Passport schemes
August 31st 2006

For some months now the BSIF has been seeking to facilitate changes to the current arrangements to deliver sector specific safety passports for workers. The principle that any employee or contractor should be able to produce a safety passport to evidence their 'competence' is sound: it should provide comfort for the employer and flexibility for the holder of the passport.

Unfortunately, this system falls down when the employer is unable to trust the passport being held because it is provided by an organisation whose credibility is not independently assessed. For this reason, or for one of commercial gain, the employer then requires the person concerned to undergo another test to acquire a similar passport but with another provider (often nominated by the employer) before he can work on the site.

What is required is a nationally accepted scheme instead of a plethora of mini schemes run by SSCs who tend to develop their own 'unique' version based on a 'not invented here' attitude.

Also needed are a range of nationally accepted standards and a shift from qualification principles (knowledge and understanding at a point in time and no difference if shelved for ten years) to an accreditation principle (regular performance audits irrespective of the qualifications held). While it has many imperfections, the best model currently available is the CORGI scheme.

It should be possible for a worker/contractor to gain a safety passport which is universally accepted by all employers, subject, of course, to any specific site requirements.

It should also be possible to de-link the various commercial and vested interests that make profits through perpetuation of the current muddle.

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