IN Brief:
- PERI UK now offers the CITB HS&E Operatives assessment at its Brentwood training facilities.
- The service allows eligible candidates to complete test requirements alongside scaffolding or formwork courses.
- Providers and employers still need to check the relevant card scheme and course entry requirements before booking.
PERI UK has introduced the Health, Safety and Environment (HS&E) Operatives test at its Brentwood training facilities, allowing candidates to undertake the assessment in conjunction with scaffolding and formwork training. The arrangement is intended to prevent course starts being delayed when a delegate arrives without a qualifying test result. PERI is a Construction Industry Scaffolders Record Scheme (CISRS) training centre and has added the testing provision to services that already include scaffold, formwork, and climbing-system instruction.
Delegates arriving at a technical course without the required HS&E test result can be prevented from starting, even when their practical training place has already been booked. They must then arrange a separate test and reschedule the instruction, potentially delaying their availability for work. Bringing the assessment into the same training centre allows a candidate with a missing or expired result to sit the test immediately before an eligible course, subject to a suitable appointment and a pass. Course organisers retain responsibility for checking the particular scheme’s entry criteria.
The CITB HS&E Operatives test assesses general knowledge of construction health, safety, and environmental practice as part of the requirements associated with industry card schemes. It is distinct from practical instruction in scaffold erection, inspection, or formwork operations, which require training and assessment against their own technical standards. PERI’s arrangement places the general safety assessment alongside those separate learning activities, enabling training teams to establish the qualifying test result before delegates progress to courses that require it.
PERI’s CISRS training calendar specifies that delegates booking a COTS course need an HS&E test or accepted exemption and that the test must have been passed within the previous 23 months before the course start date. This is a more specific course-entry condition than an assumption that any older result remains acceptable. Employers and trainees therefore need to check which type of HS&E assessment, date of pass, and other prerequisites apply to the actual course and card they intend to obtain.
At Brentwood, the new arrangement brings testing closer to the practical training environment. Candidates who otherwise would have travelled to an external assessment centre may now be able to use a single site for both stages, provided a suitable testing appointment is available. The system can remove a journey and simplify coordination, but the test still has to be taken and passed before training that requires it can proceed. Neither a booking confirmation nor attendance at a training centre substitutes for a valid result.
Terry Hall, field services manager at PERI UK, described delegates arriving without current HS&E results and having to leave to arrange another assessment. PERI has therefore introduced testing at its Brentwood centre, where its existing training covers scaffolding, formwork, and climbing systems. The company also identifies the possibility of providing the same arrangement at other centres where suitable, while the current service is based at Brentwood. Booking the test alongside a practical course allows both requirements to be planned within the same visit.
Scaffold training has particular operational requirements because workers must understand loads, ties, stability, access, and the sequence of erection and dismantling, as well as broader hazards such as falls and dropped objects. A general health and safety assessment forms one part of that pathway, while supervised practical instruction provides the basis for learning how equipment behaves in use. Keeping the two steps close together may assist training logistics without altering the technical standards that the candidate must meet.
The value of coordinating assessments also depends on how employers plan training around live projects. If a contractor needs appropriately trained scaffold workers at a particular stage of a build, a postponed course can affect when a team is available. The delay may also alter how subcontractors or temporary access are sequenced on a site. PERI’s approach is designed to reduce one avoidable booking obstacle, although actual workforce availability still depends on successful completion of training, experience, and authorisation for the intended duties.
PERI also teaches formwork, climbing systems, and product-specific equipment operation, alongside its CISRS-accredited scaffolding courses. The appropriate test and course prerequisites depend on the programme being taken: an Operatives assessment is one part of the entry route where the relevant card scheme requires it, while practical skills and equipment-specific competence must still be assessed separately. Joining instructions and course records therefore remain necessary to confirm the assessment type, accepted exemptions, and entry requirements before candidates attend.
The new arrangement allows eligible delegates to undertake the knowledge assessment alongside their practical training, with organisers checking prerequisites and available testing appointments before courses begin. Subsequent attendance, test results, and rescheduled bookings will provide practical measures of whether the additional facility reduces disruption.
