Up to 100,000 Construction Site Visitor Cards set to be withdrawn by CSCS

All Construction Site Visitor cards issued from 3rd September 2018 will expire on 31st August 2020 and CSCS will stop issuing the card from 28th February 2020, the Construction Skills Certification Scheme (CSCS) has announced.

The card was originally introduced for workers who often did not perform a construction related role but visited site on a regular basis. People holding the Construction Site Visitor card will not be required to obtain another CSCS card, as CSCS cards are intended for construction related occupations only and many people holding the card work in roles considered to be non-construction related, such as site cleaning and catering staff.

Historically these workers have applied for the Construction Site Visitor card because they were told to do so by their employer, this was often a result of policies requiring sites to be 100% carded, as opposed to construction workers being 100% qualified.

However, those with Site Visitor cards that work in construction related occupations must now start to develop plans to move across to the appropriate skilled card. For some this will be straightforward as they will already hold the appropriate qualification or membership of a recognised professional body.

Those working in construction related occupations without qualifications will be expected to register onto the appropriate qualification before their Construction Site Visitor card expires.

Graham Wren, Chief Executive at CSCS said: "Following the closure of the Construction Related Occupation card in 2017, the Site Visitor card is now the only card issued without the need for the applicant to achieve a recognised qualification. The Construction Site Visitor card does not support industry's desire for a fully qualified workforce and as such it will be withdrawn."

He continued: "The withdrawal of the Site Visitor card will see an increase in the numbers of individuals turning up to site without a card. We are not suggesting site supervisors and managers turn non-cardholders away from site. If a worker is there to carry out a construction related activity then a card is required as proof of their training and qualifications. If they are there to perform a non-construction related activity it then becomes the responsibility of site supervisors and managers to induct and supervise these people to ensure they remain safe at all times when on site."

TENSOR — PREFERRED CSCS IT PARTNER AND EXPERTS IN DEPLOYING CSCS SMART CARD SOLUTIONS FOR CONSTRUCTION SITES

Tensor is a preferred CSCS IT Partner and, as such, has further advanced our integration with the CSCS smartcard to enable features such as auto-learn — when a CSCS smartcard is scanned, several credentials from the CSCS smartcard are auto-inserted into the Tensor.NET software including photograph, name, title, CSCS card number and CSCS card expiry date to allow a seamless data entry facility.

Tensor .NET then automatically inserts the CSCS smartcard's expiry date into the employee leavers date field to ensure that the Tensor.NET denies access to a CSCS smartcard user who attempts to gain access with an expired CSCS smartcard.

Other advanced features that can be enabled include a separate verification process where CSCS smartcard holders must report to a Site Manager for the Site Manager to verify the Contractor's details before permitting the CSCS smartcard to enter a site. This can be conducted on a site-by-site basis or can be applied to permit usage of a CSCS smartcard across a number of sites.

The CSCS smartcard, when used in conjunction with Tensor's .NET software, Access Control and Time & Attendance products, provides a very powerful and cost effective means of centralising Time & Attendance, Advanced Access Control and Fire/Evacuation roll-call, re-using an existing CSCS smartcard as base for the entire system.

If you'd like to find out more about the Tensor access control systems and its integration with CSCS cards, just contacts us or Book a Demo, our representatives will be more than happy to answer all of your questions and queries.