SSIP/CHAS/SMAS/SAFECONTRACTOR

SSIP accreditations ie CHAS, SMAS, safe contractor. etc

As a health and safety consultant I have helped numerous companies achieve a SSIP accreditation.

Most small businesses struggle with the requirements of achieving a SSIP accreditation and have difficulty with providing the evidence requested to prove compliance.

In this article I am going to explain how to achieve a SSIP accreditation through the various providers and give you access to free proforma downloadable documents to help you achieve a SSIP accreditation .

Lets break it down in to small manageable Information points: –

What is a SSIP accreditation and why am I being asked for it

It is a way an organisation can demonstrate competence in health and safety management by passing  an independent third party assessment of their Health and safety management system. This is also known as conformity assessment. Health and safety conformity assessment schemes originated in the construction sector but are now used more widely.

As this became popular with clients requiring assessment of the health and safety standards of contractors, lots of different organisations appeared, providing this service.

click box below for more information Health and safety accreditation schemes – Competence in health and safety (hse.gov.uk)

SSIP stands for safety systems in procurement.  It is an organisation that has helped standardise the assessment criteria, you can down load SSIP Core Criteria For the demonstration of organisational capability Assessment and we will look at each of Criteria elements 1-10, 12 which  are applicable to all organisations who want to achieve a SSIP accreditation.

click box below for more information Welcome to SSIP

Lets start with Criteria 1 and 2 Health & Safety policy and organisation for Health & Safety,

Before we start getting into what this means, I thought it would be worth mentioning a lot of SSIP members offer an employer with under 5 people option, which helps smaller contractors achieve a SSIP accreditations and does not require the amount of detail expected from a large contractor .

Also the HSE have a template H&S policy you can complete for free see box below Prepare a health and safety policy – HSE

CITB also offer a free download of proforma H&S docs at Checklists and forms – CITB box below that would help most  small construction companies with a SSIP application

If you have a requirement for construction phase plan for small projects please see box below  Construction – CDM 2015 FAQ’s – Construction Phase Plan (CPP) (hse.gov.uk) there is also a link to CITB CDM wizard on HSE page

You can also engage  bespoke Health and safety Ltd to help write a policy for your company that complies with the requirements of part 1/2

   see our Consultancy page link below

Criteria 3 Asks for competent advice- corporate and construction related

This asking who in your company is your competent H&S advisor  see box below Appoint a competent person – HSE

You can do this yourself if you have the relevant knowledge and experience or you can use a outside contractor/consultant to assist you with this, various different companies offer this service including

see box below Consultancy UK coverage – Bespoke Health and Safety

Criteria 4 asks about training  and information

You need a training Matrix for staff that includes relevant training for your companies undertaking with renewal/refresher  dates of training added, copies of training certificates will be required along with evidence of CSCS cards if relevant, also documented evidence of tool boxes talks given over the last 6 months

see Training Matrix download box below

Criteria 5 individual qualifications and experience

You need to provide copies of trade specific qualifications and experience

See box below for CITB/IOSH and online H&S training courses offered by Bespoke Health and safety

Criteria 6 Monitoring audit and review  

You need to provide evidence of review of H&S procedures with management and staff, records of H&S committee meetings, evidence of managements response  to reviews and audits  , also site monitoring inspections, see boxes below for document downloads 

Criteria 7 Workforce involvement

You should have and implement a regular system of consultation with your workforce, i.e. records of safety committee meetings with staff, names of Health and safety reps , evidence of how consultation is carried out, ie minutes of safety meetings , safety alerts, tool box talks, health and safety bulletins with signed attendance records, also Health and safety policy updates signature documents to prove staff have been consulted on change to Health and safety Policy’s and procedures

 Advise use staff signature for Policy amendments, Staff Bulletin Date, Health and Safety committee Minutes of meetings template from above and see link below to download TBT signature document, also you might be asked for content of TBTs please see link to CITB tool box talk book you can buy

Criteria 8 accident reporting and enforcement action follow up investigation

You need to provide a records of accidents statistics for last 3 year minimum

To included RIDDOR reportable incidents see link below to RIDDOR – Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 – HSE

Also you will need to include minor incidents and near misses on the document

You need to provide evidence of how you investigate accidents and actions taken after an accident to prevent recurrence.

You will also need to list any enforcement action taken against you by regulators in regards to  health  and safety in the last 5 years  , I.e. FFI ( fault for fee intervention notices) improvement or prohibition and evidence how these where closed out to  the satisfaction of regulators

 see boxes below with links to helpful document templates  ie Accident statistics 5 years ,Accident-incident report ,Hazard Report Form

Near miss or learning event and Near miss or learning event report (part 2)

Criteria 9 Sub-contracting/consulting procedures if applicable

Demonstrate how you ensure competency of subcontractors and monitor performance, simply put have approval process in place of all subcontractors, ensuring they have right level of competence to undertakes works required, they have adequate insurances and will agree to work to your companies health and safety policy and procedure when working on your behalf, it also advised you ask questions  regarding occupational health of subcontractors you will engage, a simple sub contractor questionnaire form with a suitable statement regarding H&S rules for them to sign should suffice, this can be backed up by a record of site monitoring of sub contractors by management

 see boxes  below for access to examples of SubConQaire example doc  and Self employed workersSubConQaire

Criteria 10 Risk assessment leading to a safe system of work

Procedures in place in the  Health and safety policy to identify how hazards will be identified. Evidence of RAMs for at least 3 recent jobs in last six months with site supervisor briefing operatives prior to works  and signed by operatives/supervisors

Bespoke health and safety can help with RAMs, please give us a call if you need any help, we would be happy to provide a quote

See links below to example RA template, Method Statement master, COSHH RA template, construction phase plan example and a simple Construction phase plan  template

Criteria 11 Co-operating with others and coordinating your work with that of other contractors

 see examples below for Pre construction meeting example and DAB sheet

Simply put how do you co-ordinate your work with others on site, i.e. evidence or pre start contract meetings, attendance record for daily activity briefings or document site briefings with other trades on site to ensure all aware of work activities and that their health safety and welfare will not be effected by your works

Criteria 12 welfare provision

Evidence of how appropriate welfare facilities are provided on site, if working for a Principle Contractor a contractual agreement with them to ensure they provide suitable welfare facilities on sites you are working on, usually included in contracts or use Pre construction meeting template above above to show provision in place before work commences 

If not working for a PC your policy and procedures for welfare with documented evidence of the provision of welfare on recent contracts, ie invoices/orders/delivery notes

Criteria 13 and 14 deal with designers principal designers so not relevant to small contractors

Please feel free to contact us on 01536 239860 if you need any assistance with your application or fill in contact form below and one of the team will be in touch 

https://www.bespokehealthandsafety.com/consultancy/