Posted By Chris Boocock Rob. I have e-mailed you a Contractor Competence Matrix to you directly. Regards

Posted By The Kevster Hmmmmm, Suspicious. Could Tyler be a Brittania sales-person???

Posted By Raj Dear Chris, Please mail me a copy as well. Appreciate it. regards raj

Posted By Steve D. Clarke Chris, I would also be very interested in looking at your contractor matrix if you could e-mail a copy. Its an area we are currently reviewing and need to address. Apologies if this is one more of many of e-mail requests. regards Stephen

Posted By Tyler Just to set the record straight. I am not a Britannia Salesman! We chose the safe contractor scheme after consideration of the other schemes already mentioned. We looked at the CHAS scheme very closely and although "Philosophical" is correct, the organisation wishing to use the contractor carries out the initial assessment (so the idea goes you get exactly what you want). The whole point of the scheme, as I understand it is that, once assessed the contractors details are made available to other members of the CHAS scheme so that the contractor does not need to be assessed again (saving us and other clients the trouble of fully assessing contractors prior to use). This is what I meant by the scheme not being consistent (different organisations assessing different things that best suit their needs (but no one elses), where as the safecontractor scheme memebers have all been assessed to ths same standard. The contractors we use are fine with the Safecontractor system as they know exactly what is assessed and they get a good degree of support and advice from the safecontractor team (so they tell me). They also have membership benefits that offset some of the costs to be members of the scheme. It is also my understanding that the CHAS scheme has no annual review requirement. Surely as time goes on things change and a review is required. On a slight tangent, we are investigating the requirement for safety passports for our contrctors. Does any body know any details of these schemes? Tyler

Posted By John Murphy I feel that as the CHAS Scheme Manager I must point out Tyler is WRONG. CHAS assessments are carried out to a common (national) standard. Unlike any other scheme of its type our standards are in the public domain. (They can be downloaded from our website free of charge). Our assessors are trained to this national standard. They record the findings of their assesment and along with letters of failure or compliance and the contractors completed questionnaires are made availalble to a client. Importantly, no commercial gain can or is be made from a CHAS assessment, we do not sell on other products as a result of an assessment we are therefore totally independent. I do not recall speaking to Tyler about our scheme. I mention this as those who ask for information about CHAS are normally offered free time limited access to the database so they can make an informed opinion. Tyler is WRONG. CHAS does provide a consistent (and a supportive assesment)to contractors. If he or others must comment on schemes like CHAS they have a responsibility to make sure their facts are right. If you want accurate information about this scheme please contact me.

Posted By Kinnikin Chris, Could you send me a copy of the contractor assessment matrix. Thanks, Kinnikin

Posted By Alison Entwistle With respect to comments by Philosophical, Tyler and John Murphy with regard to CHAS: I would like to attempt to clarify the apparent misconception held by Tyler. Philosophical (Phil, for ease - hope this is ok) and John (of course) are both correct. CHAS is an assessment system which requires that assessments are carried out to national (publicly available) standards. All contractors are assessed by client organisations to the same minimum standards, although they can also add additional requirements to suit their own needs (re: Phil’s comments); however the minimum standard must always be met by the contractor for it to be a valid CHAS assessment. Contractors are required to evidence compliance with the standards. Assessments are carried out by trained assessors. It is a requirement that assessors within organisations attend training prior to undertaking assessments (although they are required to hold HS quals). This is to ensure the consistency of the assessment with regard to the minimum standard and in no way relates to their competency in health and safety (due to requirement to be HS qualified). I have been involved with the CHAS scheme for sometime now and am more than happy with the results, as not only does this scheme assist is ensuring contractor competency but the ethos behind it is that of assistance and support for the contractor, throughout the process. This supports SMEs in developing their understanding and compliance with legislation. There are requirements for review timescales, etc and this information is provided to member organisations and trained assessors. These timescales kick in when a client organisation wishes to use a particular contractor and they should not do so without undertaking a review where these timescales have passed. There is also an option available to contractors for annual review assessments. The details of which are available on the CHAS website (www.chas.gov.uk) along with other information with regard to the scheme; the standards and assessment criteria are also available there. CHAS does have a quality audit system in place to ensure national standards are consistently applied. I could go on, (someone please say they think I'm a sales rep - John refuses to pay me commission, but.... with your support... ;o) ) suffice to say, I sincerely feel that this scheme is more beneficial to the client and contractor than any other I have experience of. (John - feel free to add/amend anything I have said - it is getting late!) Alison Entwistle, MIOSH,RSP Health and Safety Adviser NW Regional Representative to the CHAS National Management Group (NMG) CHAS Assessor.

Posted By Chris Boocock I have sent out many tens of copies of my Contractor Competence Matrix, and I'm more than happy to continue to send it out to any one who may benefit from it (please e-mail me directly), but to those who have received it, I'd really value your feedback as to whether it is of any use to you, any improvements you suggest etc? Thanks in advance - Chris

Posted By SHASHIDHAR HEGDE I would like to receive a copy of the contractor assessment matrix. Thanks in advance Shashidhar Hegde hegdes@basf-india.co.in