Alex DeCouto, president of the Construction Association of Bermuda (CAOB), insisted the way forward is to establish trade certification, link work permit applications to apprenticeship programmes and ensure all contractors are licensed.

He said such practices would promote Bermudianisation in the workforce and make contractors more accountable to consumers.

"The big issues as we see them are trade certification, tying work permits to training and licensing of contractors," he said. "Those are three things the CAOB is working towards ? and Government also."

With regard to trade certification, Mr. DeCouto said it would involve Government, through the National Training Board, setting a minimum standard for people to meet before they could advertise themselves as competent plumbers, masons, electricians or other tradesmen.

"Particularly in this area, Government seems on a bit of a holding pattern," he said, in explaining why it isn't common practice.

"There are some grey areas with people working as tradesmen now. What's needed is a well-defined minimum standard that people have to meet. It doesn't exist presently.

"My understanding is that the legislation is in the Attorney General's chambers but it's yet to go to the floor of the House of Assembly. We have been lobbying to get the legislation through, and I think the Bermuda Industrial Union (BIU) would agree that it's important."

The second issue, tying work permits to training, is one that could be easily implemented and, in fact, was once a common industry practice, Mr. DeCouto said.

"Tying work permits to training is a big one. A while back when companies were making applications for work permits they needed to show they were training a Bermudian.

"It doesn't happen at all currently and we think it would go a long way to stopping some of the abuses of the system by companies that might bring in expatriate labour and hire as few Bermudians as possible.

"We do have good corporate citizens out there and they are at a disadvantage because they are paying for training. If (Government) tied work permits to training, if companies had to find an apprentice to put with (particular jobs), it would force people to train and companies would work harder to retain.

"Bermudians would benefit and it would force companies into a level playing field where all have to pay for training. It was in place previously as a policy and I think it's something that should be revisited and I think the BIU would agree with me."

He admitted the idea might not be practical where the trade "is highly specialised or temporary" but would vastly improve such situations where 95 per cent of a company's tradesmen are non-Bermudian.

It would be equally practical to make it mandatory for contractors to be licensed before allowed to practice, Mr. DeCouto said.

The idea is one CAOB is now working on with the Consumer Affairs Department in a bid to protect inexperienced consumers.

"It's in its infancy stage at the moment," he admitted, "but we are looking at the feasibility of having a licensing system where companies apply for a licence to operate. A lot of people use the word contractor very loosely.

"A contractor is someone who enters into a formal, written agreement and that's a rarity. Seventy-five per cent of people who call themselves contractors probably are not.

"A lot of small firms do construction work but the use of contracts is very rare and consumers suffer as a result of loosely defined scopes of work ? sometimes things don't go wrong, but sometimes they do."

Mr. DeCouto said he receives "calls of woe" in those instances from people upset that they are being charged for a "whole pile of extras".

"At that point, what can I advise? Is it unfair? Is it reasonable? I don't know. We can help with good advice from the start in terms of what they should be asking for, in terms of information and what they should insist upon with quality and the like.

"Licensing would be like certifying trades to minimum standards, there would be a defined complaints process. I'm not dismissing (work) on a handshake and trust.

"I do work myself that way outside my working job. It involves relations that are built over time. There's a place for that and Bermuda's a small place so that's how it evolved. But the potential for chaos is there."