Electronic Smart Card Use on Construction Sites Doubles in 2016, CSCS reveals

A total of 164,000 electronic smart card checks were carried out in 2016, more than double the number carried out the previous year, the CSCS has recently revealed within their yearly report.

With an estimated 13,723 checks each month, the use of electronic smart cards has recorded a 114% growth compared to 2015. The promotion of SmartCard technology will be a key priority for CSCS in 2017, the organization has revealed, since not only there is still plenty of work to be done before industry fully adopts electronic card checks, but the adoption of smart technology is also a requirement of the Construction Leadership Council’s One Industry Logo action.

In this respect, CSCS has reasserted its commitment to working alongside their Partner Card Schemes to encourage the adoption of the technology.

But CSCS’ plans for smartcards are even more ambitious. Graham Wren, Chief Executive, CSCS, commented: “The next development stage will be the introduction of the virtual card, an electronic card that can be issued directly to a mobile device such as a smartphone, removing the need to carry a physical card and significantly speeding up the application process. Development of the Virtual Card is underway with a trial of the technology in spring 2017.”

Tensor – preferred CSCS IT partner and experts in deploying CSCS smart card solutions for construction sites

Tensor is a preferred CSCS IT Partner and, as such, has further advanced our integration with the CSCS smartcard to enable features such as auto-learn – when a CSCS smartcard is scanned, several credentials from the CSCS smartcard are auto-inserted into the Tensor.NET software including photograph, name, title, CSCS card number and CSCS card expiry date to allow a seamless data entry facility.

Tensor .NET then automatically inserts the CSCS smartcard’s expiry date into the employee leavers date field to ensure that the Tensor.NET denies access to a CSCS smartcard user who attempts to gain access with an expired CSCS smartcard.

Other advanced features that can be enabled include a separate verification process where CSCS smartcard holders must report to a Site Manager for the Site Manager to verify the Contractor’s details before permitting the CSCS smartcard to enter a site. This can be conducted on a site-by-site basis or can be applied to permit usage of a CSCS smartcard across a number of sites.

The CSCS smartcard, when used in conjunction with Tensor’s .NET software, Access Control and Time & Attendance products, provides a very powerful and cost effective means of centralising Time & Attendance, Advanced Access Control and Fire/Evacuation roll-call, re-using an existing CSCS smartcard as base for the entire system.

If you’d like to find out more about the Tensor access control systems and its integration with CSCS cards, just contacts us or Book a Demo, our representatives will be more than happy to answer all of your questions and queries.