Posted By SarahD If its any help, we use a two tier system, based on the financial size of contract that contractor is allowed to work on, rather than the size of contractor. This is decided by our finance people after checks on the company. This is split below £10,000 and above £10,000, which is also our value that decides if the work can be let by quotes for work or full tenders.

Posted By Michael Moore Stewart, The basic definition I was taught was 0-49 Employees = Small 50-249 Employees = Medium >250 = Large (EC SME definitions) A more in depth description is available at http://www.knowledgenorthwest.com/definition.htm This gives financial criteria etc. Hope this is what you were after, Mick

Posted By Stewart Dean Not really a h&s reason, however the health and safety questionnaire that I have developed is scored. This means that each contractor that applies must achieve a particular score before 'passing' and being put on the standing list. For this reason, obviously larger contractors will be able to achieve a higher score due to CDM, H&S policy etc to a smaller contractor with say 1 or 2 employees. A small contractor will therefore not be required to score as highly as a larger contractor. Hope this makes sense!