Health and safety is an integral part of our company which is why we signed up to the Contractors Health and Safety Assessment Scheme and renew annually. This ensures that our clients can be confident our systems are fully compliant and up-to-date.

What is CHAS?

CHAS is established as the market leader for health and safety pre-qualification in the UK. It is available to suppliers (those who provide goods and services) and to organisations (buyers) looking for suitably competent suppliers. It isn’t just for construction companies, it assesses health and safety for all types of suppliers and started with two main aims:

• To improve health and safety standards across Great Britain
• To reduce duplicated safety applications for both suppliers and buyers

By participating in the CHAS scheme we are able to demonstrate compliance with important parts of health and safety law as CHAS assesses applicants:

• Health and safety policy statements
• Their organisation for health and safety
• Their specific health and safety arrangements

We can also identify any weakness in our safety management and make the necessary improvements.

CHAS and SSIP

CHAS accreditation allows us to be recognised under the Safety Schemes in Procurement (SSIP) Competence Forum. It is an umbrella organisation to facilitate mutual recognition between health and safety pre-qualification schemes. It cuts down on unnecessary paperwork and promotes a single standard of health and safety assessment. SSIP is an acceptable industry standard.

What next?

Now that we have confidently renewed our accreditation, we will continue to drive our standards forwards. We expect to achieve BS OHSAS 18001, which is a framework for an occupational health and safety management system, in the not too distant future.