Fri, 09 July, 2021
Hearing that you have passed a CSWIP or BGAS-CSWIP exam gives you a sense of achievement. For some candidates it may represent a key milestone in their learning journey or a major step forward along their career path, while for others it can result in a promotion.
Here at TWI Certification Limited (TWI CL), we understand that successful CSWIP exam candidates are keen to receive their official certification as soon as possible, and have their achievements recognised. Therefore, to accelerate this process, we have robust systems in place that enable us to swiftly process thousands of CSWIP certificates each year while simultaneously adhering to our rigorous and auditable, professional code of conduct.
However despite this, and our track record of efficiently managing CSWIP certification going back over 50 years, it is disappointing to report that we have recently had instances of candidates who sought to cheat the system, thereby misleading their employers and customers, which can also lead to damaged reputations.
These candidates successfully passed their exam, but rather than waiting for the certification process to be completed, which includes a review of their documentation and exam results by TWI CL, and their certificates issued, they created their own fake certificates in lieu of the legitimate ones. The matter came to TWI CL’s attention because a third party tried to verify one of their certificates via the CSWIP verification website.
As well as reflecting poorly on these candidates, this thoughtless behaviour breaches TWI CL’s code of conduct and, in some instances, could lead to the individuals losing their certification completely and their transgressions being published on the CSWIP website.
Fortunately this type of occurrence does not happen very often, and these simple steps by both individuals and employers can help us all to safe-guard the integrity of CSWIP and BGAS-CSWIP certificates:
- Certificate holders should not publish copies or images of their certificates online, even to career-specific sites such as LinkedIn, as these can give unscrupulous individuals a template to create false certificates as well as access to valid certificate numbers, and certification officers’ names and signatures
- Certificate holders, persons responsible for checking the validity of certificates, and current or future employers, are advised to use the verification site to confirm the validity of individual certification status (free to use)
- Anyone with a question or concern about forged certificates should email to verification@twicertification.com
Clare McGrath, Head of Personnel Certification at TWI explains “False certificates are damaging to the BGAS-CSWIP/CSWIP brand and, by association, the genuine certificates that our candidates have worked so hard to achieve.” “Therefore, we urge all successful candidates to wait for their official certificate to arrive, following which they can be secure in the knowledge that they have received a validated CSWIP or BGAS-CSWIP certificate in recognition of their efforts.”