Accreditations
Expert advice and support on Health & Safety
Accreditations
What is a Health and Safety accreditation?
A Health and Safety accreditation is the result of a business successfully being independently vetted by a recognised accreditation body for it’s Health and Safety practices and compliance.
There are various accreditation bodies, who follow a set standard of how a business should be managing their Health and Safety duties.
To gain an Health an safety accreditation, a business is required to register with a suitable accreditation body and provide evidence of their compliant Health & Safety practices. Upon successful audit, the assessing body will issue a recognised 12 month SSIP certificate to the applying business.
Why are Health and Safety accreditations useful?
Having a Health & Safety accreditation is advantageous as it proves that you are meeting your Health and Safety obligations.
When working for commercial companies or large organisations such as councils, suppliers may require having a Health & Safety accreditation before they will provide work to your business. This is because this provides them with confidence that your business can deliver contractual obligations in a safe manner.
A further benefit is that some accreditations have good working relationships with large contractors, meaning that some tender opportunities will appear firstly for accreditation holding members.
Finally, some businesses use their certification and accreditation to actively promote their business when quoting for work on domestic projects. When competing against other business, being able to show a domestic client that work on their property will be safely managed gives a business a competitive advantage.
What do I need to get a Health & Safety accreditation?
Despite having various providers to be to pick from, getting a Health & Safety accreditation requires roughly the same demonstration of your Health & Safety compliance.
The accreditation body will work to a set standard which outlines what you require to prove depending on factors such as size and industry.
If you are planning to go through a Health and Safety accreditation, you probably will be asked to demonstrate:- .
- Risk Assessments
- Method Statements
- Health & Safety Training
- Industry Competence,
- Source of competent Health and Safety advice,
- Health and Safety Policy or Statement
- COSHH Assessments
- Equipment Maintenance.
What Health & Safety accreditations can I choose from?
There are many different type of Health and Safety accreditation providers to select from, most of which provide products commonly known in the industry as SSIP’s (Safety Schemes in Procurement).
Some of the well known accreditation providers include CHAS, Safecontractor, Constructionline, SMAS and PQS. These more well known due to becoming the favoured accreditation provider of choice by certain main contractors and councils.
It is less common that when working for one of these organisations means you have to choose a specific provider, however, if you are wanting to work for a particular suppler, it is worth checking with their procurement team if they have a preference.
How can Safety Place help you get a Health & Safety accreditation?
Safety Place have over 15 years experience in helping businesses gain a Health and Safety accreditation.
How we can help will depend on how your manage Health and Safety obligations currently, however, if you need help in bringing your business to an accreditation standard, then Safety Place can help.
Most importantly we can discuss your accreditation requirements and give you expert advice. We will:-
- Discuss your business and find identify your safety and compliance gaps
- Work with you to implement process and documentation up to the required standard
- Collate your evidence of safety compliance
- Submit your application and address assessor feedback
- Get your business certified