Industry meets to assess impact of CSCS Green card shake-up

Industry representatives are due to meet next week with training organisations to get to grips with the ramifications and workings of the shake up of the CSCS Green card scheme.

Representatives from the UK Contractors Group will meet with the CITB and the CSCS to learn more about the scheme, which adds a new mandatory competency test to CSCS health and safety test for all individuals renewing or applying for the new Labourers’ Green Card from July.

Those passing the test will be awarded a Level 1 labourer’s qualification in Health and Safety in a Construction Environment, which is intended to help professionalise the industry. The learning outcomes and assessment criteria were published here on the CSCS web site last month.

The new qualification’s computer-based assessment calls for 40 notional hours of learning, which has raised concerns in some quarters of the industry that it could become a barrier to new entrants to the sector because of the extra training costs.

It’s likely that experienced labourers would be able to sit the test without any additional training, while less-experienced workers and new entrants would require up to 40 hours training at colleges, in-house or via private training providers.

The new qualification is overseen by CITB and offered via eight awarding bodies. Pilot schemes involving 18 different training providers have been running since  November, and CITB says that 40 are lined up to offer the training from next month. 

However, unlike the CITB-run Health Safety and Environment online test required for the old Operatives Green Card and all other CSCS cards, the assessment will only be able to be taken in English, a spokesperson for CSCS said. HS&E tests can be taken with voice-overs in twelve different languages. 

Reactions within the industry have been split. Tony Costello, training and development manager at Seddon Construction who will be attending the forthcoming meeting, said: “The details of how the scheme will operate are sketchy at the moment. It’s not clear how it will work. The biggest thing is lining up the training providers to do the assessment.”

Holly Price, training and development director at demolition contractor Keltbray, also had her reservations. “I have been trying to get my head around the processes but it is very unclear. Depending on the awarding body it appears to be assessed differently and to be honest there are some topics on the assessment criteria that would be difficult for a new entrant,” she told CM. 

But Bruce Boughton, people development manager at affordable housing developer Lovell, said: “I definitely think it’s a good idea for labouring staff to be able to get a qualification. I think it will encourage people to progress through the industry to other levels, rather than getting stuck on the bottom rung.”

Boughton said he expected to put at least 200 operatives through the £30 test. “ I don’t see it being a huge problem, having looked at the learning outcomes it is testing the knowledge and skills they already have.”

Another training expert was more critical, saying: “I’m afraid it smacks of being a money-making operation, I can’t see how it’s going to improve safety on site. I think it would be better to just tighten up the system as it is.”

Christine Townley, chief executive of the Construction Youth Trust, said that while it was good for new entrants to be able to gain a qualification she was concerned that for the unemployed it would be difficult to get it because of the cost of the training. In addition, applicants will still have to sit the CITB online HS&E test.

The CSCS has explained that the new Level 1 qualification for labouring occupations is not an NVQ. It is a single unit award on the Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF).

In September, Graham Wren, chairman of CSCS, commented to CM: “A single unit award measures knowledge only which means it can be delivered in a variety of ways including on the job training, computer based courses, workbook and classroom delivery. Cost of assessment and training will be dependent on a number of factors including the card applicant’s existing knowledge, experience and the amount of training they need.”