The BBC programme Newsnight has reported on widespread exam rigging at test centres holding the CSCS safety exams.
Caught on Camera
The makers of the BBC investigative documentary programme caught Garet Estensen, director of Wep HSE, in Ealing, west London, reading candidates exam answers and telling them to ‘just 
click’ when he shouted out the correct answer. He also said they would be making ‘a couple of mistakes’ but must ensure they weren’t making the same ones.
Wep HSE was one of three centres exposed by undercover reporters in a joint BBC London and Newsnight investigation, which discovered widespread cheating and fraud.
Anna Calancia of Future Training 4 Jobs in Ilford, east London, issued a BBC reporter with a supervisor qualification in return for £450, and one labourer told the BBC it was common knowledge that CSCS qualifications could be bought: “People don’t care about it being illegal – they just get a job, make some money. In the future, they’ll kill someone.”
Importance of the CSCS card
The CSCS (Construction Skills Certification Scheme), launched in 1995, is considered a benchmark for competency and exams are held in 544 testing centres around the UK. UK construction workers are required to hold a CSCS card to prove they have the requisite knowledge of health and safety to carry out construction work safely. Nine of the UK’s 10 biggest construction companies demand them, as do Crossrail and London Underground.
The Government’s 2014 report on Health and Safety in Construction in Great Britain showed that Construction accounted for about 5% of the employees in Britain, but for 31% of fatal injuries, 10% of reported major/specified injuries and 6% of over-7-day injuries to employees. In the previous year, there had been 42 fatal injuries to workers in construction, and 32% of all fatal injuries to workers occurred within the construction industry.
Yet despite the obvious importance of health and safety in construction, not only are workers acquiring legitimate CSCS cards fraudulently, but a CITB survey of 419 construction workers responsible for checking CSCS cards indicated 1% saw a fraudulent card every day.
Doubling Spend on Fraud investigations
Carl Rhymer, of the CITB (Construction Industry training Board), said: “CITB is aware of the problem card fraud poses, which is why we’ve taken a series of measures to tackle this head on. We doubled our spend on fraud investigations, which led to five centres being shut down – with eight other centres under investigation. “We’re accelerating plans to install mandatory CCTV in all centres to monitor for fraudulent activity, and have launched spot-checks. Our intelligence suggests card fraud is focused in a small minority of the 544 testing centres.”
Graham Wren, the scheme’s chief executive, said: “CSCS takes fraudulent activity extremely seriously, and it’s essential that steps are taken to prevent it. CSCS relies on awarding organisations to verify an individual has achieved required qualifications before CSCS issues the appropriate card. CSCS is confident the vast majority of cards issued are a result of a legitimate qualification.”
You can watch the full Newsnight report here.