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Insight by

amanda

Amanda Lambert

Published on

14 December 2024

Health and safety blog

Introduction

Our fully approved, health and safety online training courses are perfect for gaining qualifications for you and your employees. We can deliver all the training you need for an SSIP assessment and all essential health and safety awareness.

Our engaging courses can be taken at any time, in any place and on any device. All courses are approved and priced to offer the best possible value to your business.

FREE Trial

You can sign up here for a free trial of our health and safety online training courses.

A trial account gives you free access to the first module of all our available courses.

Any progress you make will be saved, so if you decide to buy, you can continue from where you left off.

So complete the form on this page to get instant access, and let’s get started.

Start your FREE trial

Available health and safety online training courses

You can also select a course you are interested in and click on the free trial button on the course. Select any courses from the list below:

The courses available are:

Need support

Once you have seen what we offer, don’t hesitate to get in touch, and we will be happy to set you up with your health and safety online training solution.

If you get stuck or need some help feel free to get in touch.

Testimonial

Hyperion

I just wanted to send you a quick email about the amazing staff you have on your team.

Natasha has been dealing with Hyperion for a couple of years now, and we have received nothing but exceptional service from this young lady. I get the quickest responses, with as much help as possible provided every single time. She has gone above and beyond for myself and Mark every time I have spoken to her.

I thought I would just share this with you as I feel her remarkable customer service and attitude towards the job should most definitely be recognised, and she’s an absolute credit to yourself and the rest of the team.

Thanks to all at Seguro

Kind Regards

Saskia

Download our FREE Toolbox talks

Insight by

amanda

Amanda Lambert

Published on

Health and safety blog

70 FREE Toolbox Talks

Download our FREE Toolbox talks – Toolbox talks are short health and safety talks. The talks are designed to inform workers about potential hazards they may encounter while performing their duties on site.

The topics discussed directly relate to the tasks and hazards at the worksite. For example, if drainage trenches are to be excavated on site, the site supervisor can talk about the dangers, hazards, good practice and working close to deep excavations, to keep people safe.

Key Benefits of Tool box Talks

Our Free tool box talk documents are written in house by our consultants and cover all the main topics including:

TT1 – Abrasive Wheels

TT2 – Accident Prevention & Control

TT3 – Accident Reporting & Investigation

TT4 – Alcohol and Drugs

TT5 – Asbestos

TT6 – Benefits of Safety

TT7 – Buried Services

TT8 – Cartridge-Operated Tools

TT9 – Chainsaws

TT10 – Control of Dust & Fumes

TT11 – Control of Noise

TT12 – COSHH

TT13 – Electricity on Site

TT14 – Excavations

TT15 – Fire Prevention & Control

TT16 – First Aid

TT17 – General Safety Legislation

TT18 – General Site Health & Safety

TT19 – Health & safety at Work Act 1974

TT20 – Health on Site

TT21 – HFLs & Petroleum Based Adhesives

TT22 – Hoists and Hoist Towers

TT23 – Hydro Demolition

TT24 – Ladders

TT25 – Lead Hazards

TT26 – Legal Duties of Employees

TT27 – Lifting Accessories

TT28 – Lifting Equipment & Operations

TT29 – LPG & Other Compressed Gases

TT30 – Manual Handling

TT31 – Mobile Elevating Work Platforms

TT32 – Mobile Plant

TT33 – Mobile Scaffold Towers

TT34 – Needle-stick Injuries

TT35 – Personal Hygiene

TT36 – Personal Protective Equipment

TT37 – Piling

TT38 – Plant & Equipment

TT39 – Pollution Control

TT40 – Portable, Hand-held Tools

TT41 – Powers of the HSE

TT42 – Protection of Eyes

TT43 – Protection of Skin

TT44 – Risk Assessment & Method Statements

TT45 – Road & Street Safety

TT46 – Safe Stacking of Materials

TT47 – Safe Working at Height

TT48 – Safety in Demolition

TT49 – Safety Inspections & Consultation

TT50 – Safety Nets & Suspension Equipment

TT51 – Safety with Steelwork

TT52 – Security on Site

TT53 – Signallers and Slingers

TT54 – Site Transport

TT55 – Slips, Trips and Falls

TT56 – Sun Safety

TT57 – System Scaffolds

TT58 – Trackside Safety

TT59 – Trestles and Stepladders

TT60 – Tube & Fittings Scaffolding

TT61 – Vehicle Fuels

TT62 – Vibration

TT63 – Waste Management

TT64 – Water Jetting

TT65 – Weil’s Disease

TT66 – Welfare Arrangements

TT67 – Woodworking Machines

TT68 – Working in Confined Spaces

TT69 – Working over Water

TT70 – Young People on Site

Free Toolbox Talks Download

All toolbox talk documents are in MS Word Format so you can easily amend them and bespoke them to your needs. There are over 70 in the pack including an attendance register.

Download 70 FREE toolbox talks

Save up to £500 with your SSIP assessment renewal

Insight by

amanda

Amanda Lambert

Published on

14 November 2024

Accreditations

Save up to £500 with your SSIP assessment renewal.

Don’t miss the deadline for your SSIP assessment renewal. Ensure your business stays compliant and avoid unnecessary penalties.

The problem

CHAS and other SSIP providers raise their assessment fees annually, increasing costs. An American corporation owns CHAS, and their fees have been raised yearly. They are now very high compared to other SSIP accreditation suppliers.

We have a solution

There are over thirty SSIP accreditation suppliers who all do the same thing, to the same standard. The standard is controlled by SSIP, which was created to develop a fair playing field and reduce costs.

CHAS is the most popular and well-known; however, the suppliers below are also prominent and are much more economical than CHAS.

Our preferred SSIP assessment renewal supplier is PQS; they have the lowest fees and are great to deal with. They have a good customer service team and have created easy-to-use systems to complete the accreditation documentation.

Our preferred SSIP supplier list.

What will an SSIP accreditation cover?

All assessments are completed using the SSIP Core Criteria as the threshold standard and cover the following:

  • Health & Safety policy
  • Competent Advice
  • Training arrangements
  • Monitoring, audit and review
  • Workforce involvement
  • Accident reporting and enforcement action
  • Subcontracting/consulting
  • Risk Assessments and Safe Systems of Work
  • Cooperations with others
  • Welfare provision
  • Hazard elimination

The assessment completed will be proportionate and relevant to the type of work you undertake and the size of your business, noting the size of your business will include any labour staff working for you.

About PQS accreditation

The PQS is an accreditation supplier and SSIP member. PQS charge a much lower fee than CHAS, saving you up to £500 depending on your type of accreditation.

There is no difference between CHAS and PQS; they are SSIP members and work according to the same rules and guidance.

If you are worried that your customers are asking for CHAS, it’s OK, as SSIP allow you to obtain a CHAS certificate even when PQS has accredited you through their deen to satisfy process.

If your SSIP accreditation is coming up for renewal, contact us, and we can advise you on the best solution for your business and budget.

Complete the form below, and we will contact you and provide you with some support.







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    Do I need to be a CHAS accredited contractor?

    Insight by

    amanda

    Amanda Lambert

    Published on

    24 October 2024

    CHAS

    Table of contents

    Do I need to be a CHAS accredited contractor?

    If you are self-employed or a small contractor do you need to be a CHAS accredited contractor. You may be asked to get CHAS or other SSIP certificate. Let us explain the situation to you.

    Domestic Market

    If you work in the domestic market and want to sail close to the wind, the answer is no, as homeowners will not insist that you work safely.

    However, you have a duty of care for yourself and others under UK health and safety legislation. Even working in the domestic market, you will be in trouble if you have a terrible accident or cause harm to others.

    Construction Market

    The answer is yes if you work in the construction market or want to work there. You will need to have a recognised standard of health and safety.

    Main contractors and clients such as local authorities insist that everyone who works for them has a standard of health and safety. They insist as it is part of their health and safety systems.

    The most well-known standard is CHAS, but there are other providers of the same standard under the SSIP umbrella. SSIP (Safety Schemes in Procurement) is a organisation that manages accreditation suppliers, to ensure they work to the same standards.

    The size of your business matters

    If you are self-employed or a small contractor with less than 5 employees, you need CHAS or similar, SSIP but you will not be required to employ a competent person safety advisor.

    You must employ a competent person safety advisor if you employ 5 or more people, including sub-contractors or other self-employed people. The easiest way to do this is to use a remote competent person safety advisor. We offer this service.

    What is CHAS

    The Core Criteria and the threshold standard of CHAS and all the other SSIP accreditations  is as follows:

    • Health & safety policy
    • Competent Advice
    • Training arrangements
    • Monitoring, audit and review
    • Workforce involvement
    • Accident reporting and enforcement action
    • Subcontracting/consulting
    • Risk Assessments and Safe Systems of Work
    • Cooperations with others
    • Welfare provision
    • Hazard elimination

    Learn more about CHAS

    We have a series of articles where you can learn more about CHAS. The list of articles is below:

    The Good News

    We are here to support you through the process; we can prepare all the documents, complete the registration forms, and simplify the process. CHAS is expensive, but other providers are very economical. The best thing to do is chat with us and learn more; we can tell you about the costs and the time frame. Our number is 0800 031 5404, or you can complete the form below.







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      What is SSIP?

      Insight by

      amanda

      Amanda Lambert

      Published on

      22 October 2024

      Health and safety blog

      What is SSIP

      SSIP imageSSIP (Safety Schemes in Procurement) is an umbrella organisation formed in 2009 to reduce the duplication of health and safety assessments.

      SSIP does not carry out the assessments; 30 companies, including CHAS, PQS, and Construction line, do that.

      Which assessment company do you select?

      CHAS
      PQS
      Construction line
      Safe Contractor
      SMAS
      CQMA
      Builders profile
      Avetta

      The most expensive is CHAS, and the least costly is PQS. Due to the Deem to Satisfy system by SSIP, a PQS accreditation is equivalent to a CHAS accreditation, and for a small fee, you can obtain certificates for both.

      The driver for selection usually is your customer; if they insist on CHAS, you can get accredited with PQS and request a certificate for CHAS within the process.

      Impartial advise

      Feel free to call us, and we can advise you on the best selection for your needs. We have completed thousands of applications and understand the market inside out. We don’t mind which company you select; the assessment process is the same, thanks to SSIP.

      Who is Seguro

      Seguro Health and Safety Management employs qualified health and safety consultants who complete the application to obtain accreditation from all the assessment companies. Seguro removes the pain of completing all the documentation and ensuring you comply.

      The history of SSIP

      In April 2007, the revised Construction (Design & Management) Regulations came into force. The new regulations introduced the concept of accessing the health and safety competence of contractors and consultants working within the construction sector.

      In May 2009, with support from HSE, SSIP was founded, with the core aim to streamline pre-qualification and encourage straightforward mutual recognition between its Member Schemes.

      2015 saw SSIP adopting the Core Criteria from the HSE, ensuring that its members adhered to the highest health and safety standards. This alignment with HSE guidelines further solidified SSIP’s reputation as a health and safety pre-qualification leader.

      In 2024, SSIP remains at the forefront of promoting health and safety standards within the construction industry.

      More articles

      The SSIP accreditation process

       

      Bespoke Risk Assessment & Method Statements

      Insight by

      amanda

      Amanda Lambert

      Published on

      7 October 2024

      Health and safety blog

      Table of contents

      Bespoke risk assessment and method statement

      Get customised risk assessment & method statements for your projects, or select one of our many ready to go templates.

      You can easily tailor the template to meet your specific needs.

      We provide standard and bespoke RAMS (risk and method statements).

      Standard RAMS

      We provide a wide range of risk assessment & method statements in template format on our website. Each can be five to sixteen pages long and contain between 3,000 and 9,000 words.

      The RAMS are within a template and cover all the principal risks and methods to carry out a specific job. The RAM Templates need the client’s involvement as there will be a comprehensive sequence of work that could apply. As the client, you would be responsible for ensuring that this sequence was relevant to yourself and, if not amended to reflect your process.

      Our standard RAMS cost from £6 to £12 per RAM or are provided free as part of our Safety Advisory service or Competent person service.

      Review our standard RAMS

      Bespoke risk assessment and method statements

      Bespoke RAMS are when the client has a very specific request that does not fall into any template we have available. Bespoke RAMS are tailored to include the process you carry out and ensure that all risks are appropriate to the job and site you are working on.

      Writing a bespoke RAM requires input from one of the consultants, so we will charge a fee. Whatever your requirements, we will have the solution to support you.

      Use the form on this page to tell us about your requirements, and we will give you an economical fee to write it up for you using one of our templates.

      Please complete the form below and give us some details about your requirements.

      Complete the form below and we will get in touch







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        What is SSIP Deem to Satisfy?

        Insight by

        amanda

        Amanda Lambert

        Published on

        13 September 2024

        Health and safety blog

        What is SSIP Deem to Satisfy?

        Deem to satisfy allows you to obtain an SSIP certificate from a supplier other than the supplier from which you obtained your SSIP certificate.

        For example, you can apply for a construction line certificate without going through a new accreditation process if you have a CHAS certificate.

        You can save money using deem to satisfy; for example, if you have a CHAS and wish to renew, you can renew with a more economical supplier and still get your CHAS certificate through the deem to satisfy system.

        All member schemes listed on the SSIP forum adhere to the SSIP Core Criteria, backed by the Health and Safety Executive.

        By mutually recognising each other’s schemes, suppliers benefit from only needing to complete one assessment, while buyers enjoy more efficient procurement processes. This approach reduces costs and has saved over £68 million since 2016.

        Deem to satisfy can be complex, we can do the hard lifting for you, the fee is very small.

        Registered Members

        Two-Way Deem to Satisfy between SSIP Registered Members

        Approval with a Registered Member can only be used to Deem to Satisfy with another Registered Member; it cannot be used to gain a Deem to Satisfy with a Certification Body Member.

        Below is the list of registered members you can use for deem to satisfy:

        3Core2 Certification Limited Trading As SafeArb SafeArb

        Achilles Information Ltd Building Confidence

        Alcumus SafeContractor Ltd Alcumus Safecontractor

        Altius VA Limited CDMComply

        Arboricultural Association ARB Approved Contractor

        Association for Project Safety APS Corporate Practice Membership

        Avetta Avetta Assessed

        CHAS 2013 Ltd Contractors Health & Safety Scheme

        Construction Safety Solutions PASS

        CQMS Ltd CQMS Safety-Scheme

        D W Health & Safety DW Health & Safety Contractor Competency Scheme

        Fall Arrest Safety Equipment Training Ltd FASET Membership Audit

        Fortius Ltd Acclaim Accreditation

        Greenlight Safety Assessment Scheme Ltd Greenlight Safety Assessment Scheme

        Hire Association Europe Ltd SafeHire Certification Scheme

        International Powered Access Federation [IPAF] IPAF SSIP

        MSL Property Care Services Ltd MSL Safepartner

        National Access & Scaffolding Confederation Ltd NASC SSIP Audit

        National Federation of Demolition Contractors NFDC Membership

        PQS Pre-Qualification Scheme PQS Health & Safety Approved

        Salus Certification Salus Certification

        Safe-T-Cert [NI] {Construction Employers Federation} Safe-T-Cert

        Safe-T-Cert [ROI] {Construction Industry Federation} Safe-T-Cert

        Safety Management Advisory Services Ltd SMAS Worksafe

        SSG Training and Consultancy Ltd SSG Assessed

        William Martin Compliance Limited Prosure 360

        We can support you if you are not sure what to do.

        Asbestos Awareness E-learning

        Insight by

        amanda

        Amanda Lambert

        Published on

        10 September 2024

        Asbestos

        Asbestos Awareness Training

        Stay compliant and prioritise safety with asbestos awareness training. Provide your employees with the necessary training to handle asbestos safely. Developed by health and safety training experts.

        It is your employers responsibility to ensure that any employee who may come into contact or disturb asbestos carrying out their normal daily work tasks have been given the correct level of training. Enabling employees to have the knowledge to ensure that they can work safely and competently without risk to themselves or others working around them.

        There are three main levels of information, instruction and training.

        • Asbestos awareness
        • Non-licensable work with asbestos including NNLW
        • Licensable work with asbestos.

        Asbestos Awareness

        Asbestos Awareness Training can be provided in a number of forms but the most common and easiest form is to provide employees with access to Asbestos Awareness Online Training. The training is intended to provide the employees with the the information you need to avoid work that may disturb asbestos during any normal work which could disturb the fabric of a building, or other item which might contain asbestos. The training is not intended for anyone who will be involved in the removal of Asbestos.

        Asbestos Awareness training should cover the following:

        • how to avoid the risk of exposure to asbestos
        • the effects of asbestos on health and its properties, including the increased risk of developing lung cancer for asbestos workers who smoke
        • asbestos materials in buildings and plant, the types, uses and likely hood of it being present
        • the general procedures to deal with an emergency, eg. an uncontrolled release of asbestos dust into the workplace

        We can provide access to an Asbestos Awareness Online Training for any employers looking to ensure their employees are covered.

        All other levels of asbestos and the information and training needed can be found on the HSE website.

        Available health and safety online training courses

        You can also select a course you are interested in and click on the free trial button on the course. Select any courses from the list below:

        The courses available are:

        Health and Safety Policy

        Insight by

        amanda

        Amanda Lambert

        Published on

        7 September 2024

        Health and safety blog

        Do I need a health and safety policy?

        Find out why even small businesses need a health and safety policy. Learn how to write a policy that meets legal requirements and keeps your employees safe.

        If you employ less than five people, you still need a health and safety policy; you can verbally communicate to employees or others who may be affected by your business activities.

        Businesses with more than five people must have a more detailed health and safety policy that includes the organisation and arrangements.

        The Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 is the primary piece of legislation covering occupational health and safety in Great Britain. It’s sometimes referred to as HSWA, the HSW Act, the 1974 Act or HASAWA.

        How to write the policy

        A policy is a written statement which has three essential parts:

        1) Health & Safety Policy

        The health and safety policy details a statement of intent. The statement of intent details your aims and objectives, health and safety policy, processes and systems to prevent accidents, train your employees, supply PPE, etc. The policy is signed and dated by the most senior person, the managing director.

        (2) Organisation of Health and Safety – Roles and Responsibilities

        The organisation of health and safety is best done by developing an organisation chart, with the most senior person at the top, then detailing the people who are responsible for the day-to-day running of all matters concerning health and safety. An example is:

        • Managing director
        • Health and safety advisor
        • Fire safety manager
        • Health and safety training manager
        • Risk assessments and method statements manager
        • PPE manager
        • Control of substances hazardous to health COSHH manager

        In small businesses, one person may have many roles

        3) Arrangements for health and safety – How are risks managed?

        The arrangements for health and safety should detail how the organisation aims to achieve its aims. For example:

        • Develop risk assessments
        • Training of people
        • Consulting with people
        • Fire and emergency arrangements
        • First aid arrangements
        • Reporting of accidents, injuries and dangerous incidents
        • Arrangements for working at height, manual handling, etc.

        Tips to write a health and safety policy

        Here are some tips for creating a health and safety policy:

        Be specific – Tailor it to your business and clearly state who is responsible for what. 

        Get buy-in – Involve all stakeholders, especially those with significant safety responsibilities, to ensure the policy is accurate. 

        Review regularly – Update the policy annually or when there are changes to the business, such as a new management structure or expansion. 

        The benefits of having a written policy for businesses of any size including: 

        • Demonstrating a commitment to the health and safety of employees, customers, contractors, and the public
        • Clarifying responsibilities
        • Building confidence when seeking new contracts or tenders

        Buy a policy

        We have written several health and safety policies. Click on the link to review them: Health and safety policies.

        We can write a policy for you if you can’t see your company type above.

        SEGURO Support

        If you would like a little FREE support for advise, call us on 0800 031 5404 or complete the form below, and we will contact you.







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          All your Health & Safety needs for 2024 in one place

          Insight by

          amanda

          Amanda Lambert

          Published on

          25 August 2024

          Health and safety blog

          All your Health & Safety needs for 2024 in one place.

          Here at Seguro we can be a one stop shop for your safety needs. We can help you with one off client requests or by being your competent person providing you with our full Safety package the choice is yours.

          Competent Person

          We provide a full Health & Safety Management System including a policy, employee handbook and an environmental policy. Expert advice is available for you 24/7.

          Accreditation

          We can help you to provide the paperwork needed to enable you to show you are capable of working safely. These vary depending on what accreditation you are looking to complete. We stay with you until the accreditation is achieved.

          Risk Assessments & Method Statements

          We have a full library of RAMS available for you to purchase from as little as £10. All of our documents are available in word format for you to be able to amend and use as you need in your business.

          Safety Advisor

          This is a support service for less than 5 employees, this comes with expert advice as well as access to our online documents and Risk assessments. This can be purchased separately or comes free with accreditation applications for less than 5 employees.

          We offer many more services including PQQ preparation, Construction Phase Plan preparation. Why not visit our website and see if we can help you with any issues you have now and throughout 2025.