CSCS Card to be scrapped in favour of one universal card

This is a surprise! No more pretty coloured CSCS Cards? I think the only logic that can be applied to this proposed change is that old saying from Management Theory:-

“Anything managers decide makes sense – to them!”

We’ve seen one bloomer like this from Cadbury’s with this Easter approaching! They changed the chocolate on their Cream Eggs and sales are plummeting because people don’t like the taste of them! Without their old Cadbury’s cream chocolate coating they just aren’t the same!!!

So, if these proposed changes to the Cards do go through, every site will have to have the technology to read the smart chips to find out what the Card is all about.

Sure that will really happen in a hurry!

As it is, when someone appears on a construction site for the first time they have to go through Induction. Part of this is them presenting their CSCS Card to demonstrate that they have some awareness of H&S issues on site. The rest of the Induction is to high-light to them site-specific hazards. A quick glance at most cards indicates to the person giving the Induction that the new arrivals have a pretty good idea of what they have to do to keep themselves and others safe and well!

That was applicable to even the old, abused but discontinued Green Card!

The poor guy on site doing the Induction is usually pretty well pressed for time.

The last thing he wants is for his life to be made harder by having to find out what a monochrome CSCS Card actually reflects about its holder!

I’m with Gary Pollard on this one! This proposed change might bring some benefits to the CSCS management and to major employers, but will only cause confusion for the massed ranks of self-employed in construction!

Find here: SMSTS and CSCS card: Why both?

On site it would thrust even more responsibility on the management to actually observe peoples’ actions and decide if they were behaving in ways which posed risks to themselves and others!

I argue that, the benefits of CSCS Cards aside, this has always been the greatest contributor to H&S on site! Perhaps it isn’t even the introduction of the CSCS scheme that has reduced site fatalities. It might be that now site managers carry a criminal responsibility for any fatality on their site and that is making them more watchful and critical?