November 5, 2014IOSH and the Construction Skills Certification Scheme’s new agreement should make it easier for workers to gain access to construction sites. Graham Wren explains why changes to the CSCS scheme are necessary.
Most construction contractors and many clients insist that workers on their sites have a Construction Skills Certification Scheme (CSCS) card. CSCS is fully supportive of this requirement when it is used to confirm site workers have the appropriate training and qualifications to carry out their jobs.
Problems arose when companies, or their site managers, insisted that everyone who accessed their sites needed a CSCS card. The construction industry’s widely publicised desire to become ‘fully carded’ has resulted in a plethora of cardholders who have no direct involvement at site construction level.
We often hear stories of individuals being denied access because they do not have a card even though they are not involved directly in site construction.
Recent examples include an engineer fixing a canteen vending machine and a senior HSE inspector. Both were denied access because the principal contractor imposed a 100 per cent CSCS card rule.
In an effort to satisfy the industry’s desire to become 100 per cent carded, CSCS introduced the ‘construction site operative’ (CSO) green card in 2002.
This card was intended for workers in labouring occupations. However, the introduction of the CSO card opened the door for many to gain access to construction sites regardless of what work they were doing and whether they had achieved any qualifications or received appropriate training. This led to confusion over whether CSCS cards were site passports, health and safety cards or competency cards.
A CSCS card is none of these and the clue to its main purpose is in the title. A CSCS card certifies that the individual has achieved relevant qualifications and training.
In July this year CSCS stopped issuing the CSO card. At the same time we introduced a new labourer card, which requires the achievement of a Level 1 qualification – ‘health and safety in a construction environment’ or successful completion of a recognised equivalent, which includes IOSH Working safely.
These developments do not signify a change in direction for CSCS. We are simply returning the scheme to its original objectives – certifying the training and qualifications held by workers and professionals involved in the construction process. CSCS does not issue competence cards. A plastic card can never guarantee an individual’s competence. That remains the responsibility of site managers and supervisors.
When we introduced the Level 1 Award, ‘health and safety in a construction environment’, we were keen not to duplicate existing training. To do so would have resulted in construction employers incurring unnecessary costs.
IOSH’s Working safely course met CSCS’s strict mapping criteria and we are confident that anyone who successfully completes the IOSH course will have the necessary understanding of on-site health and safety issues which affect labourers.
Alongside the new labourers card we have also introduced a card for apprentices and since September 2013 we have been issuing the academically qualified person (AQP) card for those who have achieved a construction-related qualification.
Our service provider CITB continues to invest in contact centre services with the result that calls are answered more quickly and applications processed and cards despatched on the next working day. Furthermore, the majority of CSCS cards are now smart and can be used for many other purposes beyond storing CSCS data.
The result of these and future developments will meet the requirements of industry to achieve a fully-qualified workforce and help to reduce accidents and increase productivity.
Graham Wren is chief executive of CSCS.
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How can a ‘Senior Health & Safety Inspector’ be denied access to a site because he did not have a CSCS card?! Would have loved to be a fly on the wall during that conversation.
A word directly with the site supervisor and the flash of the Inspectors warrant would facilitate access KISS has its drawbacks too!!.
Same here. HSE has more power of access than the police.
Would the CIEH Health and safety in the workplace level 2 allow you to have a CSCS card?
Having taken one of these “4 1/2 minute” tests 3 years ago before I started on the health and safety path I suspect that bit about the HSE executive is an exaggeration Chris. If I could teach them to use a pc my chickens could have a CSCS card.
Not one word about the affiliated cards like scaffolders, electrictions etc
The CITB CSCS would love to be the only card in town
Based upon the aforementioned criteria and collaboration with IOSH, will other cards be rolled out for those with IOSH’s Managing Safely Certificates, Nebosh (General Certificate) or Diploma qualifications?
“A CSCS card certifies that the individual has achieved relevant qualifications and training” “but CSCS does not issue competence cards” . Really????? What’s it all about then or am I missing something?
Will be interesting as we are now entering ‘a skills shortage’ in construction how the companies insisting on CSCS cards will manage. The cynic in me thinks that the rule will be relaxed.
What started out as a scheme with good intentions has become a burden, the card is not a competency card, as much as holding a safe contractor certificate doesnt prove competency of a company either, it indicates that at some point in time somebody / a company met some requirements.
Unfortunately some site managers, health and safety officers, clients believe holding these cards or certs absolves them from checking individual competencies themselves or more frustratingly refusing to accept other more relevant evidence of competency. Even L144 lists other forms of competencies
that would indicate a level of competency like CCNSG for example but site managers refuse these.
I have experienced similar issues with competency checks on mobile elevated working platform operators, again site managers, clients, health and safety advisors asking for an operators IPAF cert before use, again they believe this is the only card that proves competency and refusing to accept
ITSSAAR accredited training as competency.
Great idea originally, but now poorly understood or executed by those in control of sites.
I think cscs is a disgrace i cannot get my card which should be carpentry and joinery.
I sent of my certificate of successfully completing my 3 year course about 7 /8 years ago and because its not nvq but the original apprenticeship they said i couldnt have one ive been running my own company for 27 years caused me no end of grief and inconvinience