New Health and Safety Measures at CSCS Test Centres
In light of the global coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, Pearson Vue, the operators of the official CITB test centres, have implemented additional health and safety policies to ensure the delivery of the CITB health and safety exam ( for your CSCS card application) can be delivered in a safe environment. These measures are in place for the safety of both the centre staff and customers attending the centre. Below are the key changes that have been made in all UK test centres.
- Made hand sanitizer available in the waiting areas and prior to entering the testing room.
- Increase their cleaning and disinfecting regimens in between all testing appointments.
- Will now provide tissues to candidates upon arrival at the test centre.
- Permit candidates to wear disposable gloves if they choose too.
- Remind candidates to wash their hands or utilize hand sanitizer upon arrival at the test centre
- Enforcing local social distancing requirements and ensuring all candidate testing stations are the required distance apart.
What you must do
All candidates have now been requested to wear a face mask while attending the centre. Any surgical or cloth face mask, including a homemade face mask, is acceptable as long as your nose and mouth are fully covered. The test centres are unable to provide face masks and candidates without a face mask will not be allowed to take their test.
Please adhere to all social distancing guidelines while attending the centre by keeping the recommended distance between your self and any centre staff or visitors. Adhere to any instructions given to you by the test administrator or centre staff.
If you meet any of the below criteria you will not be able to take your test and will be turned away from the test centre. On arrival at the test centre, you will be asked to confirm you do not meet any of these conditions. If you do, please reschedule your test, however, we still need at least 72 hours notice under these circumstances to be able to reschedule. If you inform us with less than 72 hours until your appointment, your test will not be able to take your test and you will need to rebook.
- Tested positive for COVID -19 unless you have no symptoms, at least 14 days have passed since your exposure and have received 2 negative test results in a row.
- You are experiencing any coronavirus symptoms such as shortness of breath, coughing, fever, chills and/or a sore throat.
- You live with or have been in close proximity with someone who has tested positive or suspected of being infected.
Availability of the CITB Exam
Pearson Vue has recognised the need to ensure government-mandated social distancing recommendations can be implemented at all the test centres. As such the capacity of many of the centres has been reduced resulting in fewer appointments being available. With a huge demand for the exam since lockdown has been eased, this has inevitably caused delays at centres with many centres now being fully booked for up to 8 weeks or more.
If your CSCS card is due to run out in the next 6 months you are strongly advised to book your test now to ensure you can complete the exam before your card expires. Although CITB has asked the construction industry to support temporary measures (click HERE for full details) it is still the responsibility of the cardholder to ensure you are applying for your required CITB health and safety exam well before the expiration of your card.