CSCS to end exemption to the CITB Health, safety and environment test

Published: June 17, 2019

Most people in construction are familiar with Construction Skills Certification Scheme (CSCS) cards. It’s the card that provides proof that individuals working on construction sites have the appropriate training and qualifications for the job they do on site.

In most cases applicants are required to achieve a recognised construction related qualification (usually an NVQ or SVQ) as well as pass the Construction Industry Training Board’s (CITB) Health, safety and environment test within the last 2 years.

However, if an applicant has achieved an SVQ or NVQ within the last 2 years they currently do not have to sit the CITB Health, safety and environment test.

CSCS’s Director of Operations has announced plans to end the exemption to passing the CITB Health, safety and environment test.

Gordon Jenkins said: “Accepting the recent completion of an SVQ or NVQ as an exemption to taking the CITB Health, safety and environment test is no longer in step with the wishes of the industry and as such the exemption will be withdrawn.”

From 2nd September 2019 this exemption will be closed. All applicants will be required to pass the CITB Health, safety and environment test regardless of when they obtained their NVQ or SVQ. If applicants have not passed the test, a card will not be issued.

Gordon Jenkins continued “CSCS, together with our 35 partner card schemes, are bound by the requirements of the Industrial Strategy for Construction. The Industrial Strategy is overseen by The Construction Leadership Council (CLC) who, in 2015, announced that cards displaying the CSCS logo should only issue skilled cards to applicants who hold nationally recognised construction qualifications and have passed a separate health and safety element.”

For further information on CSCS’s plans to withdraw the exemption to the CITB Health, safety and environment test please visit www.cscs.uk.com/test-exemption.