What is an EUSR card?
An EUSR card is a photo ID card issued by the Energy & Utility Skills Register that records the training and assessments an individual has completed for the UK energy and utilities industries, along with the expiry date of each one. It gives employers and site supervisors a single, verifiable record of a worker’s competence and current endorsements.
The Energy & Utility Skills Register (EUSR) is the official online register of skills for the sector. When you pass an EUSR-approved course or assessment, it is recorded against your personal EUSR registration. One registration can hold several schemes at once — such as National Water Hygiene and a SHEA passport — each with its own expiry date, and each person is issued a unique EUSR ID number alongside their card.
Each scheme expires separately. Holding a card that has not itself expired does not mean every endorsement on it is still valid — National Water Hygiene and a SHEA passport can run to different dates on the same card. Check them individually and diary the earliest one.
Keep your EUSR ID number to hand when booking further training, so the new scheme is added to your existing registration rather than creating a duplicate.
What does the EUSR do?
The EUSR works with employers, stakeholders and regulators to support the recruitment, training and up-skilling of the energy and utilities workforce. Most EUSR schemes are built on standards developed directly with employers, while others draw on recognised industry or national occupational standards.
In every case, the EUSR applies its expertise in training and assessment design to ensure each scheme is valid, current and relevant to the work people carry out on site.
Available EUSR cards & programmes
Browse the EUSR schemes below — including National Water Hygiene (the “blue card”) and the SHEA Water, Power, Gas and Drains & Sewers passports. As a training course booking agent, Envico arranges your place with an accredited provider.
The “blue card”
Required for anyone working on water industry sites where they may contact the public drinking water supply. The scheme exists to protect the supply from contamination, and the blue card is the recognised evidence of it. Valid for three years, and separate from SHEA Water — many water industry roles need both.
Safety, Health & Environmental Awareness
The baseline safety, health and environmental awareness passport for site access across the water sector. Commonly specified by water companies and their contractors as a condition of working on their networks and treatment sites.
Safety, Health & Environmental Awareness
Site access awareness for the power generation and distribution sector, covering the hazards specific to working on or near electrical networks and generating assets.
Safety, Health & Environmental Awareness
Site access awareness for the gas sector, covering the hazards of working on gas distribution and transmission networks and the controls that apply to them.
Safety, Health & Environmental Awareness
Site access awareness for drainage and wastewater work, where confined spaces and biological hazards are routine. Frequently held alongside confined spaces training rather than instead of it.
Civils & Utilities training hub
EUSR is one of several card schemes in this sector. Depending on the client and the work you may also need a CCNSG Safety Passport, an NRSWA street works qualification, or CAT and Genny training before excavating.
Training a crew? Utilities work is rarely done alone, and EUSR courses can usually be delivered at your depot or a venue near you rather than sending people out one at a time. Group delivery is cheaper per head and keeps card expiry dates aligned across the team. See on-site training for groups.
EUSR and NRSWA: why utilities crews usually need both
An EUSR card gets you onto a utilities site. It does not qualify you to open the road once you are there. Any work that involves excavating, reinstating, or signing and guarding on the public highway falls under the New Roads and Street Works Act, which is a separate qualification held on a separate register.
For most water, gas, power and drainage crews that means carrying both: a SHEA passport or National Water Hygiene card for site access, and NRSWA units on an SWQR card for the street works itself. They expire on different cycles and neither renews the other.
EUSR card
Energy & Utility Skills Register
Covers: safety, health and environmental awareness for site access, plus water hygiene where the drinking supply is involved.
Required by: the site owner or client, as a condition of access.
Validity: varies by scheme, each recorded separately on the same card.
SWQR card (NRSWA)
Street Works Qualifications Register
Covers: locating apparatus, excavation, reinstatement, and signing, lighting and guarding on the highway.
Required by: legislation, for anyone working on the public highway.
Validity: five years, then reassessment before expiry.
Operatives do the work, supervisors monitor it. A supervisor card does not permit you to carry out street works yourself, and an operative card does not let you supervise. Crews that do both need both sets of units.
If your SWQR card lapses, reassessment is no longer available and the full initial course must be retaken. Diary the expiry alongside your EUSR scheme dates.
NRSWA courses are available through City & Guilds, CABWI and SQA. All three lead to the same SWQR card.