Book CITB Temporary Works Supervisor (TWS) Course with live availability across the UK. Delivered by accredited providers, with transparent pricing and instant confirmation.
The CITB Temporary Works Supervisor course, often shortened to TWS, is a 1-day course for people who supervise temporary works on a construction site. It is part of the CITB Site Safety Plus scheme and, like the coordinator course, is built around BS 5975, the British Standard code of practice for temporary works.
Temporary works are the parts of a project that support the permanent works while they are built, such as excavation support, formwork, falsework and propping. The Temporary Works Supervisor oversees specific temporary works on the ground, making sure the agreed procedures are followed and risks are controlled during day-to-day operations. The role supports the Temporary Works Coordinator, who holds overall responsibility for the process. A supervisor is usually appointed on larger sites, or where the coordinator is managing several sites at once.
This is not a general awareness course; its focus is the role and responsibilities of the supervisor under BS 5975. Anyone taking overall responsibility for temporary works should take the 2-day Temporary Works Coordinator course instead.
The certificate is valid for 5 years. To stay certified, supervisors retake the course before the certificate expires.
The day is built around the supervisor role in the BS 5975 process, and CITB requires full attendance to take the assessment. You work through what temporary works are and how they fail, the management process the coordinator runs, and the supervisor part of it: checking that erection, use and striking follow the agreed design and method, keeping records, and knowing exactly when to stop work and escalate to the Temporary Works Coordinator. The CITB assessment closes the day. Our temporary works guide is a good plain-language primer to read before you attend.
Both formats carry the same CITB certificate. The online version is a live virtual classroom over Zoom or Microsoft Teams, tutor-led on a fixed date, not self-paced e-learning. Because it is a single day, TWS is one of the easiest certificates to fit around a live project: live dates and prices for both formats are listed at the top of this page.
Prices vary by venue, date and format, and the price against each date at the top of this page is the full cost of a place, including the assessment and the CITB certificate at most venues. For typical UK prices and what moves them, see our TWS course cost guide, which is updated with live prices. TWS is a CITB Site Safety Plus course, so CITB-registered employers can claim a short course grant when a delegate passes, and contractors booking several supervisors can request a group quote via our employer booking service.
The TWS certificate is valid for five years. There is no separate refresher for the supervisor course: you renew by retaking the one day before your certificate expires, which also brings you up to date with any changes to BS 5975 and industry practice since your original course.
Take TWS if you oversee specific temporary works on the ground under someone else's coordination. Take the 2-day TWC course if you hold, or are moving into, overall responsibility for the temporary works process on a project. Supervisors are not junior coordinators: the two are different appointments under BS 5975, and acting as coordinator needs the coordinator course. Many supervisors also hold SSSTS for their general supervisory duties, with TWS covering the temporary works role specifically.
New to the standard itself? Our plain English article on what BS 5975 is covers the 2024 two-part update and how the roles fit together.
