You might have already read in Natural Stone Specialist magazine that the CSCS Green Card is changing.
In order to encourage higher levels of skills through training and to ensure that site workers with appropriate qualifications can be more readily identified, from 1 July the current Green Card will no longer be issued.
It will be replaced by a new CSCS Green Card for labourers only. So, if an operative is no longer a labourer but working to a higher level of skill, they ought to apply for an Experienced Worker card, for which an NVQ Level 2 qualification is required.
Anyone who is still a labourer should apply for the new Labourer Green Card, for which they will either need to pass the new Health & Safety in a Construction Environment Level 1 qualification or pass the CITB Operatives Health, Safety & Environment touch screen test within two years of applying.
The Level 1 award is a lifetime qualification, so once you have achieved it you will not need to take it again and will just need to take the Health, Safety & Environment test to renew the Labourer card.
The one-day Site Safety Plus course is a renewable course and needs to be taken every five years.
Through its grant from CITB, the Natural Stone Industry Training Group is able to assist employers in the cost of training to comply with these Green Card changes on a first-come-first-served basis. So, if you have firm plans on how to comply, email Ian Major on ian.major@stonetrain.org.uk
The Stone Federation's training arm, StoneTrain, can assist with upskilling NVQ attainment by current Green Card holders wanting to gain recognition for their competentcy as cleaners, restorers and fixers at Level 2. It can also facilitate Level 3 NVQs, Heritage Level 3 NVQs, Supervisor Level 3 NVQs and NVQs for managers at Level 6.
The Health & Safety Course offered by StoneTrain facilitators Mark Priestman Associates has also just been confirmed by CSCS to be equivalent to its new Level 1 qualification, so that is an additional route to the new Labourer Green Card instead of the Level 1 qualification (although you still have to take the touchscreen test). Call Mark Priestman on 0208 213 3111 / 07876 687212 or click here to send him an email.