A Simple Guide to Construction Skills Certification Scheme (CSCS)

The construction industry is vibrant, yet new people keep joining. There are many risks involved in the industry, and workers must understand the importance of their safety and others. For this reason, health and safety for everyone is a significant interest to people in the construction industry, explaining why workers need certification. Everyone needs to be safe at work while taking care of other workmates. 

What the CSCS Health and Safety Course entails

Anyone interested in joining the construction industry in the UK must take the Birmingham CITB courses. The courses are a requirement to qualify as a worker. These courses offer a strong understanding of health and safety law in the UK. It’s used as a basis to prove the know-how to prevent accidents and how to handle risks. 

Additionally, potential workers must also understand the need for safety and the role they play in a bigger construction workplace. The course is mainly for novice workers or those planning to join the field.

Workers need sensitization on health and safety every day as long as they work. As a result, they are detecting or recognizing possible danger when working is easy. Although there are measures to ensure safety in the place, taking the CSCS Health and Safety Course is a requirement by law to demonstrate their understanding. 

What’s the CITB Health and Safety Awareness (HSA) Course?

The CITB Health and Safety Awareness Course is a one-day course that touches on construction workers’ safety and workplace best practices for everyone. The course helps workers to understand probable risks in construction that the staff are exposed to on-site. Potential construction workers must take the CITB HSA course to get a CSCS Labourer’s card. 

A CSCS laborers card indicates a worker’s understanding of health and safety practices at work for themselves and others. Additionally, the course accommodates workers who are already in the industry and also civil engineering. The course will teach you the following:

  • Individual responsibilities toward their safety and that of others
  • Normal construction hazards and ways to control them
  • The role of collective involvement to achieve practical standards of safety on-site
  • Legal requirements and liabilities
  • Safety when working at a height
  • Fire prevention
  • Handling of manual work
  • Safe handling of work equipment
  • Occupational health

What the CITB Exam Entails

At the beginning of the course, participants receive a course publication ‘Construction Health and Safety Awareness (GE707). The mandatory material is a resource to help workers during the course. On completion of the course, participants return the publication is retained for future reference.

It is a one-day course, and participants are tested in the end. The test takes 30 minutes, and participants have to answer 25 multiple-choice questions. Each learner is expected to score 25 marks out of 30 to pass. Those who fail the test can retake it after attending the course afresh. 

Successful candidates receive certification, which is valid for five years, after which they must retake the course to renew their CSCS Labourers card. The retake must come before the existing certificate expires. 

Summary

Health and safety in the construction and engineering sector is a priority. For a worker to be certified, they must take the relevant courses and pass to be considered as a qualified worker.