UK construction has spent years making its cards harder to fake and its certification examinations harder to cheat. Holograms, photo ID, digital checks through CSCS Smart Check. Police investigations into examination centres.
2026 has shown why. In April, three men were sentenced at Snaresbrook Crown Court for helping more than 70 people cheat the CITB health, safety and environment test using a Bluetooth earpiece. In February, Hampshire police arrested four men over a Winchester examination centre allegedly taking payment to help candidates pass. And CSCS continues to warn about social media adverts offering cards "without tests or qualifications".
When checks get stronger in one place, fraud moves to wherever checks are weakest. In UK construction today, that is online training.
Online training is now how construction proves competence
Online training is no longer a side channel in construction. It sits at the heart of how the industry trains and evidences its workforce:
- Industry-standard safety courses are delivered online. CITB's Site Safety Plus courses, including the Site Supervision Safety Training Scheme (SSSTS), the Site Management Safety Training Scheme (SMSTS) and Health and Safety Awareness, are available through remote delivery, and CITB runs its own eCourses platform for topics such as fire safety and temporary works awareness. - Inductions and site rules. Principal contractors increasingly brief workers and subcontractors on site-specific hazards online before they arrive. - Refreshers and ongoing learning. Refresher courses, toolbox talks and CPD are routinely completed online.
For many contractors, online training records are the bulk of the evidence that their people know what they need to know.
The Building Safety Act makes that evidence a legal matter
With the Building Safety Act in place, contractors are responsible for making sure everyone on site is trained and qualified for their role. That responsibility rests heavily on training records, and a growing share of those records come from online training.
A card check confirms a credential exists. The examination centre is supervised. But the online training that builds and maintains competence is usually taken on trust. If something goes wrong, "our system says they completed it" is a weak answer when the next question is "how do you know it was them?"
The one step nobody checks
The industry has put strong controls on the card and the certification examination. Online training has almost none, and it is easier to game than any examination centre:
- A colleague or agent can log in and complete it on someone else's behalf. - AI agents can now complete online courses with no person involved at all. - Timers and "click next" checks prove only that a browser was open.
None of this needs a forged card or a Bluetooth earpiece. It just needs nobody to check who is doing the training.
Closing the gap with course monitoring
Asgard Authenticate verifies the learner at the start of an online course and continues to confirm it is the same person throughout. Course participation signals prompt learners back on track when attention drifts, and each completion is backed by a defensible record that can be exported per learner or per cohort.
It works inside the online training contractors and training providers already use, and gives online training the same integrity the industry already expects from cards and certification examinations.
The Path Forward
The card is checked. The certification examination is policed. Online training, now central to how UK construction proves competence, is the one step left open. For contractors with duties under the Building Safety Act, it is the step that most needs closing.
Authoritative Sources & Further Reading
Writing on training integrity, learner verification and compliance record-keeping for Asgard Authenticate.
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