Kickstart your trades career with HSE’s white card course

Participants in a white card class.

Having your white card is mandatory for all those working in trades or other occupations that mean they are entering construction or building sites.

While there are a couple of training courses that we believe everyone working in trades should have, there is only one that is truly mandatory to hold in NSW if you intend on entering a building or construction site.

CPCCWHS1001 Prepare to work safely in the construction industry is required to be held in NSW before you enter a work site, building site or construction site. This qualification is more commonly known as a white card or general induction ticket.

Undertaking white card training can be done once a person turns 14 years old – meaning that school students can obtain their general induction ticket before starting an apprenticeship or part-time job.

Height Safety Engineers is running two CPCCWHS1001 Prepare to work safely in the construction industry courses at our Sydney training centre during the term 3 school holidays. These classes allow those students with an interest in taking up a trade or building-related career to get a head-start while not having to give up a weekend or miss out on a day of school.

When and where are the school holiday white card courses?

HSE Sydney are running two sessions during the September/October school holidays in NSW.

The courses will run on:

  • Wednesday, 28 September
  • Friday, 7 October

(Enrolment links are at the bottom of the linked page)

Both classes will be run at our headquarters and training centre located at Unit 1, 4 Austool Place Ingleburn.

How long does the course take?

CPCCWHS1001 Prepare to work safely in the construction industry takes eight (8) hours to complete.

The course runs from 8.00am and winds up around 4.00pm.

To assist participants, HSE provides a hot lunch as part of the course at no additional charge.

What does the white card course cover?

The white card course covers a range of general workplace safety, hazard identification and risk mitigation practices.

Course objectives include:

  • Identifying health and safety legislative requirements of construction work
  • Identifying construction hazards and risk control measures
  • Procedures for first aid
  • High risk work license requirements
  • Types, purpose and use of PPE used in construction
  • Construction incidents and emergencies
  • Identifying health and safety communication and reporting processes
  • Understand the meaning of symbols and signage
  • Identifying incident and emergency response procedures
  • Safe work practices in construction

Do I need to bring anything?

The only things you need to bring are 100 points of identification, or a signed letter from your school confirming your name, date of birth and enrolment status. We ask that you be wearing fully enclosed shoes as well.

HSE provides everything else you need – learning materials, pens, plenty of snacks and drinks.

What does it cost?

The day of training for the white card course is $120.

Nationally accredited training courses, like CPCCWHS1001 Prepare to work safely in the construction industry, do not attract GST. This means your course is GST free.

How do I enrol?

First off, you will need a Unique Student Identifier (USI) to enrol in accredited training. These are issued by the Australian government.

Getting one takes a couple of minutes and can be completed online.

Once you have that, you can enrol online for the white card course by clicking here. If you are under 18, we recommend getting a parent, guardian, or other responsible adult to help you check all the required boxes.

If you prefer, you can enrol with us by phone. Call 1300 884 978 to speak to our team. Again, for those under 18 we recommend getting a parent, guardian, or other responsible adult to do this for you so we can ensure everything is A-OK.

What do I get at the end of course?

At the end of the course, there is an assessment process that needs to be successfully completed.

Course participants that successfully complete the assessment will receive a statement of attainment for CPCCWHS1001 Prepare to work safely in the construction industry.

Successful participants will also receive a temporary white card issued on behalf of Safe Work NSW. This is valid for use on NSW work sites while the NSW Government sends out your final card. This will arrive in the post after a few weeks.

Anything else I should know?

Completing your white card is just the start of your safety journey. Working on a building or construction site brings with it a range of risks that need to be identified and mitigated.

We believe that one of the most important ways to avoid injuring yourself at work is to have the skills to not just complete tasks safely, but really have an appreciation and understanding of where risks are and how they can be avoided.

To that end, we strongly advise every person looking to take up a trade complete a base level training, including:

  • RIIWHS204E Work safely at heights
  • 10675NAT Course in asbestos awareness
  • Confined space training

These three courses, plus the white card, provide foundational knowledge and skills across the most common high-risk work scenarios.

If you would like to know more, you can speak to your trainer on the day or get in touch with our team any time by calling 1300 884 978 or email enquiries@heightsafety.net.

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