Which tickets actually get you contract work?

It's Friday, half three. The agency rings. Nights next week on a food site, twenty minutes from you, decent rate. The conveyors keep tripping and their own fitter has gone off sick.

Then the question. "Have you got your IPAF?"

You haven't. You've used a scissor lift a hundred times on your last site, but nobody ever sent you on the course. The agency says they'll call you back. They don't. The shift goes to someone with a card in their wallet.

Every contract engineer has had that call. Tickets don't fix machines. But on a site that has never met you, a ticket is the fastest way for someone to say yes.

The law asks for competence, not cards

Start with what the rules actually say, because it explains why sites ask for what they ask for.

Most of the safety law you work under doesn't name a course. The Electricity at Work Regulations say nobody should do work that needs technical knowledge or experience to prevent danger unless they have it, or are properly supervised (regulation 16). The Work at Height Regulations say the same about anyone working at height (regulation 5).

HSE describes competence as "the combination of training, skills, experience and knowledge" a person has, and their ability to use them safely (HSE, what is competence). The same page tells employers that if they use contractors, they have a responsibility to make sure those contractors are competent.

So picture the engineering manager. A line's down, or a shift needs covering, and a stranger is about to walk onto their site. They can't watch you work for a month first. A card is proof they can file. Put yourself in their shoes and the questions on the phone make more sense.

Where the ticket is the rule

A few jobs do come with a training rule that sites can't wave away.

• Forklifts. The lift truck code of practice says employers should not let anyone operate one, "even on a very occasional basis", without basic training and testing (HSE, training and competence). If you'll be moving a truck to reach a fault, expect to be asked. We cover it in forklift training for engineers.
• MEWPs. HSE says operators should have been on a recognised course and hold a certificate, card or licence listing the types they can operate (HSE, MEWPs).
• Refrigerant. You must hold your own F-Gas qualification to work on equipment containing F-gas, even if you work for someone else (GOV.UK). No card, no gauges on the chiller. See F-Gas certification for maintenance engineers.

The ones that open the most doors

Here's our view, for a maintenance engineer chasing shifts on manufacturing and logistics sites.

18th Edition, if you do any electrical work. In our experience it's the electrical ticket you'll see asked for most. It's a regs exam and won't make you safe in a machine panel, but it gets your CV past the first filter. We weigh it up in is the 18th Edition worth it.

IPAF. Warehouses are tall. Sensors, photo-eyes, high-level conveyors, lights over the racking. Plenty of faults on a big logistics site need a scissor lift or a boom to reach them. Sites want the card and they check the expiry date.

PASMA. Towers come out for jobs where a MEWP won't fit. HSE says anyone putting one up should have trained under an industry scheme, and gives PASMA as an example (HSE, construction work at height FAQs). Both cards are cheap compared with a lost week of nights. More on both in IPAF and PASMA for maintenance work at height.

A counterbalance or reach truck ticket. Not for driving all shift. For moving the truck that's parked in front of the panel at 3am without waiting for a driver.

The ones that depend on the site

Some tickets are gold on one site and worthless on the next.

CompEx matters where there are zoned areas: solvents, flammable gas, some dusty food and wood processes. If you don't work near zones, it won't win you shifts. We go through who needs it in CompEx: who needs it.

F-Gas only pays if chillers, panel coolers and cold stores are part of your work. In food logistics they often are.

SSSTS and SMSTS come up when the job looks more like a construction project, such as a big install or a shutdown with contractors everywhere. For breakdown cover they rarely decide anything.

The ones that won't move the needle

Short online "awareness" certificates pad a CV, but nobody hiring for a breakdown cares about them. Nobody at 2am asks if you've done a half-hour module.

The same goes for a ticket you can't back up. If your CV says PLC course but you've never gone online to a live machine, the first callout will show it. A shift manager who's been let down once won't ask for you again.

The card gets you in. The fix gets you back

This is the bit that matters most, and it's the reason sites go to the trouble of checking at all.

When a line's stood, the cost lands on the engineering manager. Lost output, operators stood about, trailers missing their slots. A wrong engineer costs them twice: the hours lost waiting, then the hours lost while someone who can't fix it tries. That's why they want proof before you arrive.

So the ticket opens the door. What keeps you on the list is the first hour on site. Read the HMI. Ask the operator what it was doing. Isolate properly. Fix it, then write it up. Sites remember the engineer who left a note saying what failed and why.

Keep them where you can show them

A shift can be lost over an expired card or a photo you can't find. HSE tells sites to check the expiry date on MEWP cards (HSE, MEWPs), and plenty of sites do the same for everything else.

Keep a clear photo of every card and certificate on your phone, front and back. Put every expiry date in your calendar with three months' notice. We cover this in more detail in keeping your tickets in date as a contractor.

What to do on Monday

1. Read ten contract ads for maintenance engineers near you. Count which tickets come up. Book the one that appears most that you don't hold.
2. Photograph every card you have, front and back, and save them in one folder on your phone.
3. Put each expiry date in your calendar, with a reminder three months before.
4. Write down three faults you've fixed that most engineers couldn't. That's what you say when the agency asks what you're good at.