CSCS Health, Safety and Environmental Test
Changes to the health & safety test ( soon to be …. health, safety and environment test)
Please see below details of a recent announcement by CITB-ConstructionSkills about forthcoming changes to the Health & Safety Test which will come into effect in April 2012.
In order to allow you or your delegates to sit the existing exam through Prometric before these changes come into effect you can book online at CSCS Health and Safety Test or alternatively call our contact centre on 0800 1488 677.
-ConstructionSkills have announced that the re-named CSCS health, safety and environment test will replace the former health and safety test in April 2012. The new test will be required for all construction workers seeking to hold a construction skills competency scheme (CSCS) card or a construction plant competency scheme (CPCS) card.
New features of the CSCS Health, Safety and Environmental Test include:
- An updated question bank including the new universal hazard symbols;
- Questions on respiratory risks and the hazards they can pose;
- Questions on the environment;
- Behavioral case studies which tests how a candidate would respond to health and safety situations to highlight safe working practices on site.
Candidates wishing to take the existing CSCS health and safety test will be able to do so at a Prometric test centre or through a Prometric partner testing centre up to 31 March 2012. Tests can be booked in the normal way here CSCS Health and Safety Test
Get on with CSCS Tests & CSCS Cards
With regard to the construction industry, CSCS cards are obviously the wave of the future. CSCS cards are designed to properly categorise the skill set of every single person to set foot on a project. Before being issued one of these cards, the applicant must undergo a rigorous program of CSCS tests and, increasingly, CSCS training classes as they enter the industry and work their way up the ladder of success.
Before anything else, CSCS training in Health and Safety, and successful passing of the CSCS tests on these subjects, is required. Once this initial hurdle has been overcome, the applicant is eligible to apply for several base level CSCS cards, including the yellow Site Visitor card and the various forms of red Trainee cards. Workers that meet higher level NVQ/SVQ levels, or take CSCS training to raise their skills, can become eligible for the green CSCS cards after passing the intermediate CSCS tests.
Workers proceed up the ladder, with each step requiring a new series of CSCS training, new CSCS tests, and new CSCS cards. While not every construction project in the UK currently requires CSCS training for its workers, it is clear that not needing CSCS cards on the job will soon be the rare exception to an increasingly ironclad rule. CSCS tests represent assurance to the employer that the worker is up to the job, even as the CSCS tests also tend to become the worker’s guarantee of employment, as unskilled and semi-skilled labour finds themselves excluded from consideration due to their lack of CSCS training.
Obtaining CSCS cards is not difficult. Those desirous of making a career in any of the building trades are advised that now is the best time to get started on the regime of CSCS tests and CSCS training. Courses and certification are on offer practically everywhere. Getting in line for CSCS certification now means that everyone else will have to get in line behind you.
CSCS Cards for Managers and Supervisors – The new route.
The new route to getting a CSCS Card for managers and supervisors
Construction Skills Certifcation Scheme (CSCS) has been working with a experienced team of industry professionals to develop a route to CSCS cards for highly experienced construction managers and supervisors which provides an appropriate alternative to achieving S/NVQs or gaining membership of a Professional body.
This process will be called the Profiling Route. Following extensive consultation and piloting of the Profiling Route, it will be introduced over the next few months and more information will be provided through CSCS enewsletters and briefings about how it will work.
If you are are a manager or supervisor and interested in receving more information on CSCS Cards for Managers or Supervisors please let us know. For advice and information you should phone veritas consulting safety services on 0800 1488 677
You should book your CSCS Card test here today.
CSCS Cards are going “Smart”
Why? CSCS SmartCards are much harder to forge than plain printed CSCS cards
Beware fake CSCS cards can easily be detected using an inexpensive card reader
Smartcards not only provide much quicker access to CSCS data, they may be used for other applications too
Your qualifications on CSCS cards can potentially be updated electronically without having to apply for a replacement card.
Benefits of using SmartCards
CSCS Smartcards will save Time and Money
You can check whether a workers CSCS Card is valid by simply ringing the CSCS helpline or use a database such as Phoenix, details can be checked much faster saving you time and costs.
Personal information can held on the smartcard, ie your training achievements or qualifications gained the cards haves the potential to be updated electronically without having to apply for and spend extra money for a replacement card.
Smartcards will help combat fraud
Fake or forged CSCS cards have become more prevalent and fraudsters are using increasingly sophisticated means to produce counterfeit cards. This can result in unqualified and even illegal workers gaining access to construction sites putting safety and reputations on the line. SmartCards are much harder to forge than plain printed cards and fake cards can easily be detected when checked using an inexpensive card reader.
Multiple Applications
Information can be stored electronically in the card chip so that CSCS SmartCards have the potential to be used for a host of new applications. Tracking tool box talks and site inductions; recording continuing professional development; controlling access to building sites through turnstiles; monitoring time and attendance;cashless vending;verifying occupational health restrictions and much more. This means that
CSCS SmartCards could be all that is needed to gain access to construction sites.
How do CSCS SmartCards work?
In terms of applying for CSCS cards, the types of cards available and the criteria applicants must meet, the Scheme has not changed and information about the holder is still printed on the cards. The difference is that a copy of the same data is also stored in the chip on the card (in a similar way to information stored in the chip on a credit card).
The CSCS SmartCard is a high capacity card that can be used for a multitude of purposes beyond just storing CSCS data. Each additional use of the card will be managed by installing a simple computer program called an Applet on the card. This potentially allows contractors and clients to access relevant data such as training records, time and attendance reports, occupational health reviews and other information electronically. Subject to certain conditions, any organisation will be able to purchase the right to put an Applet of its own design on to CSCS SmartCards.
CSCS smartCard Readers
There are two kinds of reader that can be used to access information on CSCS SmartCards. A simple handheld device costing from £113.99+VAT, or the solution that CSCS recommends, a PC or laptop connected reader available for as little as £16.95+VAT.
PC or Laptop Connected Readers
Reading a CSCS SmartCard using a PC or laptop connected reader, displays the cardholder’s details and photograph on the computer screen. As with the handheld reader, this will demonstrate that the card is genuine and will verify the information printed on the card.
The CSCS SmartCard is a dual interface card, which means it can be read using a contact reader (one where the card is inserted into a slot in the reader), or a contactless reader (one where the card is simply placed on the outside surface of the reader). Contactless readers cost slightly more but read cards more quickly.
Only PC/SC accordant SmartCard readers conforming to protocol T=0 (contact interface) or T=CL (contactless interface) will be suitable for reading the CSCS SmartCard.
Before any PC or laptop connected reader can be used, it will be necessary to install special CSCS software onto your PC or laptop and you may also need to load a driver that comes with the reader. The CSCS software is downloadable free of charge. Alternatively, you will be able to purchase it on a CD-ROM as part of a package with a reader from.
Once the software is running, all that will remain is to plug the reader into a PC or laptop and insert the card.
In the absence of an electronic card reader the card can continue to be used exactly like a traditional printed card.
CSCS Smartcard Handheld Readers
The handheld reader is a self-contained, battery powered device that can fit into a pocket. When a genuine CSCS SmartCard is inserted into the card slot at the top of the unit, the cardholder’s name, CSCS registration number, qualifications and the card expiry date may be viewed on the display. This will demonstrate that it is a genuine CSCS card and will confirm the cardholder’s details. All that remains is to check the Cardholder’s face matches the photo on the card. Only one type of specially configured handheld reader is suitable for use with CSCS SmartCards and is available from a CSCS preferred supplier.
Original source: Construction Skills Certification Scheme.
