Anyone have any experience of CHAS -The Contractors Health and Safety Assessment Scheme? We are essentially a laboratory R’n’D type place but we have meeting rooms etc on our site and we rent them out to external organisations. We recently put in a bid with a local authority for them to hold conferences at our site. They got back to us with their tender document which made it clear that we were expected to have CHAS registration. I always assumed this was for contactors fitting out schools and old people’s homes etc. not for someone providing a meeting room and lunch. Has anyone had a similar experience? It is worth registering? Or is this just a scam so that their preferred (internal?) bidder gets the job?

Hi, If it is a local council that you are providing for you may wish to apply to Constructionline as this is usually a requirement for them! There are so many different organisations and different client expect different regimes such as CHAS, Altius VA, Achilles, Safecontractor, EXOR etc etc most of which do not conduct a through check of the systems and only provide a paper audit, whereas some such as Achilles will conduct office and site visits. I loathe the time when the annual submissions come as each provider creates different hoops for you to jump through. The government cannot get all sectors together to agree a simplified option, they attempted with the PAS 91 and other initiatives such SSIP but all seem to fall through the wayside and clients then create their own PQQ's along with the above mentioned organisations.

Local Authorities are prevented by law from expressing such prescriptive stipulations in tender documents. Sadly, many in LA procurement circles seem to be unaware of this! Nice way to make some free cash at the taxpayer's expense: Bid, lose, sue!

Looking at the logo on a vehicle this morning it struick me that a V for voluntary was missing, it would go between the A and the S, (CHAVS). I was surprised to see that the website was .gov.uk, I thought that was reserved for government sites!

In relation to the chas application which is very onerous, you should consider undertaking the SMAS assessment (safety management advisory service) as they are forum members of SSIP (Safety Systems In Procurement Forum) then the application process for a company with low risks is simple and straight forward, incidentally once approved it is easier to attain accreditation with the other bosies such as Chas, Safe Contractor, Constructionline, ewxor management etc.

CHAS is not intended for this kind of supplier. Refer the client to CHAS and we will make the same point to them. Ron Hunter's message in this string is spot on - John Murphy MBE CHAS Scheme Manager & SSIP past chair

Indeed Thomas, CHAS provides a very good yardstick. In public procurement, we should be fully supportive of the various commercial PQQ schemes, SSIP and beyond. The simple way is to ask at tender stage. Only when out prospective contractor is not already assessed need we apply our own in-house PQQ assessment. Always ensuring a level playing field of course! And the bottom line- apply it where it makes sense to do so. In the case of this post, a visit would suffice -the onus being on the supplier of the service to demostrate competence (in a proper context).