Posted By Ken Lucas Paul Do you mean the Construction Skills Certification Scheme (CSCS)? I do remember that particular one came in for some severe criticism in the media recently with respect to renewing the certificate and the associated assessment. The newspaper headline went something like " This safety test comes bottom of the class..." CHAS is the Contractors Health and Safety Assessment Scheme, which to my knowledge unless someone knows otherwise, has not been criticised. Ken

Posted By Jay Joshi It is my understanding that the CHAS scheme is no more than an "approved contractors listing" that can be used by organisations, especially local authorities and avoid duplication of effort. As is the case with most "approved contractors lists", users of the lists must assess in greater detail if they were to select a listed contractor for a particular job. An extract from the CHAS website states:- Purpose of the CHAS Procedure The CHAS scheme neither claims nor sets out to be an assessment system that will ensure all contractors are fully complying with every aspect of health and safety legislation. It does however, enable the assessor to gather enough information to make an informed judgement based on the responses, the information provided and whether the contractor making the application, appears honest and open in those responses. The purpose of the CHAS scheme is to provide assessment criteria that health and safety professionals (or other officers/consultants acting on behalf of an organisation) can apply to the health and safety element of a select list application. The scheme assess adequacy and compliance of the health and safety policy statement, organisation for health and safety and specific arrangements to a single, common standard acceptable to CHAS members and users. Selecting contractors who have demonstrated these standards goes some way to ensuring, so far is reasonably practicable, compliance with health and safety law. A Member organisation undertaking assessments may apply additional criteria to their health and safety assessment to exceed the CHAS standard, however the database entry reflects only the CHAS standard unless a comment is added to explain how the standard was exceeded. Support and Endorsement for CHAS The Local Government Association sent a circular to all local authorities formally endorsing the CHAS scheme in July this year. Paul Faupel, President of the Institution of Occupational Health (IOSH), also endorsed the scheme, he stated "CHAS is a practical solution to a challenging problem", he went on to add, "This is an approach IOSH welcome because it promotes partnership working amongst the client and contractor stakeholders. It also contributes in a positive way to revitalising health and safety". The Trades Union Congress also endorses the scheme and play an important part in the future development of the scheme. At the CHAS national launch in June 2001 at the Royal Festival Hall, Bill Callaghan, Chair of the Health and Safety Commission said of CHAS. "Your scheme fits squarely into the procurement agenda where the public sector uses their position as clients in assessing health and safety capabilities and competence of contractors wishing to work for them. I believe this is an excellent scheme and think it will work as an effective tool in enhancing the performance of health and safety, particularly in small and medium sized businesses which are so much more challenging to reach." You have to make the judgement!

Posted By Paul Craythorne Jay, As usual a very detailed and informative response to a query. Thanks, Paul

Posted By Jay Joshi The CHAS scheme is not a profit making scheme and has "official" support from its supporting organisations, including local authorities. There is another scheme, the Safecontractor Scheme. The Safecontractor scheme appears to be privately run by the National Britannia Group-- more details at:- http://www.safecontractor.com/index.html

Posted By Nick Tracey Paul I hope your source at Merton BC (who probably was instrumental in the development of what could be a beneficial assessment scheme), is somewhat more realistic in applying the resource to review your responses. We too recently completed the CHAS docs on behalf of one of our clients, who was rejected on his first submission to Kirklees MBC. Which on reflection was correct. We have now had docs returned twice due to the lack of resource or unwillingness of the assessor to go thru the responses plus all the accompanying evidence. Her own words "I do not have time to find your responses" The cost in time and money is at a level we cannot pass to our client, but a useful learning curve. We have requested that if on this third submission she still feels the Co does not meet the requirements she should fwd it to the scheme administrator. I must add we did request at the time of each submission if the assesor needed clarification or info to contact us but to no avail she just returned the docs. Mr Murphy if you pick up this thread perhaps you may contact us at hsinfo@safetyrisk.co.uk So in conclusion Paul Good Luck

Posted By John Murphy Having picked up on this thread I have asked Nick to contact me to provide details of his complaint which I take seriouly and will look into. Please note that I can be contacted through the CHAS website and I am always happy to respond to any enquiries, complaints or (constructive) criticism - We also welcome the plaudits we receive from contractors and safety advisers but they tend to be less public! Neither my CHAS management group colleagues nor I believe CHAS is at the stage where it is a panacea to meet every health and safety pre-qualification need. We try to be open and transparent in all we do and seek continuous improvement from our scheme in the same way we would expect the contractors whom we would like to work with. (I am grateful to Paul for his observations that identified two things on our web site that I will put right at the earliest opportunity). Thanks John

Posted By Alan Johnson Hi Paul As an assessor for the scheme I can only comment on the assessments that I have seen. There is an unbelievable range of responses to this schemes requests for information, ranging from a few pages of very detailed, specific information carefully cross referenced to the questionnaire, to literally hundreds of pages of generic / off the shelf waffle that state rules and regulations verbatim, with no specific tailoring to the trade or company in question, so I have witnessed the best and worst responses, you try to find one specific point amongst hundreds of pages (needle in haystack). I have to say Paul the better responses come from firms who have given thought and consideration to the questions, based on the quite in-depth guidance notes that are available on the CHAS web page, others I believe do not even know the guidance notes exist. I refute a point on Nick’s (Higginson) reply about minimal checking, for in over 75% of my assessment’s first submissions I make a request for further information or clarification of points (not failure). Quite a detailed letter highlighting the missing requirement(s) accompanies this request. From this letter in 95% of cases I receive a most excellent (and helpful) response from the applicant. And yes Paul I do believe your client will get benefit from joining the scheme as it is a very good audit for many of the companies (not bad for £85.00), and confirms the importance of continued Health and Safety management within any company (it can even be a useful tool to help safety advisors / managers in the slow process of improving safety culture). Finally the war and peace version questionnaire (if completed using the guidance notes) is not too difficult as many individuals with little or no formal H & S qualifications manage very well. This scheme is rapidly developing, but will become a fundamental reference point for those involved in public sector (and private)procurement. As for Bryn's points he did say this was in the early days (and there will always be some unscrupulous people) For those who do not know the web page can be found at www.chas.gov.uk Alan

Posted By Alan Johnson Agreed Nick, It is a little unfortunate if you are an employer with 6 or 7 employees (even so some very good submissions come from this size of firm). During an assessment there has to be consideration given to size of company and level of risk encountered. However at the end of the day the inspector does not have a sliding scale for number of employees to be employed prior to issuing notices or prosecuting, and so neither can CHAS. As for risk assessments one of the best examples I have seen came from a company with just two employees (small companies are becoming much more aware that it is their neck on the block) but I agree it is unlikely to have documented procedure as one person has total control. I am sure that John will be pleased to hear your comments as this is how the scheme is developing. Regards Alan