CSCS Card Checking: How to do so and why it's important

As we all know, the building site can be a dangerous workplace, one where failure to adhere to health and safety regulations can lead to injury and occasionally even fatalities.  The purpose of the CSCS project is to ensure that construction sites become safer.  Part of this process involves the mandatory checking of CSCS cards that occurs throughout the UK construction industry.

Members of the CSCS are obliged to undergo a CSCS-authorised health and safety test before being issued with a card appropriate to their occupation and skill level. These cards contain a chip much like the one found on a conventional credit or debit card. The chip in the CSCS card is designed to contain the relevant CSCS information pertaining to its holder. With some additional programming, it could also be used to store training information and other relevant data.

This means that an employer seeking trained and CSCS-certified workers can check the validity of each card using the data contained on the chip. The employer need only purchase a simple handheld SmartCard checker to be able to swipe CSCS cards. These cost in the region of £100 + VAT, a sum that your credit card should be able to comfortably bear. By checking the validity of the card, the employer can verify that their contractors are health and safety-aware and that their site will be a cowboy-free zone. It is thus of paramount importance to check that valid CSCS cards are held by all workers, for an employee without the correct CSCS card could prove to be an expensive liability.