Insights
While many workplaces have hazards, with so many risks in the construction industry – working from heights, handling heavy loads, operating dangerous machinery and working around hazardous materials – safety precautions are vital to keeping workers safe and construction projects on course and delivered.
Key statistics in the construction sector 2022:
- 78,000 workers suffering from work-related ill health (new or long-standing) – 53% were musculoskeletal disorders
- 59,000 non-fatal injuries to workers each year
- 21,000 work-related cases of stress, depression or anxiety (new or long-standing)
- 30 fatal injuries to workers in 2021/22
- The economic cost of workplace injury and new cases of work-related ill health in construction total cost in 2019/20 estimated at £1.4 billion
- 2.2 million working days lost
These statistics mean that contractor risk management is a key focus area for construction organisations to make sure they only work with contractors in their supply chain who can do the job safely and complying with relevant legislation.
The focus is now very much on ‘how you do’ rather than ‘what you do’. So, to safeguard against these risks, SSIP accreditation for contractors like you, can help to reduce accidents and demonstrate that your business is a responsible member of the industry.
Safety Schemes in Procurement (SSIP) Accreditation for Contractors
To streamline pre-qualification, SSIP (Safety Schemes in Procurement) was founded in May 2009, using the SSIP Core Criteria aligned to the Government-backed construction pre-qualification document PAS 91 to provide consistency within supply chain management.
SSIP is the membership body for assessment schemes, whose aim is to ease the process of replying to tenders, by providing contractors with a standard set of questions which are recognised by many health and safety schemes.
This means contractors do not need to complete the full assessment for each member scheme they join, or every tender they reply to that requires a SSIP accreditation.
What is a SSIP Accreditation assessment?
SSIP assessments are conducted by a member scheme (such as SafeContractor) to evaluate how your business manages health and safety.
This includes looking at your:
- Health and safety policy
- Risk assessments and method statements
- Competent advice
- Insurances
- Evidence of training
- Trade qualifications
- Any health and safety infringements
Why gain contractor accreditation?
While SSIP accreditation for contractors isn’t compulsory or legal requirement SSIP does hold significant benefits for your business, not least in boosting your credibility and raising your profile in the industry. Just like we need the right qualifications to get a job, contractors need accreditations to win certain contracts.
Accreditation involves a detailed audit of your existing health and safety systems, as well as ongoing annual assessments. Once you’re accredited through providers such as SafeContractor and SSIP members, you will have an internationally recognised stamp of approval which shows that you’re qualified to do what you say. But it’s so much more than that. It can help you to:
- increase credibility, demonstrates compliance commitment to safe and ethical working practices
- provide clear proof during the pre-qualification stage
- build trust with clients
- give a competitive advantage
- secure new business when tendering for new contracts
- connect with companies who share the same values
- help to generate referrals and repeat business
- reduce pre-qualification paperwork duplication, freeing up time and resources
- can in some instances reduce liability insurance and other professional services costs
What does SafeContractor accreditation cover?
SafeContractor provides SSIP accreditation, helping your business to prove it’s compliant with all the latest relevant legislation with expertise from the largest UK-based, in-house team relating to health and safety, equal opportunities, diversity, and environmental management.
We collect and verify your information across health, safety, financial and ethical practices – even specific areas such as permits to work at height, or hazardous material handling and includes the common question sets defined within PAS91.
Accreditation with SafeContractor also removes the time-consuming and costly burden on all parties involved, which is further exacerbated by the number of times a business is required to go through repeated pre-qualification processes.
Having SafeContractor as your SSIP scheme means you can demonstrate to both public and private sector organisations that you’ve already been pre-assessed when you tender for new work and give clients confidence in you as a business to reduce risk in their supply chain.
You can download our guide ‘Step by step guide to accreditation’ here, to enhance your reputation for health and safety and raise the profile of your business.
To help you win new clients, SafeContractor accreditation is a globally recognised way to prove that you’re compliant with all the latest relevant legislation, follow best practice and meet all the standards for your industry. To find out more visit www.safecontractor.com/contractor-accreditation
SafeContractor
Contractor Accreditation
Join over 35,000 like-minded businesses, not just from construction. Pool together all your health, safety, and ethical policies in one place – for one SSIP and PAS91 certification.
