Know what you're tracking
Start with a list of every certificate, card and registration that matters to your work, who holds each one, and when it ends. Common ones in the trades, with how long they typically last (always check the issuer):
- Gas Safe registration: renewed every year with the Gas Safe Register. The ACS gas qualifications behind it are reassessed every five years.
- CSCS cards: most are valid for five years; some, such as the Provisional and Experienced Worker cards, last much less.
- First aid at work: certificates are typically valid for three years.
- PASMA and IPAF: typically five years.
- Electrical qualifications such as City & Guilds 2391 don't expire, but the wiring regulations they rely on are updated, so many firms track when an engineer last updated to the current edition.
Put the dates where the booking happens
The reliable fix isn't a better spreadsheet; it's making the qualification part of the booking. If each type of job says what it needs, and each engineer's record says what they hold and until when, the system can check every assignment against both.
- Record each certificate with its reference, issue date and expiry date, and keep a scan of the card.
- Tag each job type with the certifications it requires: gas work needs Gas Safe, inspection and testing needs 2391, and so on.
- Make assignment refuse anyone without a current certificate, rather than warn. Warnings get clicked past on busy days.
- Review a 30-day list every week, and book renewals before they lapse.
Separate skills from certifications
"Good at boilers" and "allowed to work on gas" are different things. Skills help you pick the best person for a job; certifications are the legal line. Keeping them apart stops a strong engineer with a lapsed card being sent anyway.
Don't forget the vans
The same thinking applies to vehicles: MOT, insurance and tax dates in one place, highlighted a month ahead, and defects reported on the daily van check flagged to whoever looks after the fleet.
Whatever system you use, it only knows the dates you give it. Make updating the expiry date part of the moment a renewed card arrives.
Varisett FSM refuses to assign an engineer without a current required certification, lists what's expiring in the next 30 days, and tracks your vans' MOT, insurance and tax.