We get a lot of requests from clients for assistance with completing contractor accreditations such as CHAS (Contractor Health and Safety Assessment Scheme), Constructionline, Safe Contractor, SMAS, and FORS, etc.
These organisations are members of the umbrella organisation Safety Schemes in Procurement (SSIP) who provide accreditations to their members’ who work in the supply chain to demonstrate health and safety compliance.
Your clients will need to verify that the contractors they employ are competent. These schemes demonstrate a good level of legal compliance and good health and safety practice.
A benefit to your company is that this will provide the opportunity to be on their tender list for future work. These accreditations are also of use to other organisations that may also need your services.
The scheme bodies will not come out to see you; they need verification via a series of questions and answers, that you will provide. Their assessors will then audit your information, usually asking for further information, until they are satisfied you have complied with the scheme.
When completing assessments, you will need to provide evidence in the form of Health and Safety documents completed within your company (management systems) and items completed on site (for example evidence of policy, meetings, tool box talks, risk assessments and method statements etc.)
As an example, we help many of our clients with CHAS accreditation. To get the system completed takes from a day to several weeks, depending on the complexity of your business and how well you have gathered the evidence they need.
Our preferred way to do this is by seeing you and taking you through the process the first time, then gathering the information and attaching it to the scheme, with support for you when asked referral questions and resubmitting. Once you have completed the process, the following year is a little easier because you will understand what information you need to gather over the coming year.
We will always support you to do what you do best, and that’s running your business.
ISO Accreditations
As well as assisting you with SSIP schemes, we can also assist your business prepare for ISO standards accreditations for ISO9001 Quality and ISO45001 Health and Safety. From initial systems build to successful auditing and passing accreditation.
If we can help you and your business, please get in touch.
By Richard Wadkin CMIOSH – Risk Consultant