If you’re a construction worker within the electricity, gas, waste management and water industries, you should consider getting an EUSR card rather than or in addition to a standard CSCS card. This puts you on the Energy and Utility Skills Register so that potential employers can check your skills and training.
However, it’s important that you are included on the register under the correct category because this determines the type of EUSR card you get.
Not only does each EUSR card have the usual CSCS colour coding that denotes your role and level of qualification, they also have a number of varieties that depend on the type of job you do.
EUSR Card Affiliation
Some of these EUSR cards are CSCS affiliated but others are not. This is because the special requirements of the job mean that the normal CSCS Health, Safety and Environment Test is not adequate and that an additional level is necessary for EUSR cards.
If you’re an electrical worker, obtaining basic electrical safety competence will generally be enough to allow access to electricity transmission and distribution work sites. Alternatively, you can register as a national grid electricity contractor after the appropriate training.
For gas workers, there’s the utility safety, health and environmental awareness passport scheme that covers gas distribution and is CSCS affiliated. There are also separate network construction operations schemes for mains and service layers plus emergency operations schemes.
The water industry has the most variations, especially due to the health and hygiene issues associated with the possibilities of contaminating the water supply. The utility safety, health and environmental awareness version covers basic awareness while national water hygiene registration is necessary for access to restricted sites. Additionally, there’s network construction operations for mains and service layers, in-situ lining for specialist lining workers, leakage detection and control plus the safe control of mains connections.
Waste management has a single scheme for EUSR cards, which is CSCS affiliated, that covers health, safety and environmental awareness.
Cross-Sector EUSR Cards
Cutting across the sectors, there’s a cross-country pipeline health and safety passport, which is CSCS affiliated, that covers basic awareness for those in the pipeline construction industry. There’s also a plant scheme that covers different pieces of equipment, plus excavation and specialist equipment schemes.
Supervisors in any utility sector need utility network construction supervisors’ registration. Obtaining the correct EUSR card depends on your industry and the scheme type, so it’s important you make the right choice.