H&S SSIP Accreditations

Gaining external recognition of your health and safety management systems

For contractors working in today’s economic climate getting new work can seem a lot harder and competitive than ever.

Large organisations and public sector bodies always check out their suppliers before adding them to an Approved List and awarding them contracts.

Part of this checking will include the supplier’s health and safety arrangements.

These days it is much more likely these large organisations will require their suppliers to hold a formal Health and Safety SSIP accreditation as this will save them administration time and guarantee that their suppliers are compliant with health and safety legislation.

Sometimes they will specific what accreditation level is required, or sometimes our clients maintain an accreditation as it’s good practise and shows you have met a certain level of Health and Safety, which helps you when securing new works.

What is an SSIP?

SSIP stands for Safety Scheme in Procurement, there are many registered members who form part of their member scheme but the main organisations we work with are:

• CHAS
• Safecontractor
• Constructionline
• SMAS

According to the SSIP’s website there are in excess of 81,976 suppliers/contractors registered with an SSIP Member Scheme

What’s required?

Each of the assessing members have their own set of questions for you to answer so it depends on who you sign up for as to what questions you are asked.  Each set of questions are dependent on the work activities you complete and the size of your organisation.  Generally speaking, most will ask for:

Competent Advice,

The company needs to demonstrate it has access to competent Health and Safety advice. If you are an existing GCS client of ours, we allow you to use our name, qualifications and evidence of advice we have provided you with.

Your H&S Policy

Detailing clear responsibilities you’re your arrangements for complying with H&S legislation.

Risk Assessments and Method Statements

For the work activities you complete. This includes Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (CoSHH) assessments if applicable to your works.

Accident reporting and investigation documentation.

Training and information,

To ensure you are passing on H&S to your workforce, in the form of

• • Induction records
  • Training records
  • Toolbox talks

Qualifications of your workforce

In order to be compliant, you need to ensure you are assessing the experience and competence of your workers and its relevant to the works they are completing before they complete works for you e.g

• • • SMSTS/SSSTS
    • CSCS Cards
    • NVQ’s in their relevant trades
    • IPAF
    • Asbestos Awareness
    • Manual Handling
    • Etc

Monitoring, audit and review,

Evidence will include:

• • • • Formal audits
      • Site Inspections
      • Work equipment inspections
      • Minutes from meetings discussing H&S

Consultation and communication,

All staff should be consulted before a decision is made that may affect their H&S, documents that can be provided to satisfy this area are

• • • • • Toolbox talks
        • Safety alerts
        • Signed induction records.
        • Safety minutes

Other Documentation:

Depending on the work activities you complete there may be additional documentation that you are asked to provide such as:

• Construction Phase Plans (CPPS)
• Evidence you carry out due diligence on any Subcontractors you may use, includes checking insurances, their RAMS for the works, qualifications, references etc.
• Principal Contractor Duties
• Designer Duties

We find the clients with a quicker accreditation turnaround are those clients who have existing H&S systems in place and maintain good H&S record keeping on a day-to-day basis.

What’s next?

1. Once you have decided on what SSIP accreditation is best for you, you will need to sign up directly with the selected member and provide company information such as trading address, staffing numbers, work activities/categories, directors’ details etc.
2. For clients who wish to use our services to assist them in completing the accreditation we ask to be set up as a user and then we confirm what documents you need as part of your application.
3. We ask that you send us all documentation prior to uploading so we can review before documents are uploaded.
4. Once everything is uploaded to your application it is submitted back to the assessing body who will contact you once they have checked over you application.
5. All going well you pass first time, but if not do not worry as the assessor will provide you with further information on what they require from you in order to assess you as complaint.
6. Once you have been accredited you will receive an SSIP accreditation certificate that you are then able to advise your clients of.  You will also appear on the SSIP portal which demonstrates your company has been assessed to a certain level and any potential clients wanting to work with you will see you have dedicated H&S systems in place to ensure your company is compliant.

We are proud to have a 100% pass mark for any clients we have assisted in completing their SSIP accreditation.  Our aim is to make the process as smooth as possible for you so that you can carry out with what you do best in an already demanding industry.

Get in Touch

For more information on how Westminster Compliance can help you obtain an accredited SSIP certificate and win your company more work get in touch today.