The Achilles audit process is very thorough. They will come to your office and audit your management system and question various parties and inspect your paperwork, this is usually day1. They will then make a site visit to confirm if you actually "do what it says on the tin" i.e. your system at site level reflects your policy and procedures. I have found them to be very helpful. If you are going to be working with the utilities industry, water gas etc, then the achilles verification is a useful, nay almost essential accreditation.

Paul: they seem to have their own criteria, which changes each time as far as my client found. It was also heavily biased towards the water/utilities industry (they are crane hire co) and if they needed to get Achilles for rail work, there's a whole different system and they have to pay again and go through the whole process twice. Achilles will only release their criteria to paid-up applicants. It is very extensive although my client's complained before about their implementation - some years ago they claimed to have done and charged him for a site visit when none took place. This year he was told there was a dearth of "emergency procedures" but on asking what emergencies needed procedures, the auditor couldn't explain. The guidance seemed to suggest things specific to the water industry but inappropriate to crane hire. As with all these systems, everything is "tick box" related. The usual problem applies. Unless your core business is with a company demanding this, you're paying for something no-one else is interested in. In their case only a small fraction of their work requires Achilles and you have to question whether it's worth it. Regards Dave