out more about our PASMA training courses? Get in touch today on 0333 666 0555 or email our support team at sales@kentectraining.co.uk! We're here to help you raise standards and reduce risk across your workplace.
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