What is the CPCS?

Health and safety, along with professional qualifications, is one of the most important things when operating on a construction site.

The CPCS (Construction Plant Competence Scheme) is designed to ensure that plant operators meet these two requirements for working on MCG (Major Contractor Groups) and NCF (National Contractors Federation) sites.

The scheme is designed to protect everyone on site and to ensure the professional skills and competence of people operating on and around sites and machinery. Amalgamated into the CPCS initiative, the CPCS card standards are set by the industry itself, with a collective group of training providers, employers and trade unions also combining their knowledge and skill to bring about unified values and requirements.

Who needs a CPCS card?

To ensure that all workers operating on a site or plant are qualified and competent they must have a CPCS card. Employers will then be able run a project in the knowledge that machinery and materials are in safe hands and that no one is in placed in any unnecessary danger.

Aside from the construction industry, there are other areas in which the CPCS card is beneficial because of its excellent reputation.

What does a CPCS card look like?

There are two stages in which you can obtain your card: the first is Blue which is a full competence card, and the second is Red, which is a stepping stone to gaining a Blue card; the colour of the card will indicate at which level an operative is at. The qualifications of the individual will also be printed onto the card so that employers can easily ascertain an operative’s skill.

In addition to this, the card will carry the operative’s unique registration number as well as their photo and name. To ensure the card is not easily counterfeited there is a hologram and several CPCS logos are printed on.

What are the benefits of getting a CPCS card?

The card, first and foremost, is a way of ensuring that health and safety requirements, in regards to training and experience, are met. The benefit for anyone with a card is that employers are more likely to take you on for work if they know you have reliable skills and that you’re safe for site work.

Without the card scheme the standards across the industry would be extremely poor, with unqualified and dangerous operations being carried out, costing lives and causing untold damage.

With CPCS cards, the levels of best practice are kept high for everyone involved, from the employee to the employer, as well as the client who commissions the construction work.

Here at Euro 1 Training we offer a huge variety of CPCS certifications so that you can gain employment on more construction sites and plants with the correct skills, knowledge and safety experience.

Course lengths can vary, as well as costs, so it’s always best to contact us and speak to us about your individual requirements. Our professional team will be happy to point you in the direction of the most suitable course for you.