LISS cards get smarter

Published: November 28, 2017

The British Association of Landscape Industries (BALI), the leading trade association for landscape professionals in the UK, has today announced its adoption of Go Smart and SkillSight, developed by Reference Point, to enhance its Land-Based Industry Skills Card Scheme (LISS).

LISS/CSCS is a recognised Partner Card Scheme, for the Construction Skills Certification Scheme (CSCS), which BALI solely administers.

Go Smart is a free app for reading LISS/CSCS smartcards, that can easily be downloaded to Android and Windows smartphone and tablet devices, as well as Windows Desktop.

The suite of Go Smart apps links to SkillSight, an online training management system, that connects training records to an operative’s smartcard. By combining data stored on someone’s card with data stored in SkillSight, a cardholder’s identity, qualifications, training history and health and safety training can be obtained by reading their card with Go Smart.

Within the Go Smart app, core qualifications that have been recognised by LISS/CSCS, will be surfaced on the card under a ‘Core Data’ tab. This core data will include all the relevant information that has been entered and approved by BALI, to award that person the LISS/CSCS card. Any additional qualifications that have been entered into SkillSight by an organisation, will appear under a separate ‘SkillSight’ tab, and will show who has entered them and a link to that organisation’s website.

BALI’s Chief Executive, Wayne Grills, commented on Go Smart;

“By combining the power and ingenuity of SkillSight with Go Smart, BALI’s LISS/CSCS smartcards can now store the cardholders training and qualification data, which can be accessed with little effort by site managers at construction site entrances, ensuring they are qualified for the job they do on site. This can also help eradicate counterfeit cards that may have entered the chain.

“For smaller companies, this news presents a welcome relief, as they no longer need to invest in internal training databases, saving on resource, as SkillSight and Go Smart provide that technology for them.”

The core functionality offered by SkillSight remains free of charge, with optional, paid-for add-ons launching next year, along with possible plans to launch support for Apple iPhone and MAC users who utilise the Safari browser.

LISS/CSCS helps support and promote specialist areas of work in landscape and maintenance, arboriculture, pesticides, ecology and environmental management, amenity, countryside management and modular paving.

As a LISS/CSCS cardholder, for more information on SkillSight and to register online, free of charge, visit https://skillsight.co.uk/