ECS H&S Test

[Jonathan Harris]

Hello

I've recently completed my Level 2 2365 and I want to search for work experience as an electrician's mate over summer. I've noticed that all of the job postings ask for a valid CSCS card. I've spoken to CSCS who tell me there is separate Health & Safety test for the electrical industry run by the ECS.

I want to clear up if the ECS card test is the one I need to sit.

Thanks

Jonathan

 

[telectrix]

to get a ECS card you first need to take the H&S exam, easy peasy, but then you need to apply to JIB for a card. you would probably be able to get a trainee card.

 

[Jonathan Harris]

Thanks for the reply. It's just strange how some job postings ask for the CSCS card. I'll get on this straight away.

 

[Paul.M]

Thanks for the reply. It's just strange how some job postings ask for the CSCS card. I'll get on this straight away.

Depends on the main contractor what they require. The days of an electrician of just having a CSCS card are slowly being rejected. An ECS H&S exam then applying for a JIB card is the way to go for any Electrician at any level.

 

[happysteve]

Thanks for the reply. It's just strange how some job postings ask for the CSCS card. I'll get on this straight away.

I can't think of any circumstance where someone'd say, "What, you've only got an ECS card? Won't do mate, CSCS is what we need."

From ecscard.org.uk: "The ECS is affiliated to the Construction Skills Certification Scheme (CSCS). So when people say they need a CSCS card - the ECS card is the one that’s relevant to the electrotechnical industry."

 

[Jez Wilkins]

Hi Jonathan

The problem that you could come up against, with getting a JIB card, is that you could need someone to 'sponsor' you, as regards your application form, for the card. In other words, someone to 'vouch' for you, as regards your experience/suitability to be issued with a card. I know from experience (albeit maybe three years ago now) that your sponsor cannot be the college you trained at/or any lecturer there (my college told me that they were told this by the JIB). So, job advertisements ask for a JIB card and you cannot get a JIB card unless you have 'someone' (i.e., an employer) to sponsor you. The end result is that (in my experience, anyway) you will currently not be able to get yourself into a position where you can apply for jobs that specify a JIB card as a requirement.

If what I have typed above is still the case, then the way to go, is to get a CSCS card. If you do it through Jobcentre Plus, then you can get one for free (or at least you could, when I got mine). The one that I have is a 'Construction Site Operative' grade (which I note the CSCS website states they stopped issuing in July 2014).

Hope this helps,

Cheers,

Jez Wilkins

 

[Jonathan Harris]

Jez,

I've rang ECS since who have told me there is an ECS labourers card you can get without sponsorship. The ECS website is currently under maintenance and doesn't show this card is available but I was assured it exists.

Jonathan

 

[Jez Wilkins]

Hi again Jonathan.

Thanks for doing the research and posting the outcome on the forum. The ECS/JIB has obviously 'moved on', in the three (or so) years that have elapsed, since I was trying to obtain a card from them.

I hope that you are successful in obtaining an ECS/JIB card and best wishes for the future.

Cheers,

Jez Wilkins

 

[Adam W]

You can get an electrical labourer's card from the JIB (ECS card) which would be ideal for your situation. It will have both ECS and CSCS holograms on it and counts as either, but it won't have any details of any exams you've taken.

The problem I've found is whereas you can get an appointment to drop in to your local CSCS test centre within a week or so, you may have to wait a couple of months to sit an ECS test. I suppose it's because there isn't so much demand, but the structure is slightly different - the ECS test is more like an exam where everyone goes in together and there's no further admittance once the test has started. I think they give you about an hour or so (you won't need it) but that means they can only sit so many people in that hour, while at the CSCS test centre they just sit you at a computer as soon as the last person has finished.

The other problem is the processing for a CSCS card is much quicker - you actually walk out of the test centre with a certificate which you send off for your card, but you have to wait for the JIB to post you your results, and then it takes a further couple of months to get your card.

So while a JIB labourer's card might look better, and satisfy the strictest sites, you may not get one in time for this summer.

It may be best to get a CSCS card to get you on a site, then ask your employer to sponsor you for a JIB trainee card.

 

[Jez Wilkins]

The problem I've found is whereas you can get an appointment to drop in to your local CSCS test centre within a week or so, you may have to wait a couple of months to sit an ECS test. I suppose it's because there isn't so much demand, but the structure is slightly different - the ECS test is more like an exam where everyone goes in together and there's no further admittance once the test has started. I think they give you about an hour or so (you won't need it) but that means they can only sit so many people in that hour, while at the CSCS test centre they just sit you at a computer as soon as the last person has finished.

The other problem is the processing for a CSCS card is much quicker - you actually walk out of the test centre with a certificate which you send off for your card, but you have to wait for the JIB to post you your results, and then it takes a further couple of months to get your card.

So while a JIB labourer's card might look better, and satisfy the strictest sites, you may not get one in time for this summer.


It may be best to get a CSCS card to get you on a site, then ask your employer to sponsor you for a JIB trainee card.

Hi Adam. My experience of the CSCS and ECS Health and Safety tests was a bit different to what you state. For both, we all went into the test room at the same time, after having our I.D.'s checked. Maybe that's changed too, or maybe it depends where you go to take the tests. Seem to recall that the ECS test was organised as two or three test 'slots/sessions' in the day, maybe 30 (or so) candidates each time (hotel on the outskirts of Loughborough, near J23 of the M1 Motorway. The venue for my CSCS test was a college in central Nottingham.

Cannot disagree with you about the wait of a few months between booking the ECS test and taking it and then a while longer, waiting for the pass certificate to arrive, as that was my experience back then. Also, as you state, the wait for the CSCS test was much less and the (H&S) certificate was issued at the test centre, straight after passing the test.

Cheers,

Jez Wilkins

 

[Rpa07]

I sent off for my card to the JIB on 10/04 and looking on the website it's still at the verification stage - they don't seem to realise how much it means to us waiting especially as you do pay for it! Willing to wait though so no bigee


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[Adam W]

I sent off for my card to the JIB on 10/04 and looking on the website it's still at the verification stage - they don't seem to realise how much it means to us waiting especially as you do pay for it! Willing to wait though so no bigee


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I waited about 2 months before they dispatched mine. A month later and I managed to get through on the phone for them to tell me they'd sent it to my old address and it had been returned to them. I don't know why they'd sent it there because I've had a card off them since then.
3 months for them to send me a bit of plastic which you will need to get onto a site to do your job and earn a living is a poor show considering most people are only 2 months' pay away from the breadline.
It's just as well I didn't actually need it for work.

 

[Rpa07]

I don't need mine for the work I'm doing at the moment but if it comes to registering for agency for more experience then you need it there and then - anyway, I just want another card with my photo on - makes me feel 'growed up' even at 49!


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