FIR training app rolls out UK-wide with modules in Polish and Punjabi

If some of your crew take things in better in a language other than English, a short course on fair treatment at work is now rolling out across the UK, and nobody is telling you that you have to use it.

The Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) announced on 18 September 2026 that the Supply Chain School App is being rolled out nationwide. The FIR training app covers Fairness, Inclusion and Respect, with resources built for site workers and supervisors.

For owners weighing up new tools and technology for staff, the app is not a digital skills for construction course; it is about how people treat each other on site. It matters most where crews were reshaped by the Brexit lasting impact on their workforce: every module runs in English, Bulgarian, Lithuanian, Polish, Punjabi and Romanian, so a worker can learn in their own language, and each takes under five minutes. The learning ends with a short quiz to reinforce key behaviours.

People working on the tools helped build the modules. Workers sign in with their mobile phone number, and the app is available on Apple and Android devices.

Vanessa Freeman, Head of Grants and Funding at CITB, said many workers had highlighted being able to learn in their native language and to complete learning at a pace that fits around a busy site.

The FIR training app aims squarely at site learning barriers

Morgan Sindall Infrastructure developed the app with the Supply Chain Sustainability School, which is delivering it. CITB says work with site teams flagged behavioural issues and language barriers, along with limited access to training, a lack of time to learn, and inconsistent approaches to inclusion across supply chains.

CITB reports more than 400 downloads and more than 2,200 learning modules completed since the app launched in March 2025, plus positive feedback from 98% of programme participants. Those figures describe use and satisfaction, not proof that learning or behaviour improved, and the announcement carries no independent evaluation.

What it costs you, and what CITB has not said

The app grew out of the Black Hats project, which CITB backed with £489,260 from its Industry Impact Fund. That money went to the project, not to each firm that uses the app, so there is nothing for you to apply for.

The practical gaps are price and access. CITB describes a mobile-number login but does not publish full eligibility terms, including whether a small firm needs its own account or a programme membership. The announcement puts no price on downloading or using the app, so the open question is what, if anything, it costs to put a whole crew on it.