can anyone tell me if there is a recognised hiab qualification as i have been told 3 different things by training companys totaly bamboozled now and dont want to pay for summit thats not recognised by an employer!! the course i was looking at is just a simple certificate by Lagta am i going to waste my money??
This is the problem at the moment. It was an ALLMI card, the industry standard and just a one day course. But now it seems you have different companys asking for different things. It put me off renewing my card as it all seems ridiculous and a big ripoff.
HIya …yes there is a haib course and its renewable after 3 years if you don’t use the hiab constantly.
if you can prove you use the hiab so many hours a year you dont need to be trained so often.
if you use a grab you need to be trained with that attachment.I had a Hiab in 1976… just practice
and you’re away with it…10 years ago i had to do the correct ttraining to be aloud to use the
hiab/atlas/palfinger on sites as you need proof of training.i had i break from 1980 untill 2002
thats the reason for training…good luck …oh its quite easy its the h&s that dose your head in.
John
So if you spend £350 to get an ALLMI card which i think now is a two day course. You might go for a job and the firm says no you need a cpcs card, its just absurd.
One of the hi ab courses i think its the cpcs is a 5 day course. 
totaly daft to learn someting as simple as a hi ab. It only takes a day to learn hi ab after that its just on the job experience that makes you a good hi ab man.
Its a case of too many snouts in the trough. Its bad enough you have to pay to renew your card, such a con. 
3300John:
HIya …yes there is a haib course and its renewable after 3 years if you don’t use the hiab constantly.
if you can prove you use the hiab so many hours a year you dont need to be trained so often.
if you use a grab you need to be trained with that attachment.I had a Hiab in 1976… just practice
and you’re away with it…10 years ago i had to do the correct ttraining to be aloud to use the
hiab/atlas/palfinger on sites as you need proof of training.i had i break from 1980 untill 2002
thats the reason for training…good luck …oh its quite easy its the h&s that dose your head in.
John
The ALLMI card which has been the industry standard is renewable every five years. But as the op said different firms are now asking for different qualifications.
My gaffer who runs several hi ab wagons and does a lot of scaffolding work had to put two highly experienced hi ab drivers with ALLMI cards through a 5 day cpcs hi ab course so he could continue getting work off a well known national scaffolding firm.
Right folks the hiab course i am looking at is cerificate by Spx Lagta the training company like an in house course. i have lots of experiance of using hiabs with stock car racing but need a bit paper to say i can do it, do you think that this in house course will be enough or are companys looking for specific certification providers.
hiya… i took my certificate in house at shell by a outside company who are testing people
on all types of lifting/carring equipment daily… after passing my certificates they asked if i
needed to be put onto a national redgister…i was told for a quite small amount i could be
registered.but now i’am an old f…t i did’nt think it necessary they’ll retrain me the next time
i work there…ask at your training place they may put you on the national redgister
good luck
John
dodester:
Right folks the hiab course i am looking at is cerificate by Spx Lagta the training company like an in house course. i have lots of experiance of using hiabs with stock car racing but need a bit paper to say i can do it, do you think that this in house course will be enough or are companys looking for specific certification providers.
It will be enough for some but not for others. This whole area has become a real dogs dinner and those involved should be taken out the back with their pants down and a swift boot applied to the goolies! As far as I can see at the moment, there is a temporary agreement between various parties to recognise each others qualifications. There is also a push on to get people “properly qualified” so you might want to bear this in mind. If you do the red card CPCS training this will last 3 years. At the end of 3 years the red card is NOT renewable UNLESS you take further NVQ training. I think you will need to do this before 3 years is reached. Further training will lead to the BLUE CPCS which IS renewable after 5 years.
I got this info from the website of a company called MAINSTREAM so if it’s wrong blame them! Spend wisely my friend… 
Hi there,the CPCS red card has changed to 2 year duration,during which time you have to log 300 hours operation?But if you are already competant on them,do an Experienced Worker Practical Site Assessment,basically its like a 1 day nvq,you have to provide ‘proof’ of previous experience,from employers etc.answer some fairly basic questions and do a test,that gets you CPCS blue card,saves doing it all twice to do red card then transfer it!check out Construction Skills website,they run the whole cpcs thing,it is a minefield,but if you’re going to do work which involves any of the Major Contractor Group construction companies,Balfours,Select, Carrillion etc,its the most widely accepted
also a lot of firms wont even think of giving you a start unless you have cpcs.
the firm i work for wont take anyone on without it because all the big utillity companies we work for insist on cpcs.(a few years ago they would take people on with no ticket as long as they were ok on the crane!)
incidentally when i took my cpcs i had to take test with a hiab,even though i’m a grab driver,so now i have tickets for both(blue card).dont know what it involves to renew though-just get log book signed for 300 hrs over five years i think
CPCS is a real pain in the arse to get, so many stupid levels and tests to get that blue card. But it’s the one to have.
I’ve never been asked for my card anywhere, including the Olympics
Also slinger / signaller is a different qualification, I’m sure that technically I’m only allowed to pull the levers.
CPCS is a real pain in the arse to get, so many stupid levels and tests to get that blue card. But it’s the one to have.
I’ve never been asked for my card anywhere, including the Olympics
Also slinger / signaller is a different qualification, I’m sure that technically I’m only allowed to pull the levers.
cheers for replys folks looking at the price for cpcs am just aswell saving up and doing c+e. cheapest cpcs is £1170.00 near me. Lagta quoted me £1100 for c+e oh the decisions eh
The CPCS card is now the most widely accepted and a lot of the big construction companies will not accept anything else. Also worth a mention is as well as a hiab ticket a lot of companies now require you to have a slinger/signaller ticket as well.
To get the cpcs card the first thing you need to do is a health and safety touch screen test, next do a course and pass the test , (the CSkills website will give you a list of registered training providers in your area). this will get you a red cpcs card this is valid for 2 years ( if you go over 2 years you can apply for a 6 month extension) within the 2 years you will need to do an nvq with a practical assessment of your skills and a test , pass this and you get a blue card , the blue card is good for 5 years and you only need to do a simple h&s touch screen test to renew the blue card. Simples
The allmi card was the only one h&s aproved, you could get a cpcs red card if you had the allmi card through them(allmi), but you had to have done the heath and safety touch screen in the pervious 12? months I think, some where around the £25 mark mark if you havent.
I was told cpcs sit on the panel building the allmi test, so you would like to think if they accept one they would accept the other but that would save us ££ so unliklely to happen 
If you`ve got you head screwed on right been on a couple of decent sites before the touch screen wont be a problem,about half hour to do, the crane test read the book you get given the answers are in there listen to what the instructer says and smooth with the crane and you be ok.
hiab courses 
speaking as an ALLMI approved instructor i know what course id sooner do
the inexperienced course is over 2 days and the experienced one is over 1 day as long as youve got 15 hrs use in the past 12 months your classed as an experienced operator
the whole allmi/cpcs card scheme at the moment is up for change and hopefully for the better but who knows
as for slinger / signalling thats another seperate card but the course is only a day
I did a 1 day course and nobody would touch me as it was not CITB accredited. The 1 I did was RTITB which is not worth the paper its wrote on according to all our local builders merchants.
do any of these courses count towards your 35hrs cpc?
dodester:
cheers for replys folks looking at the price for cpcs am just aswell saving up and doing c+e. cheapest cpcs is £1170.00 near me. Lagta quoted me £1100 for c+e oh the decisions eh
I would forget the hi ab and do your class 1. Theres no money in hi ab but class 1 will mean you have much wider choice of work. Better off with adr than a hi ab as well. I think ritchies in Glasgow do hi ab cpsc for about £800 but what a waste.
As i said a cpsc card for hi ab is daft as hi ab way to simple. Fair enough a cpsc card for JCB’s and 360 excavators as these machines have a long learning curvre, more complicated. Once again its over regulation making non jobs.