I recently assisted a flooring contractor with preparation for the Achillies audit for inclusion on their data base.

Very similar to many of the schemes out there, my contractor needed inclusion on the Achillies system as it was a client requirement, not on the database = no work for the client.

That said a comprehensive checklist was provided prior to the audit so you should know what you are expected to provide. The category issued to your organisation will also drive this.

With regards to the audit, the auditor displayed a very sensible approach and gave the impression he was there to help with the certifcation.

The result was a successful audit and therefore certification to the scheme without to much fuss.

Additionally the auditor did also look at environmental and quality management systems and documentation.

Ade

Ade,

We have been accredited now for 5 years and have just last month successfully gained accreditation for the fifth time. Each audit was a two day session and went through Finanace, HR, H & S and Environment.

Unless you have a good working knowledge of all the systems you will need a representative of all disciplines. When you register with Achilles, you will need to complete an online PQQ and an audit will be scheduled at a mutually agreeable date. You will also then be sent a copy of the audit questionaire and what evidence they will expect to see. It is not onerous and you will probably find you have most of it in place already, the auditor just needs to see evidence. The questionaire is copyright so I cannot send you a copy.

One last thing, the auditors are there to evaluate your systems and not guide you through establishing your own systems, though they will make recommendations.

We were "advised" to go down the Achilles route if we wanted to continue with a particular member of the UKCG, although I am aware that others working for them are not Achilles accredited.

I think the original intention was for all the differing accreditaion bodies such as Construction-line and CHAS were all going to accept each others assessments and reduce the number of PQQ's however they all had a bun fight and fell out, so you still need to complete a load of PQQ's. Good for consultants but not contractors.

If you want any further information send me a PM and I will be more than happy to assist if I can.

Regards

Clive

Dear Collegaues

SSIP with its 26 member schemes is thriving.

To clarify the situation with Achilles, they have made two approaches to SSIP in the recent past, but on both occasions declined to join. Our understanding is that there are two main stumbling blocks.

Firstly, Achilles were looking to be exempt from the initial and ongoing annual audits that all non-certifying body SSIP member schemes are required to undergo (certifying bodies already being audited by UKAS).

Secondly, there was an apparent reluctance on the part of Achilles to sign up to the core philosophy of SSIP, i.e. mutual recognition (also known as deem to satisfy). This is arguably the most important of all SSIP’s membership requirements and is at the heart of reducing the bureaucracy SSIP was set up to avoid. In essence this means that suppliers applying to join more than one SSIP registered scheme only need to prove health and safety competence once, with each successive scheme being applied to being satisfied with the assessment carried out by the first scheme. There are however caveats e.g. the base level of competence proved has to be to a threshold level i.e. Stage 1 of Appendix 4, to the Approved Code of Practice to the CDM regulations 2007, which all member schemes subscribe to as their minimum standard. And, that suppliers must fall in with the individual member schemes cycle of reassessment.



Whichever way you look at it SSIP scheme is working and at a recent meeting at Rose Court, representatives from SSIP illustrated to a number of senior figures in the HSE the savings suppliers had achieved because of the existence of SSIP’s mutual recognition arrangement. Over a 10 month period, this amounted to almost £400,000.


I would therefore urge anyone who has a supply chain and is not currently involved with SSIP to consider carefully whether they can contribute to the avoidance of duplication and the proliferation of unnecessary bureaucracy in supply chain management. If they believe that this is something that they want to do, then contact us to find out how SSIP might be able to benefit both them and their suppliers.

Kind regards

John (Murphy)

SSIP Past Chair

When we say Achilles are you looking at building confidence or verify.
I have recently obtained both certificates as per a customer request. The building confidence was all paper based within an office but very thorough while the verify was more site based and standardised questions.

of the 2 I preferred the building confidence one which is probably what you are looking at as I think the verify is more aimed at facilities.

Personally I think if you are running accredited management systems that are audited by a third party (such as the BSI) like BS OHSAS 18001 or if your mad like us, PAS 99, then I think that should be more than enough to satisfy any customer requirements and these additional certifications become money for old rope. Especially when you consider the cost, time and effort required to maintain these systems once there in.

I just wish our customer base would understand this fact