MarkMG
what goes here?
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- 576
- Thread starter Drains
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kingkenny
Member
- Messages
- 110
If i remember correctly the CSCS scheme was started between Mcalpines,Costains and the labour government.I have been in the construction/engineering industry for 43 years,And i find the scheme is a farce,They are selling fake CSCS cards to all and sundry on the Olympic sites for £75/100 a throw,The cards are just photocopied and filed with the rest of the site personnel and details NOT checked,I am fortunate that the company i work for pays for the cards/test,otherwise i would not bother,I believe that the newer cards carry a microchip on them to counteract the forgeries.Myself i think it is another way of getting more of our hard earned money to line the coffers of government.
i used to be in the building trade plastering.
was told i needed a cscs card on one site so went and got one, my opinion of the whole procedure was it was a load of ****** got the card promtly threw in in the glovebox of van and no one ever asked to see it till it ran out.
then when someone finally asked to see it i was informed it was out of date and needed a new one and to get that i had to get an NVQ in plastering meaning id have to go to college and pay money to be told what i allready know, the wages on the building round here just kept on going going down as well i just thought ****it i've had enough of this.
not touched a plastering trowel since
was told i needed a cscs card on one site so went and got one, my opinion of the whole procedure was it was a load of ****** got the card promtly threw in in the glovebox of van and no one ever asked to see it till it ran out.
then when someone finally asked to see it i was informed it was out of date and needed a new one and to get that i had to get an NVQ in plastering meaning id have to go to college and pay money to be told what i allready know, the wages on the building round here just kept on going going down as well i just thought ****it i've had enough of this.
not touched a plastering trowel since
So how do I get one of these poxy cards?
I went to college in 2005 and did the CITB equivalent of an level 2 NVQ. Then I was offered a job in an exhibition company and jumped at it. Got bored and there were looming redundancy's so got an internal transfer to learn something new. Was then made redundant after 6months
2yrs on I feel like I have just about enough experience to blag it into a workshop or site, I have the qualifications so all should be fine and dandy. Instead I'm coming up against a CSCS card, something I'd never heard of until I tried to get a job. To make things worse I can't make any sense from their website - do I need to be in a job to get one of these, does that then make it a catch 22?
I went to college in 2005 and did the CITB equivalent of an level 2 NVQ. Then I was offered a job in an exhibition company and jumped at it. Got bored and there were looming redundancy's so got an internal transfer to learn something new. Was then made redundant after 6months
2yrs on I feel like I have just about enough experience to blag it into a workshop or site, I have the qualifications so all should be fine and dandy. Instead I'm coming up against a CSCS card, something I'd never heard of until I tried to get a job. To make things worse I can't make any sense from their website - do I need to be in a job to get one of these, does that then make it a catch 22?
Drains
Yeah, nah.
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- Sefton, South Island, NZ
You can get the H and S CSCS thing for about 25 quid - you answer a multiple choice test that's designed for people who can't read or write, so you should just about manage it 
. As for the trade course etc, there seems to be an option for most trades to just take the test, Of course the training companies don't tell you that as they make the most money from running courses.
The website is of course obscure, as it's run by a quango and they all tend to be s***e at communication, but you can phone them up and if you get an advisor who's older than thirteen, they might be able to give you useful advice.
. As for the trade course etc, there seems to be an option for most trades to just take the test, Of course the training companies don't tell you that as they make the most money from running courses.The website is of course obscure, as it's run by a quango and they all tend to be s***e at communication, but you can phone them up and if you get an advisor who's older than thirteen, they might be able to give you useful advice.
madkayaker
Pro sparkey Pro Welder
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- 13,678
any tom dick and larry can set themselves up as "training providers" and issues "certificates of attendance" or "certificates of competency" or you can print your own at home... but as CSCS or CPCS are the indestructibly recognised ones there the ones that should be universally accepted and all other treated with care until proved to be worthy. the two big gripes i have with the CSCS is that
1 the test is stupidly easy
2 you can take the test in any EU language you like but the sign-age on the site will probability be in English so i feel the test should be sat in English
3 its supposed to be the same test for all trades but as a sparkey i have to sit the JIB one so instead of being able to sit the test in the van that parks in B&Q car park i have a 2 hour drive to Darlington!
But i am yet to need to sit it as NVQ gives you 3 years and NEBOSH gives you 5 years exception from the test
1 the test is stupidly easy
2 you can take the test in any EU language you like but the sign-age on the site will probability be in English so i feel the test should be sat in English
3 its supposed to be the same test for all trades but as a sparkey i have to sit the JIB one so instead of being able to sit the test in the van that parks in B&Q car park i have a 2 hour drive to Darlington!
But i am yet to need to sit it as NVQ gives you 3 years and NEBOSH gives you 5 years exception from the test
Wedg1e
They call me Mr. Bodge-angles
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- 7,892
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- Teesside, England
My IPAF card is due to expire (occasionally drive scissors or booms to get at pipelines to see if they're about to go bang) so we rang up to organise a refresher course.
"Is your book up to date?", they asked. Turns out that unless you have minimum 60 entries (i.e. 1 per month) you apparently forget everything and "need to do the whole course again"
- kerching!
To be fair I did once accidentally lean on the controls and bounce the boom cradle off the gate barrier at a tank farm near Ellesmere Port...
"Is your book up to date?", they asked. Turns out that unless you have minimum 60 entries (i.e. 1 per month) you apparently forget everything and "need to do the whole course again"
- kerching!To be fair I did once accidentally lean on the controls and bounce the boom cradle off the gate barrier at a tank farm near Ellesmere Port...
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- 23,826
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- Birmingham
The guy who did our IPAF training said it didn't matter how many entries in logbook as you may have filled it in yourself so re-qual is the full one day course - not that I'm bothered as it's a day off work and the company pays for it
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Mine ran out a while back, and i had never bothered to get any entries in my book. 3 of us did the course from fresh - one day for scissor and boom.
Not bad value really. I think it was 500 quid for us lot. We're driving them fairly regularly, rarely get asked for the tickets suprisingly.
Not bad value really. I think it was 500 quid for us lot. We're driving them fairly regularly, rarely get asked for the tickets suprisingly.
