Construction Workers Registration System (CWRS) and Register of Construction Workers
What the system holds
The Construction Workers Registration System (CWRS) is the information system that supports the Register of Construction Workers. It holds the worker's registration number, identity particulars, photograph, registered trade or trades, registration category, card validity and related registration status. The Register is not a job-matching service and it is not the safety training database. Access to personal data is controlled, and the CWRA is responsible for maintaining accurate records. Workers should notify changes so that the CWRS does not show outdated information.
Verification on site
- Contractors and site managers use card readers or the CWRS-linked verification process to check whether a card is valid, not merely whether it looks genuine.
- A site access control system may record entry and exit; that record supports, but does not replace, the duty to check registration.
- Verification should confirm the cardholder's identity, the trade registered, the category and the expiry date.
- A card that fails verification should not be accepted for work in a designated trade until the matter is resolved.
Worked example
A subcontractor's card reader shows "invalid" for a worker whose card looks clean and unexpired to the eye. The worker says the system is wrong and asks to start work while it is checked. Reasoning: the CWRS status is the authoritative check. A card can be invalid because it has been cancelled, suspended, reported lost or replaced. The subcontractor should not allow the worker to start in a designated trade until the CWRA confirms valid registration. Letting him work on a verbal assurance creates an offence risk.
Traps that cost marks
- Doing only a visual check of the photograph and expiry date.
- Checking that the worker is registered but not checking the specific trade.
- Assuming the CWRS is the same as the safety training certificate system.
- Treating a site access record as proof that registration was valid.
- Ignoring privacy rules when handling or copying worker data from the system.