SPA Passport – Core Construction (CSCS) Course

SPA Core Construction is a classroom qualification covering health, safety and environmental awareness for people working in a construction environment. It is set at a level equivalent to a Level 1 QCF award and is one of the recognised routes to the CSCS Labourers Green Card.

The content is split into six modules, each with its own written assessment. Delegates who complete all six receive a paper certificate of completion together with an SPA Passport.

The course is aimed at anyone who needs an entry-level health and safety qualification to work on a construction site:

• Anyone applying for a CSCS Labourers Green Card for the first time
• Labourers and site operatives who need a Level 1 equivalent qualification
• Workers new to construction who have no formal safety training
• Employers putting new starters through their site access requirements

No prior health and safety knowledge is required. Those with supervisory or management responsibility on site should look instead at SSSTS or SMSTS, which are designed for those roles rather than for operatives.

The syllabus is delivered across six modules, each followed by its own assessment paper:

• Module 1 — Organising for Safety: where legal duty sits for employers and employees, what the enforcing authorities do, which workers count as vulnerable and why, and the basics of spotting a hazard and controlling it
• Module 2 — The Workplace: what a safe working area looks like in practice, how behaviour affects safety, and the hazards that are not immediately visible — hidden services, asbestos, confined spaces and work at height — along with how permit-to-work systems control them
• Module 3 — Tools, Plant and Machinery: the dangers of work equipment, powered and non-powered alike, the forms of energy involved and what each one can do, plus the risks that come with workplace transport
• Module 4 — Health: longer-term harm rather than immediate injury — substances hazardous to health and their controls, musculoskeletal problems, noise and stress — together with the range of precautions available for each
• Module 5 — Procedures: why written procedures exist and what they achieve, with particular attention to knowing the local emergency arrangements and the first aid provision on site
• Module 6 — The Environment: environmental duties as they stand now and as they are expected to develop, safe storage and marking, waste control hierarchies, and emergency planning for when something goes wrong

On completion, delegates will be able to:

• Demonstrate their understanding of each subject by successfully completing every module assessment paper
• Recognise the part they play individually in maintaining good health, safety and environmental standards
• Explain why risk assessment matters, and identify the point at which a generic assessment no longer fits the job in front of them
• Identify the hazards that come up routinely in construction work

Assessment is continuous rather than saved for the end of the day:

• Module assessments: a written assessment paper is completed at the end of each of the six modules
• No pre-course study: the content is taught in full on the day, and the assessments follow directly from what has been delivered
• Paper certificate: a certificate of completion is issued before delegates leave
• SPA Passport: issued to every delegate in addition to the paper certificate

Both documents are issued, but they are not interchangeable. The paper certificate is the one CSCS accepts as evidence of training.

Five years, not three. This is the one SPA scheme that runs on a different cycle — the Safety Pass Alliance sets Core Construction on a five year programme laid down by CSCS guidelines, where every other SPA sector passport carries a three year expiry.

The course must be renewed on or before the expiry date. There is no separate one-day refresher for Core Construction as there is for the sector passports, so renewal means sitting the course again.

Worth noting separately: your CSCS card has its own expiry date, set by CSCS rather than by SPA, and the two do not necessarily fall together. Check both.

No. The Safety Pass Alliance permits remote delivery by Zoom or Microsoft Teams across its sector passports, but Core Construction is the stated exception — it is not eligible for virtual delivery and is classroom based only.

If you have been offered an online version of this course, check carefully what you are actually being sold. It may be the CITB Health and Safety Awareness course, which is a different qualification accepted by CSCS for the same purpose, or a general awareness e-learning module that will not support a Green Card application at all.

The paper certificate is the document CSCS will ask for. The SPA Passport is issued alongside it but is not what the card application accepts, so keep the certificate safe.

• If you have not yet sat your online CSCS test: you will need to book it, and your SPA paper certificate is required as evidence that you have successfully completed the training course.
• If you have already passed the online CSCS test: the paper certificate is the final piece you need to apply for your card.

Your training provider will confirm the current booking route for the CSCS test on the day. If you need help choosing or arranging a course, call Envico on 0808 1966 830.

There are no formal qualification requirements and no prior health and safety knowledge is needed. A reasonable standard of written and spoken English is recommended, since all six module assessments are written papers completed in English.

Both routes lead to the same place. SPA Core Construction and the CITB Health and Safety Awareness course are each accepted by CSCS as the health and safety qualification element of a Labourers Green Card application, and employers do not regard one as superior to the other.

The practical difference is availability rather than content or standing. Choose whichever runs at a venue and on a date that works for you.

Core Construction sits apart from the SPA sector passports in four ways — duration, validity, delivery and purpose.

The sector passports also have a one-day renewal route. Core Construction does not — when it expires, the full day is taken again.

Venues and dates change as providers release new schedules, so the course search always shows the current position rather than a fixed list.

View all SPA Core Construction dates and venues

If no venue near you is running the course, the CITB Health and Safety Awareness course is accepted by CSCS for the same purpose and runs at venues across the UK. For a group, we can arrange delivery at your own premises instead — request a group quote.

• CITB Health and Safety Awareness — accepted by CSCS for the same purpose

Progression for site supervisors and managers

• SSSTS — Site Supervisors Safety Training Scheme
• SMSTS — Site Managers Safety Training Scheme
• All CITB courses

Other SPA Passport schemes

• All SPA Passport courses
• SPA Passport – Core Day + Petrol Retail
• SPA Passport – Core Day + Food & Drink
• SPA Passport – Mineral Products (MPQC)