From a H&S perspective, I would suggest that it doesn’t really matter who carries out the vetting of the contractors as long as you are confident that they are capable of making a competent assessment of a contractors ability to manage H&S. Often it comes down to resources; we are a big organisation and therefore have the necessary competent personnel to make reasoned judgements. I can sympathise with organisations where such a resource does not exist, and therefore there is need to look at alternative arrangements. The HSE classes any company who can demonstrate a Safety Scheme’s in Procurement (SSiP) accreditation as having a basic level of competence, but it’s always good to remember that the accreditation is basically a paperwork exercise and you need to think about things like references etc. The other thing to remember is that even if they have been passed as “competent” by an external agency, shiny paperwork doesn’t always translate into safe working, they are your contractors and still need to be managed on site. Your right about schemes such as CHAS being essentially construction related, but I believe this is changing rapidly and it’s certainly in the interest of such accrediting organisations to get as many contractors on board as possible. Although such accreditation is not by any means mandatory, we have just failed on a cleaning tender for a local government because we did not have an external accreditation. This now leaves our business unit who bid for the contract with the decision as to whether to apply for SSiP accreditation or risk being excluded from contracts, even though essentially the accreditation is required to tick a box. External accreditation is like anything else, if there is money to be made, then those with a vested interest will push it as hard as possible. Interestingly, a couple of years ago I had to speak to a couple of HSE Inspectors “on business” and I brought up the subject of CHAS and external accreditation. I was met with blank looks, it’s to be hoped that they are a bit more clued up nowadays! Which ever way you decide to go, just remember that assessments are paperwork, its site management that counts.

Many thanks for the replies and in particular putting me on to the SSIP scheme. Kind regards Andy

Thanks ctd167 Please note Constructionline never have, nor currently has any regime that conducts a proactive assessment of a health and safety application to them. Constructionline will accept evidence of compliance through an SSIP member as an alternative to completing their questionnaire. Even then, a buyer should verify the compliance registration. Kind Regards John