Canadian Occupational Safety

16 www.cos-mag.com Canadian Occupational Safety L earner fraud is something Mike Zilkowsky sees all too often. As the onboarding, training and competency manager for Arnett and Burgess Pipeliners in Blackfalds, Alta., he often has prospective workers pro- viding a copy of their certification for ground disturbance or hydrogen sul- fide (H2S) that turns out to be a fake. "When we check it, there's no record of them ever taking the training," he says. "Unfortunately, it's sad to say, but it's becoming more and more commonplace. We see these tickets where guys are just using Photoshop and they're editing tickets and putting their name on it because they don't want to pay to get the training." For about $500, a worker can pay for fake tickets (also known as certi- fications or wallet cards) for the three commonly required courses in the oil and gas industry: H2S, ground disturbance and first aid. Actually completing all the courses would take four days and cost between $400 to $600, Zilkowsky says. "In the oil and gas industry, we're not hiring people because we're going to need you in three months — it's 'We need you out there tomorrow,'" he says. "I think a lot of the times when the workers are told what they need they're like, 'Yeah, no problem, I know a guy.'" Unfortunately, learner fraud is not only present in the oil and gas indus- try. The more traditional industries, such as mining and construction, are experiencing problems too, says Trevor Gartner, president of Yardstick Training in Edmonton. But it truly can be found in any industry. For exam- ple, the Transportation of Dangerous Goods (TDG) certification is ripe for learner fraud, as is Workplace Haz- ardous Materials Information System (WHMIS), he says. It's not just a Canadian issue. According to the Construction Safety Advisory Committee of New York, the industry saw an increase in fraudulent to upload their own certificates. "The liability lies on the shoulders of the employer… They need to be in charge of all the parameters that could allow fraudulent behaviour into the system, so we try to lock that down as best as possible." There are many technologies avail- able for learner fraud prevention that employers may want to consider. For example, technologies that verify the identity of the test-taker, such as facial recognition software, can be beneficial. Web-based proctoring enables the student to be supervised remotely during a course or exami- nation. Remote proctors often have split screens where they can monitor many different students remotely at the same time. Additionally, some test software cuts off Internet access during the test to further prevent cheating. One verification technology available on the market is Learned Verified. It uses a three-step process to verify the identity of the trainee: a government-issued ID, a real-time photo and biometric signa- ture (the way an individual types on a keyboard). To further prevent cheating, the program monitors if anyone else enters the room while the student is completing their training. This feature proved quite useful the very first day the technology was launched in Janu- ary 2018. "Our first Learner Verified pop-up came on, so we all gathered around the computer and it was the most rewarding but sad event of the day," Gartner says. "Some guy in his late 50s New technology can help prevent fraudulent training certificates from showing up on your work site By Amanda Silliker construction safety cards that aligned with the construction boom in 2017. On some job sites, up to 50 per cent of workers had fake cards, costing the lives of 30 construction workers between 2015-17, the committee says. In the United Kingdom, a 2015 BBC investigation revealed steeply rising cases of fraudulent Construc- tion Skills Certification Scheme cards, a required document for working in the industry. There were 96 reports in 2012, 264 in 2013 and 311 in 2014. The investigation revealed numerous test centres were offering guaranteed passes for cash. The occupational health and safety space is particularly vulnerable to learner fraud, says Gartner. "The desire to fake a credential is really tied to a person's livelihood. We see that the urge to cheat, to fake cre- dentials, is pretty darn high," he says. "It (affects) them, their families, their wives, their kids, their husbands." Situations are also arising where workers are having someone else com- plete all or some of an online course for them — yet another example of learner fraud. In R. v. Rose's Well Services, an Alberta employer was convicted of safety offences after two workers were badly burned in a fire while off-loading hydrocarbons from a tanker truck. As part of its due dili- gence defense, the employer pointed to the fact that its workers had taken the Petroleum Safety Training from Enform, an online program provid- ing basic safety training for oil and gas workers. However, at trial, one worker testified to helping his co- workers through the program and even answering the exam questions for many of them. SOLUTIONS One way to solve the problem of fraudulent wallet cards is to be extremely diligent about background checks. Ideally, employers would pick up the phone and call the issuer of the wallet card, provide the applicant's name and certification number and verify that the card is legitimate. "I'd love to see that it becomes common practice; every employer, checks every ticket," says Zilkowsky. "Yes, it would take longer, but it's going to ensure workers actually have the proper training." Unfortunately, not many employers are taking this step, so it's a pure trust relationship between them and the individual they just hired, Gartner says. Employers need to pay close atten- tion to the wallet cards and look for tell-tale signs that they may not be legitimate. White-out on the expiry date and several certificates being issued on the same day are red flags, says Kathryn Lockhart, vice-president of SkillsPass in St. John's, N.L. "Someone who is smart and picks up on that goes, 'There's no way you could possibly have taken all that training on the same day because they're all of a certain length,'" she says. "Everyone we talk to has a story of a fraudulent wallet card incident of some kind." Another solution is relying on digital certificates, rather than paper ones. SkillsPass is a provider of digi- tal wallet cards. The software provides a very clear trail of how a record got into the system, from who uploaded the certificate to what training pro- vider it came from. "It provides that level of confidence in what you're looking at and seeing how it got into the system," Lockhart says, adding workers are not allowed

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