Posted By John Murphy At the last meeting of the CHAS Management Group we agreed that we would define the assessment criteria for what we describe as a second stage assessment. This is what a contractor can be expected to provide to a potential client, as evidence of their health and safety comptence for the type(s) of work for which they are tendering. Having identified the evidence then we need to provide an indication of the standards that are required for them. (I appreciate that many will be fairly self-evident). Within the scheme we are probably looking at many hundreds of different work categories, everything from abseiling to waste removal and from catering to home care. In the hope that we can avoid re-inventing the wheel, I would be grateful for any examples that you may have and are prepared to share. (If they are copyright protected would you be prepared to waive that copyright). Once we have agreed the format for their use they will be made availalble via the CHAS website for general use. If you have a contribution please e-mail it direct to me. Thanks in anticipation. John (visit CHAS at www.chas.gov.uk)

Posted By John Murphy Robert We do not propose to create a paper mountain for contractors. What we are proposing is to provide a clear and transparent process that enables us as employers when selecting contractors from a short-list to get the correct (what shoud be exisiting) information or documentation from a contractor that enables the employer to make an informed judgement about their ability to do the work they are applying for. We have a clear duty to do that. If anything, our proposal will help a contractor to understand what they should provide as evidence of competence in the tendering process and how and why the client needs it. (This may only be a part of the assessment which might also involve site visists and/or interviews). If we in the public sector (the largest procurers in the UK) are working to a common standard when selecting contractors (assessing their competence) the assessment findings can be shared amongst members and thus REDUCE the amount of applications that have to be made, build up a history of successful applications and of course, somewhere along the line make life easier for the contractor too. The CHAS Management Group are safety and procurement professionals from acoss the country. We have GMB and UCATT membership and represntatives from the Construction Industry. As a group, we aim to reduce the huge duplication that goes on in the procurement process by providing clear, common and acceptable standards in the assessment of contractors. In turn this provides a "level playing field" for contractors. If it is not in the best interests of H&S the group wil not allow it to proceed - rest assured of that. I hope this thread generates pro-active and constructive support for a proposal that helps the contractors (especially SME's) to understand what clients want from them, and thus make the procurement process simple, transparent and negates the massive amount of wasted money and time (not too mention paper).

Posted By Geoff Burt Robert I was just about to email the form we use for contractors to John when I saw your last response. Is this CHAS scheme commercial eg profit making? Geoff

Posted By Geoff Burt Bob I was a bit sceptical(or should that be cynical) but have had a look at their website. The theory seems quite sound - especially if your company does (or wants to do) a lot of local authority work. Like you I would worry about additional paperwork, but having seen the assessment form, and the help they give, it can actually reduce it. Geoff