Top Trumps !

I don't wish to be flippant about safety or training but i'm finding today that when people are applying for jobs they're requirred to have a whole collection of safety qualifications resembling a pack of Top Trumps which basically most of them should of been covered in the not too cheap BOSIET.  We're now seeing the emergence of the requirement of an STCW, basically another safety course with yet another seperate cost, which is all very well if the company is going to pay for it, but as we're finding these days companys are not too happy to do so. I'm waiting for a safety course when using spanners from 10mm- 20mm, then another one in how to use a pipe wrench, it's becoming that ridiculous for the well known reason to all of us ..... In my day when you served an apprenticeship of say five years, that meant five years experience, five years of college or night school, then three days of exams and trade tests, which if you didn't pass you went back a year, which when completed meant that you were now a skilled man and were considered safe to be allowed to operate independantly in many hazardous environments. I'm witnessing mechanics and Chief mechanics today who have no idea how to remove a broken stud, sharpen a drill, basic combustion noise on a Diesel, smoke colours, infact just the basic mechanical skills of an apprentice, but by god they've got all the necessary safety bits of paper along with a safety book resembling a green shield stamp book. Personally i think considering the lack of trade skills that i've witnessed recently a return to apprenticeships that mean something should be first on the list not only for company performance, but for safety sake as well.  My last firefighting course consisted of a man squirting lighter fuel in a bucket of sand and me putting it out with a fire blanket !  As for one who's seen a large workshop fire, i know that doesn't cut the mustard, i also know that a fire fighting certificate doesn't mean that it gives you the courage to stick around and fight it....... I wonder how many mechanics today could make their own tools as was the trade test requirement ?