The CSCS Smart Check app will be rolled out from April 2022, allowing all 2.1 million cards in the construction industry displaying the CSCS logo to be electronically verified using a single app.

Developed by the 38 card schemes displaying the CSCS logo, CSCS Smart Check will radically improve the construction industry’s card checking procedures and site safety while also helping tackle fraud in the sector.

Organisations and their on-site card checkers will have a quick, easy and secure way of ensuring everyone on site has the right qualifications and training for the job they do, with the free app available for Apple iOS and Android devices.

What you need to know

• CSCS Smart Check can scan QR codes to validate both physical and virtual cards
• The app can also read contactless chips to validate cards
• All 38 schemes that carry the CSCS logo on their cards can be read by CSCS Smart Check
• The app works by scanning a CSCS Partner Scheme card, verifying whether it is genuine and if its details are correct for over two million construction workers in the UK
• The app has a live feed into the databases of each card scheme
• Help and support with FAQs and links to additional resources are available

FAQs can be found at the foot of this page.

Background

At the beginning of 2015, the Construction Leadership Council (CLC) announced via the Industrial Strategy: Construction 2025, that industry, including trade associations, contractors, clients and government, should specify and promote card schemes displaying the CSCS logo with no equivalents accepted. This is known as the One Industry Logo action.

In December 2020, the CLC issued a further update to its requirement regarding the implementation of Smart Technology by card schemes displaying the CSCS logo.

That update stipulated that “by 31 March 2022, all card schemes must use smart technology which has the capability to electronically check agreed information relevant to a cardholder, using a common interface, without the need to manually enter data”.

As such, the 38 CSCS partner card schemes have collaborated to produce the CSCS Smart Check app, designed to meet the requirement above.

On 6 April 2022 the Personal Protective Equipment at Work (Amendment) Regulations 2022 (PPER 2022) come into force and amend the 1992 Regulations (PPER 1992).

They extend employers’ and employees’ duties regarding personal protective equipment (PPE) to limb (b) workers.

Duties unchanged but extended

Under PPER 2022, the types of duties and responsibilities on employers and employees under PPER 1992 will remain unchanged but will extend to limb (b) workers, as defined in PPER 2022.

If PPE is required, employers must ensure their workers have sufficient information, instruction and training on the use of PPE.

A limb (b) worker will have the duty to use the PPE in accordance with their training and instruction, and ensure it is returned to the storage area provided by their employer.

You can find guidance on the PPE duties in:

• Personal protective equipment at work (L25)
• Risk at work – personal protective equipment (PPE)

We will publish updated guidance incorporating the changes made by PPER 2022 before the Regulations come into force.

What this means for employers

PPER 1992 places a duty on every employer in Great Britain to ensure that suitable PPE is provided to ‘employees’ who may be exposed to a risk to their health or safety while at work.

PPER 2022 extends this duty to limb (b) workers and comes into force on 6 April 2022. Employers need to carefully consider whether the change to UK law apply to them and their workforce and make the necessary preparations to comply.

What this means for limb (b) workers

If a risk assessment indicates that a limb (b) worker requires PPE to carry out their work activities, the employer must carry out a PPE suitability assessment and provide the PPE free of charge as they do for employees.

The employer will be responsible for the maintenance, storage and replacement of any PPE they provide. As a worker, you will be required to use the PPE properly following training and instruction from your employer. If the PPE you provide is lost or becomes defective, you should report that to your employer.

Definitions of limb (a) and limb (b) workers

In the UK, section 230(3) of the Employment Rights Act 1996’s definition of a worker has 2 limbs:

• Limb (a) describes those with a contract of employment. This group are employees under the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and are already in scope of PPER 1992
• Limb (b) describes workers who generally have a more casual employment relationship and work under a contract for service – they do not currently come under the scope of PPER 1992

PPER 2022 draws on this definition of worker and captures both employees and limb (b) workers:

‘“worker” means ‘an individual who has entered into or works under –

• (a) a contract of employment; or
• (b) any other contract, whether express or implied and (if it is express) whether oral or in writing, whereby the individual undertakes to do or perform personally any work or services for another party to the contract whose status is not by virtue of the contract that of a client or customer of any profession or business undertaking carried on by the individual;

and any references to a worker’s contract shall be construed accordingly.’

General duties of limb (b) workers

Generally, workers who come under limb (b):

• carry out casual or irregular work for one or more organisations
• after 1 month of continuous service, receive holiday pay but not other employment rights such as the minimum period of statutory notice
• only carry out work if they choose to
• have a contract or other arrangement to do work or services personally for a reward (the contract doesn’t have to be written) and only have a limited right to send someone else to do the work, for example swapping shifts with someone on a pre-approved list (subcontracting)
• are not in business for themselves (they do not advertise services directly to customers who can then also book their services directly)

As every employment relationship will be specific to the individual and employer, the precise status of any worker can ultimately only be determined by a court or tribunal.

Please note: These changes do not apply to those who have a ‘self-employed’ status.

More on employment status (GOV.UK website)

What PPE is

PPE is defined in the PPER 1992 as ‘all equipment (including clothing affording protection against the weather) which is intended to be worn or held by a person at work and which protects the person against one or more risks to that person’s health or safety, and any addition or accessory designed to meet that objective’.

Where an employer finds PPE to be necessary after a risk assessment, using the hierarchy of controls explained below, they have a duty to provide it free of charge.

Hierarchy of controls

PPE should be regarded as the last resort to protect against risks to health and safety. Engineering controls and safe systems of work should be considered first.

Consider controls in the following order, with elimination being the most effective and PPE being the least effective:

• Elimination – physically remove the hazard
• Substitution – replace the hazard
• Engineering controls – isolate people from the hazard
• Administrative controls – change the way people work
• PPE – protect the worker with personal protective equipment

Employers with both employees and limb (b) workers

By 6 April 2022, you need to ensure that there is no difference in the way PPE is provided to your workers, as defined by PPER 2022. This means assessing the risk and ensuring suitable PPE is provided, when needed, to all people that fall under the definition of worker.

The PPE provided must be compatible, maintained and correctly stored. All workers must use the PPE properly following training and instruction in its use from their employer. If the PPE you provide is lost or becomes defective, your worker should report that to you.

Employers with only limb (b) workers

You need to ensure that your workers are provided with PPE free of charge, where required, by 6 April 2022. This means assessing the residual risk once all other measures (such as engineering controls) have been taken.

You then need to ensure suitable PPE is:

• provided
• compatible
• maintained
• correctly stored
• used properly

You will also need to provide training and instruction in its use to all your workers. You cannot charge workers for PPE they require to carry out their work.

How this legislation will be enforced

HSE inspectors already include assessment of PPE as part of their routine inspections. Enforcement action can range from verbal or written advice to enforcement notices and, in the most serious cases, prosecution of dutyholders.

Britain’s safety regulator has today, 25 October, issued a safety notice on the use of wheeled loading shovels, widely used in the waste and recycling sector.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) notice follows nine fatal vehicle-pedestrian collisions in the past four years. Six of these occurred in the waste and recycling sector, with the remainder involved moving wood chip.

HSE has identified issues of poor visibility caused by the bucket and load, the engine at the rear and the cab pillars, significantly reducing the drivers’ ability to see pedestrians and, to a lesser extent, other vehicles. The use of larger capacity buckets, which has become common practice where low-density material is being moved, makes forward visibility significantly worse.

Regulation 4 of The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER) requires machinery to be suitable for the purpose for which it is used. This also applies if the equipment is adapted, for example by fitting a larger bucket.

Manufacturers and other specialist suppliers have attempted to address the problem by adding ‘visibility slots’ or mesh at the top of buckets, but evidence from investigations suggests these are ineffective when the bucket is in the carry position or obscured by the load. Camera systems have been under development for some time, but their effectiveness remains unproven and are not widely available.

Head of HSE’s Waste and Recycling team, HM Principal Inspector of Health and Safety, Tim Small, commented:

“Poorly planned use of wheeled loading shovels can have fatal consequences. This safety notice reminds duty holders who use these machines of the need to fully assess and actively manage the risk of vehicle-pedestrian collisions. Currently, the only effective control measure is strict segregation of vehicles and pedestrians. If you cannot ensure that segregation, you should not use larger capacity buckets or wheeled loaders, but employ alternative work methods such as using different machinery and/or site management arrangements.

“Before using wheeled loaders – or making changes to them – you should review your workplace transport risk assessments to ensure they will be safe to use in your environment and in the way you intend to use them. By implementing appropriate risk controls, needless pedestrian deaths could be avoided.”

The safety notice can be viewed here.

LANTRA has developed and are now able to release the following qualifications:

NVQ Level 2 Certificate in Plant Operations (Construction)

NVQ Level 2 Diploma in Plant Operations (Construction)

NVQ Level 2 Diploma in Controlling Lifting Operations – Slinger / Signaller (Construction)

One of the leading Awarding Bodies in the UK, LANTRA has teamed up with NPORS, one of the longest established construction plant operator card schemes in the UK to offer a one stop shop solution for employers and individuals alike. LANTRA has a wealth of knowledge and experience in developing and offering qualifications and with NPORS knowledge and experience as a plant operator card scheme, employers, individuals, and the construction sector can be reassured that plant machinery operatives will receive the highest calibre of training and assessment.

As NPORS is a Construction Skills Certification Scheme (CSCS) partner card scheme this initiative will allow NPORS Accredited Training Providers the opportunity to register with LANTRA to deliver the NVQ as well as delivering the training and testing to enable individuals to achieve the NPORS / CSCS Trained Operator card (Red Card) – NVQ – NPORS / CSCS Competent Operator Card (Blue Card).

The two bodies are also working together to offer a solution for those wishing to pursue the Construction Plant Operative Apprenticeship route and work is ongoing to offer industry another choice of End Point Assessment Organisation (EPAO).

LANTRA Chief Operating Officer Robert Tabor said, “We are pleased to be working with NPORS to bring a practical, industry focussed solution to the market which provides employers with a choice in how they demonstrate the high standards the industry requires”.

NPORS Managing Director Julie Senior said, “We are very pleased and proud to be working in collaboration with LANTRA on these initiatives and we feel that with the wealth of knowledge and experience of both organisations we can offer a very valuable, highly credible and robust alternative solution to those currently on offer”.

CPCS has been helping to set industry standards for over 30 years. Construction businesses in the UK need to be confident that employees operating plant machinery on site can do so in a safe and qualified way. CPCS from NOCN Job Cards provides proof that individuals have the required training and qualifications for the type of work they carry out.

CPCS is accepted across all UK construction sites and, in many cases, is the only card to be accepted. It is the Plant Partner Card Scheme of CSCS and enables employers to ensure that health and safety obligations are being met. The CPCS standards have been developed by industry-led working groups and with over 180 approved test centres nationwide, free online support materials, including theory test questions, learning outcomes and practical test specifications.

Other benefits include:

• One-to-one testing of theory and practical providing a stronger basis to test candidates’ knowledge, experience, and practical skills, than in group testing.
• More test questions mean depth of knowledge is tested further, using an average of 70 questions per category.
• Over 90% of practical tests are taken in purpose-built test centres, ensuring the full range of operations are covered, without missing safety-critical criteria or disrupting a site.
• Independent testing ensures testers are not involved in the candidates training, this guarantees the independent measure of ability and knowledge.
• Upon competence card renewal the scheme also ensures that Continued Professional Development takes place ensuring cardholders have sufficient skills and knowledge.
• Since 2003 all testers have completed Advanced Theory & Practical Tests
• From January 2021 all testers will have to demonstrate practical ability ensuring they have retained skills.
• The CPCS On-Line card checker is available online at www.nocnjobcards.org/card-checker/
• From January 2020 all CPCS cards issued are SMART cards*

Tim Brownbridge of leading Civil Engineering Group, BAM Nutall, says: “CPCS manages our employees’ skills throughout their working lives, and this means that we know we always have people who are fully competent and safe to work onsite.”

A new document has been produced by the International Powered Access Federation (IPAF) explaining what a MEWP Safe-Use Program is and why users need to have one in place.

The document is a comprehensive guide to the requirement, part of updated ANSI A92 standards that went into effect during 2020. It is available free as a digital download or as a professional print-ready version that can be co-branded with company logos for use by Mobile Elevating Work Platform (MEWP) rental company workers and clients.

IPAF’s MEWP Safe Use Program Guide is free to download in two formats, one that is designed to be shared digitally and printed as required on an office or workplace printer. The other option features a professional print spec with cover option that can be co-branded and printed in volume to supply to depots, branches or showrooms.

Tony Groat, IPAF’s North America Regional Manager, who also sits on both the ANSI and CSA drafting committees, comments: “The ANSI/SAIA A92.222 standard defined the requirement for all MEWP users to develop a safe-use program specific to MEWPs. While OSHA promotes all employers to create a program to be used as a framework for addressing safety and health issues, a generic program may not adequately address the unique requirements for MEWP operations.

“IPAF’s MEWP Safe Use Program Guide provides employers of MEWP operators a roadmap to follow and checklist to assist in their development of a plan that considered all of their responsibilities set in the safe-use standard. It considers requirements for the application, inspection, training, maintenance, repair, and safe operation of MEWPs. As this standard requirement is already in effect, the guide will be a great asset to completing this task.”

As part of a planned suite of technical guidance aimed at decoding new requirements in updated ANSI and CSA standards, IPAF has also published Wind Rating: Using MEWPs in Wind. This IPAF guidance document covers the hazard of exposure to wind, which can create instability and potential tip-over of MEWPs. This guidance reviews:

• Wind ratings for MEWPs – indoor and outdoor;
• Where MEWP may safely be operated;
• Awareness of dual wind rated MEWPs;
• Suggested safe operations.

Changes to the CCNSG safety passport will require delegates to attend a renewal course or take an online renewal test before their safety passport expires from the 1^st April 2022.

Under the current rules of the scheme, all delegates who hold a valid CCNSG card have 3 years and a further 3-month grace period from the card expiry date to renew their card by attending either a 1 day CCNSG Renewal course or by taking a CCNSG Test Only for Renewal. However, with a significant number of sites refusing to accept CCNSG cards that have gone past the official registered expiry date, the rule change will ensure consistency across the industry as a whole.

Delegates who do not renew their card within 3 years of the expiry date otherwise will have to attend the full 2-Day National Course to be in possession of a valid CCNSG Card. For delegates who wish to plan their attendance in advance of their renewal date, a CCNSG renewal course can be taken up to 6 months prior to the official expiry date. Any CCNSG cardholder with a card that has an expiry date on the 1st April 2022 or later will have to renew their card prior to the official expiry date, otherwise attendance at a 2 day CCNSG National Course will be required.

CCNSG cards renewed within the expiry period will be issued to a date 3 years on from the official registered expiry date on the current card.

6-12 March 2022

Tower Week was established by PASMA to bring the whole industry together – from manufacturers to training instructors to operatives – to promote positive stories, images and messages about mobile access towers, prefabricated tower scaffolds and low level work platforms. The event is marked all over the world. Their goals are to inspire people by showing them all the different ways they can use towers and to help everyone work more safely by showcasing good practice. It’s an opportunity for all those who work with towers to celebrate their commitment to safety and all the exciting things that towers have helped them achieve.

The CSCS Smart Check app will be rolled out from April 2022, allowing all 2.1 million cards in the construction industry displaying the CSCS logo to be electronically verified using a single app.

Developed by the 38 card schemes displaying the CSCS logo, CSCS Smart Check will radically improve the construction industry’s card checking procedures and site safety while also helping tackle fraud in the sector.

Organisations and their on-site card checkers will have a quick, easy and secure way of ensuring everyone on site has the right qualifications and training for the job they do, with the free app available for Apple iOS and Android devices.

What you need to know

• CSCS Smart Check can scan QR codes to validate both physical and virtual cards
• The app can also read contactless chips to validate cards
• All 38 schemes that carry the CSCS logo on their cards can be read by CSCS Smart Check
• The app works by scanning a CSCS Partner Scheme card, verifying whether it is genuine and if its details are correct for over two million construction workers in the UK
• The app has a live feed into the databases of each card scheme
• Help and support with FAQs and links to additional resources are available

FAQs can be found at the foot of this page.

Background

At the beginning of 2015, the Construction Leadership Council (CLC) announced via the Industrial Strategy: Construction 2025, that industry, including trade associations, contractors, clients and government, should specify and promote card schemes displaying the CSCS logo with no equivalents accepted. This is known as the One Industry Logo action.

In December 2020, the CLC issued a further update to its requirement regarding the implementation of Smart Technology by card schemes displaying the CSCS logo.

That update stipulated that “by 31 March 2022, all card schemes must use smart technology which has the capability to electronically check agreed information relevant to a cardholder, using a common interface, without the need to manually enter data”.

As such, the 38 CSCS partner card schemes have collaborated to produce the CSCS Smart Check app, designed to meet the requirement above.

Raising the bar on competence and tackling fraud

With CSCS Smart Check, sites and projects of all sizes have a quick and simple way to check any operative working in construction and the built environment is who they say they are, are suitably qualified for the job they are being engaged to do and have kept up to date with the latest requirements for health and safety, technical qualifications or CPD.

CSCS Smart Check will also help the industry in the battle against fraudulent cards – alerting site managers and CSCS to such cards in order to cancel them and alert authorities where necessary.

Since the introduction of the Construction Leadership Council’s (CLC) One Industry Logo action, requiring a qualification for all CSCS cards, criminal gangs have employed increasingly sophisticated operations to facilitate fraudulent qualifications.

Another driver for the increase in fraudulent activity is the rise in modern slavery. Modern slavery and human trafficking investigations show a high percentage of trafficked persons are employed in the construction industry, hence the interest from criminal gangs.

While CSCS estimates the number of fraudulent cards in circulation to be less than one per cent, any amount of fraud needs to be proactively addressed and we continue to work with industry and law enforcement to eradicate fraudulent activity and keep the workforce and wider public safe.

Construction fraud takes many forms, but the best way to tackle it is by checking CSCS cards regularly to ensure it is valid.

With the UK’s Offshore Wind Industry set to play a central role in the United Kingdom’s net zero ambitions, the ECITB has worked with major offshore wind developers and supply chain companies to create a suite of training standards that support statutory inspection and maintenance of equipment.

Developed collaboratively with Stowen, Scottish Power Renewables, Equinor, Vattenfalland SSE, as well as Worley, Petrofac, Fieldcore, Applus and Safeworx, a pilot course was delivered by private training provider HEXIS Ltd completed in late 2021 and the standards are ready for ECITB Approved Training Providers to develop courses.

A target to quadruple offshore wind generating capacity to 40 GW by 2030 including 1 GW of floating offshore wind has been set by the UK Government. Such ambition could support up to 27,000 jobs directly in offshore wind and at least 60,000 in the wider supply chain. Similar targets have been set by many other countries’ governments with over a 1,000 onshore and offshore projects in current operation and a further 900 in their planning phase; APAC and South and Central America championing their Wind Industries in particular.

About the new ECITB wind turbine maintenance and inspection standards

The wind turbine maintenance and inspection standards have been developed for those responsible for wind turbine maintenance and inspection of statutory equipment.

Learners completing the training will acquire the skills needed to safely enter, access, egress and perform maintenance duties associated with the following equipment:

In service lift

Compact & davit cranes

Inspection of working at height systems

First aid boxes

 

The Training Standards cover:

TS WT 01-01: Wind core module

TS WT 01-02: Wind turbine service lift maintenance and statutory inspection

TS WT01-03: Compact and davit

TS WT 01-04: Inspection of working at height systems and equipment

 

The wind core training standard provides a robust technical knowledge of statutory equipment utilised in a wind turbine and as such is suitable for new entrants to the wind industry.

The wind turbine service lift maintenance and inspection and compact and davit crane standards comply with the ECITB’s four stage approach to training for competence:

 

Stage 1

First, training begins with initial off-the-job training at an ECITB-approved centre.

Stage 2

Next, a guided logbook recording on-the-job completion of relevant tasks is completed.

Stage 3

Then, an assessment takes place via an ECITB Technical Test to validate competence.

Stage 4

Finally, technical competence tests are taken every 3 years to reassess competence.