# How do you record who trained each worker on a Puntland site? > A simple training record ties each worker to a task, a trainer and a date, so a supervisor can check skill on the next job. - By: Editorial Team, Somali Construction Review (https://somaliconstructionreview.com/about) - Published: 4 November 2026 - Format: Practical guide (general practice) - Publication: Somali Construction Review (https://somaliconstructionreview.com) - Subject: People and Skills - Place: Puntland - Tags: puntland, construction-training, workforce-skills, site-supervision - Web version: https://somaliconstructionreview.com/blog/worker-training-record-puntland-site ## Key points - A training record names the worker, the task, who showed them and the date, and it sits with the site file, not in someone's head. - The record is only useful if the trainee then does the task under supervision and the result is written down. - Ask each worker to explain the task back in their own words before you sign the entry. Start a training record for every worker on the site, and write in it the task, who showed the worker how to do it and the date. A name on a payroll does not show what a person can do. A short written record does, and it lets the next supervisor check skill before the work starts. ## What should a worker training record contain? Each entry needs four items: the worker's name and role, the task they were trained for, who trained them, and the date. Add a line for what the trainee did afterwards, such as laying a block course or fixing a wall tie under watch. Keep the record on site, in one book or one shared file, and write in it the same day. Ask the trainer to sign or initial each entry. If the trainer is a foreman, mason or steel fixer rather than a salaried instructor, that is fine, as long as the name is written down. Write the task in plain words. "Setting out a wall line from a string and corner blocks" tells a supervisor more than "general masonry". For tasks where the finish matters, add the check that was used, such as a spirit level on the course or a plumb line on the corner. Keep the record with the other site paperwork so it travels to the next job. A crew that moves between sites carries skills with it, and a record carried with the crew saves the next supervisor from guessing. ## How do you know the training actually happened? The entry is only worth something if the trainee then does the task while someone watches, and the watcher writes down the result. A signature with no follow-up proves nothing. Set the pattern at the start of the job. When a worker learns a task, the trainer shows it once, the worker does it, and the trainer corrects what is wrong. Only then does the entry go in the book. Use the same check the finished work will face. If the trainee is learning to mix mortar, the check is the mix on the board, not a conversation. If the trainee is learning to read a bar bending schedule, the check is whether they mark the right bar length on the right bundle. Ask the worker to explain the task back in their own words. A worker who can say why a lap length matters, or why a wall needs a tie at a certain spacing, has understood more than one who only copies a movement. Where the explanation is weak, train again and note the second session. > **Tip:** Keep one page per worker. It is faster to check a single page at hiring time than to search a site diary for a name. ## Who should sign the record? The person who watched the work signs it. On most sites that is the foreman or the tradesperson who trained the worker, and the site engineer or clerk of works countersigns at agreed points. Agree before work starts who counts as a trainer for each trade. A mason can train a mason's helper in mixing and carrying. Setting out, concrete pours and steel fixing may need the site engineer or a senior tradesperson to sign. If your project has an engineer, a clerk of works or a client representative, ask which entries they want to see and how often. The contract and the project specification decide this, so check them rather than assume. Keep one rule: nobody signs for work they did not watch. A supervisor who signs a page from memory turns the record into paperwork with no value. This record feeds the wider crew file. The steps in [How do you build a skills record for a Puntland site crew?](/blog/site-skills-record-puntland-crew) show how to hold the pages together, and [How do you check an apprenticeship is working in Puntland?](/blog/check-apprenticeship-progress-puntland) covers the review points for trainees. The sign-off question itself is set out in [Who signs off an apprentice's work on a Puntland site?](/blog/sign-off-apprentice-work-puntland). Where a site trains several young workers at once, the record also shows the client that the training promised in the tender is happening. Photographs, dates and names carry more weight than a list of course titles. Our [education page](/education) lists learning paths that can fill gaps the record exposes. ## What to do next Open a training record book today. Write one line for each worker on site: name, task they can already do, who taught them and when. Ask each worker to explain one task on that list back to you, and mark the entries you cannot confirm for retraining this week. ## Questions ### Does a worker need a certificate to be recorded as trained? No. A signed site entry from the person who watched the work is enough for most site purposes. If a client or engineer asks for a certificate, ask them which body issued it and what it covers. ### Should the training record be in Somali or English? Write the task description in the language the trainee and supervisor both read best, and keep names and dates as written. If the client asks for English, add a short English line beside the Somali entry. ## Sources - [Somali Construction Review education page](https://somaliconstructionreview.com/education)