Guides / Construction training matrix: a free template and how to use it
Construction training matrix: a free template and how to use it
Updated 18 October 2026
A training matrix is one grid with your workers down the side and their cards and qualifications across the top. Each box shows whether that person holds that card and when it runs out.
It answers the questions you get asked on every job: is everyone carded, who can do this task, and whose tickets run out this month. Below is how to set one up, and a free template to start from.
Download the free template (CSV, opens in any spreadsheet)
What to track
Track the cards your site actually needs. Common ones on UK sites:
- CSCS or other skills card, with card type
- SMSTS and SSSTS for site managers and supervisors
- First aid at work, and emergency first aid at work
- Asbestos awareness
- Plant and machinery, such as CPCS or NPORS
- Access equipment, such as IPAF and PASMA
- Scaffolding, such as CISRS
- Manual handling, fire marshal and any client-specific training
How to set it up
- One row per worker, with their company and trade.
- One column per card, holding the expiry date rather than a tick. A date tells you far more.
- Leave a box empty when someone doesn't hold that card.
- Colour each date: fine, expiring in the next three months, or expired.
- Add a column for whether they're still on site, so leavers don't clutter the list. Keep them rather than deleting them.
Keeping it up to date
A matrix is only useful if it's current. Add every new starter at induction, update a card the day a renewal comes in, and look at it every week for anything turning amber.
Before a client visit or audit, filter it to the people on site this week and check for gaps. It's much easier to sort a missing ticket on a Monday than to explain it on a Thursday.
Where a spreadsheet stops working
The template is a good start for a small site. It gets harder when you have dozens of workers across several jobs: the dates go out of date, nobody colours the cells, and the photos of cards live somewhere else entirely.
That's the point to move it into something that fills itself in from your inductions and shows you what's expiring without anyone having to look.
A training matrix that keeps itself up to date
In Sitro, every worker who completes a Site Induction appears in the Training Matrix with their cards, numbers, expiry dates and photos. Each card is coloured green when valid, amber within 90 days and red within 30 days or once expired, with your own card types, counters for what's expiring, a timeline for planning renewals, filters by company and trade, and a PDF export for audits.
- Training Matrix: Every worker and every card on one colour-coded grid, with expiry reminders.
- Site Induction: Digital inductions new starters complete on their own phone before day one.
- Company Roster: One master worker list across every project, with history, cards and a ban flag.
Start a 14-day free trial, no sales call.
Questions
What's the difference between a training matrix and a training record?
A training record is one person's history. A training matrix puts everyone's cards on one grid so you can see the whole site at once.
Is the template really free?
Yes. Download it, use it and change it however you like. No sign-up needed.
Should I track expiry dates or just ticks?
Expiry dates. A tick tells you someone had a card once; a date tells you whether it's still valid.
This guide is general information, not legal advice.