Highways England announce Health & Safety Passport scheme

Highways England has announced a new scheme that aims to reduce the amount of time that land-based contractors need to spend in site inductions, whilst at the same time ensuring that standards are maintained. BALI, who administers the Land-based Industry Skills Scheme (LISS) on behalf of the Construction Skills Certification Scheme (CSCS), has been putting forward its viewpoint on the new Highways England scheme through Consultant Sally Green. Since attending various meetings on BALI's behalf, a representative has now joined the National Highways Sector Scheme (NHSS) Liason Group which has overall responsibility for all the Sector Scheme Committees.

The Highways England scheme has an ambitious goal of setting a common safety standard for more than 50,000 workers across its national supply chain through its Health and Safety Passport scheme. Safety is at the centre of this new scheme and the passport strives to simplify the method of gaining access to construction sites with a personalised smart card, assuring competency, qualification, and fitness to work across Highways England’s construction workforce.

Operations Regional Director at Highways England, Simon Jones said:

''Safety is at the heart of everything we do at Highways England. Our Health and Safety Passport scheme sets a common safety standard for colleagues across our supply chain. It will make it simpler for staff to transfer between sites and for companies to verify that the people who work for them have the training, qualifications and competencies to work on any site.''

He continues ''We hope that within 12 months all the suppliers we work with will be using the system.''

The card can be checked using smartphone technology to help build a picture of the workforce and help colleagues to transfer between sites and suppliers with ease. Working together with over twenty different suppliers and partners from across the industry, the common induction course delivered by Lantra covers all major projects and construction and renewal sites. Alongside the common induction training, a passport smart card will be issued to the individual who will be able to carry around their training record, qualifications and competency details in their pocket wherever they work.

The action you need to take is:

• If you work for HE via a land-based contractor, you will need to appoint a passport administrator who will manage the database and check cards. 
• If you work directly for HE, you need to register for training and your passport card. You can either contact the helpdesk on 0330 726 0225 or email he.validate@mitie.com

As part of the process you need to attend a Common Induction Course delivered by Lantra.  Lantra Training Providers who deliver the course can be found through this link.

The Passport does not replace the LISS/CSCS card which continues to provide proof of your competence to carry out specific land-based work. The card is currently being phased into the Highways England network areas.

For further information please visit the Highways England website or check out the Passport FAQ.