If CSCS is part of their occupational requirement then I do not believe the company can rightfully charge for the books, CD etc if a person fails. The initial problem was due to the incompetence of the so-called training manager, is she willing to pay for the test which was failed? I think someone needs a quiet word about training and developing staff to get the best out of them, as well as the need to empathise with those who may have learning difficulties - good luck!

We have half-a-dozen of the books, which get replaced as they get too dog-eared, but one of the secretaries books the test, gives the candidate a book and asks for it back after they've done the test. They aren't exactly desirable (or useful) things to keep - I'm not aware of many going 'missing'. We pay the time, travel time and expenses to go and do the test, but expect people to revise in their own time. They get told this explicitly and no-one has ever protested (at least, not loud enough to reach me). Most people seem to browse through the book in their breaks in the days on the run-up to the test - I see the books kicking around on desks (our people are mainly office-based with occasional forays onto site, not site operatives).

Oh, the irony, Sean. Please tell me that was intentional. ;-)

Nice one!!

He didnt get it!!!

I work for a LA that has a CSCS Policy. All of our sites require all individuals to be appropriately carded. That means if the person works as a bricklayer then he will have a bricklayers card, if there is a joiner then he will have a joiners card and if he is the site manager then he will have a site managers card. All CSCS cards are made up of two halves the first half being the appropriate H&S Test and the other half have competence in the work that the person is employed to do. The measure of competence is usually assessed by a NVQ or an SVQ. The gaining of the NVQ or the SVQ is the expensive bit as it requires either a period at college or an assessor coming out to site to witness and assess the indiviuals work/competency. Prior to 2005/06 you could avoid the NVQ or the SVQ and get the employer to sign the form to confirm competency of the individual. The was known as the Industry Accreditation or the Grandfathers Route. This is no longer available as it was short term until the various individual course competencies were mapped out. In 2006 I orgainsed 70 of my colleagues to take the H&S Test and apply for their cards. The cards last for five years and we are currently in the process of renewing them. I organised that take the test in groups of 10 each month so when they passed we could pass on the Question and Answer Books also the mock disc to the next group. CSCS have raised the bar on their H&S Test this time around compared to the 2006 tests. Having said that its been 100% so far with the last group going through next month. I would have said that the majority would have failed if they hadnt studied the book. The disc was just a bit of fun and gaining confidence. No one was expected to study in their own time as it was the employer that imposed this policy on all their contractors and ultimately employees of the council. Employers are expected to comply with statutory regulations and that means training and studying in employers time not in employees time. I feel in your case Chrisp1978 your employer/trainer are out of their depth and require to go and learn something about H&S legislation. I suspect they have no H&S Advisors hence no one championing H&S and training within your organisation. CSCS is not required by law but its given as an example in CDM 2007 as a way of measuring competence. Downtime and resources should all be paid for by the employer.

'...no matter how old she is.'

Hands Up I didn't realise what I had said on my first post! But to clarify what I really meant, there people of a certain age that have and still believe in many different opinions about Race, Disability, Equality etc....