Safe Contractor
Safe Contractor
Featuring Vanessa Brandham, Health and Safety Director, Rendall & Ritner
For Vanessa Brandham, 2025 was not about introducing new contractor assurance processes for the sake of it. It was a year that tested how well existing systems held up when assumptions were challenged – by regulation, industry disruption, and the realities of managing safety across occupied residential buildings.
As Health & Safety Director at Rendall & Rittner, Vanessa oversees contractor assurance across around 1,600 buildings. That scale brings constant pressure to deliver work efficiently in people’s homes without compromising safety – sharpening one question above all others: how confident can you be that what’s written on paper is truly understood on site?
One of the most consistent challenges Vanessa saw in 2025 was the growing gap between documentation and understanding. While RAMS were routinely submitted, they did not always reflect how work was carried out on site, or whether the individuals doing the work genuinely understood:
This challenge became more pronounced with the increasing use of AI to generate risk assessments and method statements. While these documents can appear technically sound, they create a false sense of assurance if they are not properly understood or communicated to those carrying out the work.
“There’s a difference between having evidence and being able to demonstrate competence,” Vanessa explains. “We need confidence not just in the paperwork, but in the people applying it.”
In response, Vanessa and her team have taken a more rounded approach. High-risk RAMS continue to be reviewed centrally, but this is now supported by broader contractor engagement – including site visits and earlier conversations about upcoming works. Looking at contractors more holistically has helped reduce delays while keeping expectations clear and proportionate to risk.
Alongside competence, visibility has been a key theme. With a large and varied contractor base, knowing who is approved, current, and suitable for specific works is essential for property teams making day-to-day decisions about who can be instructed to carry out work safely.
Improved contractor oversight has also helped the business respond more confidently when unexpected issues arise. In 2025, the industry-wide impact of a high-profile fire engineering case, involving allegations of fraudulent practice, disrupted established arrangements across the sector. The effects are still being felt, requiring careful reassessment of contractor engagement and clear communication with clients.
Having a clear, accurate view of contractor status and scope of work has enabled risks to be addressed in a measured way – without over-correcting or introducing unnecessary friction for teams on the ground.
This is where working with SafeContractor has played a vital role. By providing consistent, risk-based pre-qualification and independent contractor verification, it gives Vanessa’s team a reliable baseline they can build on, rather than replacing internal judgement or established contractor relationships.
A significant change in 2025 was Vanessa joining the Rendall & Rittner board. This has brought health and safety closer to strategic decision-making and made contractor assurance easier to keep on the agenda.
“Having technical health and safety representation at board level has made a real difference,” she says. “It means issues can be raised early and discussed in the right context.”
From a reporting perspective, the focus is on practical indicators rather than headline statistics alone. Contractor certification levels are reviewed regularly, inactive contractors are removed from approved lists, and assurance is treated as an ongoing process rather than a one-off exercise.
For 2026, Vanessa’s priority is continuing the shift towards competence-led assurance across the supply chain. That means placing greater emphasis on understanding – for both contractors and internal teams – and ensuring people feel confident to challenge when something does not look right.
“We’re moving beyond compliance,” she says. “It’s about being able to show that people understand the risks and how to manage them.”
Internally, this includes testing knowledge rather than relying solely on training attendance, and reinforcing that people are supported to pause or stop work if something does not look right. Externally, it means maintaining clear, consistent expectations with contractors and working collaboratively to meet them.
For Vanessa, effective contractor management is not about control for its own sake. It is about creating clarity, supporting property teams, and ensuring residents can have confidence in the work taking place in their homes. Partnerships, data, and professional judgement all have a role to play in making that possible.
Discover how SafeContractor certification can give you the reassurance and control you need. Get in touch today.
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