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Health and safety in construction

Insight by

Bob Evans

Bob Evans

Published on

13 January 2025

CHAS

Health and safety in construction

In the fast-paced world of construction, safety is of paramount importance. From home extensions to infrastructure projects that shape our country, the welfare of workers and the public is our first consideration.

When it comes to creating a culture of safety, construction companies must have robust processes and systems in place.

  • Health and safety legislation
  • Common hazards in the construction industry
  • Implementing health and safety on construction sites
  • Safety planning and risk assessment in construction projects
  • Personal protective equipment (PPE) in construction
  • Training and education for construction safety
  • Construction site inspections and audits
  • Creating a culture of safety on construction sites
  • Site Manager Compliance Kit
  • SSIP Accreditation
  • HSG150 health and safety in construction

Health and safety legislation

Health and safety legislation in the workplace is the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974This legislation sets out the duties of employers, employees, and others. 

Responsibilities of employers

  • Assess risks: Identify risks to employees, customers, and others 
  • Create a policy: Have a written health and safety policy if they employ five or more people 
  • Provide training: Ensure staff are adequately trained 
  • Provide welfare: Ensure adequate welfare provisions are available 
  • Provide information: Ensure employees have access to relevant information, instruction, and supervision 
  • Consult employees: Consult employees about risks and preventive measures 

Responsibilities of employees 

  • Have a duty of care to themselves and others

Other construction-related health and safety legislation

Common hazards in the construction industry

The construction industry is fraught with hazards that can lead to serious accidents if not properly managed.

  • There were 51 fatal injuries to workers in 2023/24
  • 47,000 workers sustained non-fatal injuries at work averaged over the three years 2021/22-2023/24

One of the most prevalent risks is falls, which can occur from heights such as scaffolding, ladders, or roofs.

Another common hazard is the risk of being struck by objects. This can happen when tools or materials are improperly secured or when heavy machinery is involved.

Construction site workers are often close to moving equipment, and the potential for accidents increases.

Exposure to hazardous substances, such as asbestos and silica dust, poses a significant risk.

Implementing health and safety on construction sites

Implementing health and safety processes and systems on construction sites is essential. Many clients now insist that contractors hold a minimum health and safety standard. SSIP (Safety Schemes in Procurement) implemented the standard. SSIP is an umbrella organisation formed in 2009 to reduce the duplication of health and safety assessments. CHAS and PQS are suppliers of the standard.

Below is a health and safety checklist for a typical site construction setup

Safety planning and risk assessment in construction projects

Planning work operations is a key factor in keeping people safe on-site. The process is to develop a method statement of how the work will be executed and then develop a risk assessment. The risk assessment analyses the risks and looks at ways to mitigate them. The project planner may adjust the method statements if the risk assessment finds that the risk is too high.

Ready for use Risk assessment and method statements templates.

Personal protective equipment (PPE) in construction

Personal protective equipment (PPE) is the last line of defence to keep people safe. PPE can include the following:

  • Hard hat
  • His visibility vests and trousers
  • Ear protection
  • Eye protection
  • Lung protection
  • Hand protection
  • Skin protection
  • Foot protection

The site manager must ensure that their workers are provided with the necessary equipment and trained on how to use it effectively. A PPE register is vital to control who had what and when.

Site training

Training and education are fundamental for a safe construction site. On-site training includes:

On-site e-learning to train site workers saves time and cost.

A training register is vital to control who had what and when.

Construction site inspections and audits

Regular inspections and audits of construction sites are critical for ensuring ongoing health and safety compliance.

Inspections help identify potential hazards that may have arisen since the last inspection and ensure that safety measures are effectively implemented.

Inspections can be conducted by internal safety officers or external auditors, providing an objective perspective on the effectiveness of the site’s safety practices.

Creating a culture of safety on construction sites

Creating a safety culture begins with a commitment from leadership to prioritise health and safety measures at all levels of the organisation.

By communicating that health and safety are priorities in the company culture, workers will feel empowered to work safely and promote safety with their workmates.

Site Manager Compliance Kit

Overview

The Site Manager Compliance Kit is an essential tool for every contractor. The Compliance Kit contains all of the information and documentation needed to comply with the requirements of today’s Safety Regulations.

Includes

  • Construction Phase Health and Safety Plan (CDM 2015), which can be easily amended and edited for specific projects
  • 70 Toolbox Talk Documents
  • 65 Completed Risk Assessments
  • 41 COSHH Assessments
  • Site inspection Check Sheets – Scaffold, Dumper, Excavator etc
  • Permits to Work – Confined Space, Excavation, Hot Work, Asbestos, etc
  • Site set-up check sheet
  • Site Induction
  • Site Rules
  • Site Registers – PPE, Plant & Equipment etc

Review the Site Manager Compliance Kit

CHAS Accreditation

If you want to implement CHAS, we can help you achieve this goal.

The CHAS assessment standards and requirements are listed below.

  • Policy
  • Occupational Health
  • Behavioural Management
  • Enforcement Actions
  • Accident Reporting and Investigation
  • Fleet Operations / Management Scheme
  • Competent Advice – Corporate and Construction
  • Drug and Alcohol Policy
  • Training and Information
  • Qualifications and Experience
  • Monitoring, Audit and Review
  • Risk Assessment and Safe System of Work
  • Workforce Involvement
  • Co-operation and Co-ordination
  • Welfare Provision
  • Subcontractors and Sub-consultants
  • Responsible Person
  • Contractor
  • Declaration

Review CHAS accreditation

HSG150 health and safety in construction

HSG150 Health and Safety in Construction explains the essential tasks for achieving healthy and safe construction sites.

It helps the reader to identify hazards and control risks and explains how to plan, organise, control, monitor and review health and safety throughout the life of a project.

It is aimed at everybody involved in construction work, including clients, designers, contractors and individual workers. Clients, designers and others who specify construction work may also find the book useful.

Download HSG150

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.

CHAS renewal – How to renew your CHAS certificate

Insight by

amanda

Amanda Lambert

Published on

22 February 2024

CHAS

CHAS renewal

You have to renew your CHAS accreditation every year.

The CHAS accreditation process reviews your company’s ability to perform your activities complying with Health & Safety every year.

Documentation is provided on recent jobs and processes you are working on at the time of application. As these could change within 12 months, CHAS has a process where each application is seen as new and lasts for 12 months.

CHAS assesses your Health & Safety, which is done remotely; you get access to an online portal once you have paid. Once everything is uploaded to the portal, you can submit it for approval.

The CHAS assessor will take up to 10 working days to reply to your submitted documentation with their findings.

CHAS renewal costs

CHAS offers three membership packages with different levels of accreditation:

CHAS Standard

The entry-level package includes a health and safety assessment and SSIP accreditation. CHAS membership fees

CHAS Advanced

The mid-range package includes all the Standard package benefits, plus helps you achieve SSIP and PAS 91 accreditation. CHAS membership fees

CHAS Elite

The highest level of accreditation includes all the benefits of the other packages, plus access to the Common Assessment Standard. CHAS membership fees

How to renew your CHAS accreditation

To renew your CHAS membership, you can: 

  1. Log in to your MyCHAS portal
  2. Review your current health and safety practices
  3. Click Renew
  4. Complete the renewal application
  5. Pay the renewal fee
  6. Submit your renewal application
  7. Await the assessment results
  8. Update your company records

You can also renew your membership by: 

You can use the MyCHAS portal to: 

  • Manage your profile
  • Monitor your accreditations
  • Access exclusive benefits
  • Upload supporting documentation
  • Access accreditation documents and assessments
  • Complete assessments and get feedback
  • Update accreditation progress and download certificates

You should receive a renewal invitation email about four weeks before your membership expires. 

Learn more about CHAS

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

If you have any questions on what is CHAS accreditation please get in touch.

Complimentary Safety Advisor Service

Insight by

amanda

Amanda Lambert

Published on

11 July 2023

Health and safety blog

Complimentary Safety Advisor Service

Here at Seguro we pride ourselves on adding value to our services. When we help our clients to achieve an accreditation we also provide them with a Safety Advisory service.

This is where we remain as their contact throughout the year of their accreditation to help them to:

  • Implement the new documentation into their business
  • Provide support ongoing should they need it.
  • Provide off the shelf risk assessments and method statements should they be needed (bespoke ones are chargeable)
  • Enable our clients to name us should they need to on PQQ documentation

The following accreditations are eligible (less than 5 employees)

  • CHAS
  • Safe Contractor
  • Constructionline
  • Exor
  • Altius
  • Avetta
  • Builders Profile

If you are looking for any help in acquiring an accreditation and would like to take advantage of our complimentary service please get in touch on 0800 031 5404 or contact us

Having trouble with your RE-CHAS?

Insight by

amanda

Amanda Lambert

Published on

18 May 2023

CHAS

Having trouble with your RE-CHAS?

Each application for CHAS is treated as a new application, this is so that your paperwork can be assessed on a yearly basis to ensure that you comply with the latest Health & Safety Legislation. We often get calls from companies saying that the paperwork they have submitted last year has not been accepted this time around.

If you submit documentation that CHAS do not think is up to the standard they need to pass, they will provide you with a list of actions. This will be sent out to you by your appointed CHAS assessor.

The documentation will go into detail to let you know what you need to provide as additional information, there are a number of actions you can then choose:

  • Compile the documentation yourself
  • Purchase the documents needed and complete it independently
  • Contact a Competent Health & Safety Consultant who can provide you with the information needed as well as advice

We can do your CHAS with you starting at £300 + vat for less than 5 employees.

As a Health and Safety Consultant we are happy to look at your documentation and bespoke the responses based on your business please get in touch if you would like our help on 0800 031 5404.

Risk Assessments & Method Statements

Insight by

amanda

Amanda Lambert

Published on

8 March 2023

Health and safety blog

Risk Assessments & Method Statements

Here at Seguro we know that Risk Assessments & Method Statements can seem a daunting task when you have to start them from scratch. We have developed a library of RAMS that can be used within your business on a day to day basis.

We constantly update our RAMS with the latest activity based ones we have created. Our RAMS can be purchased individually or in a pack depending on what you need. If you are unsure if we have the RAMS you need please visit our SHOP and see what you can find. There are some examples listed below:

Risk Assessment & Method Statement For Screeding
Plumbing Works Risk Assessment & Method Statement
External Painting Risk Assessment & Method Statement
Risk assessment & method statement for commercial electrical installation

We also offer a Health & Safety Risk Assessments Pack which contains 65 templates covering a range of subjects.

If you cant find what your looking for please get in touch and we can see if we can help.

The different between a small and a large CHAS application

Insight by

amanda

Amanda Lambert

Published on

18 October 2022

CHAS

The different between a small and a large CHAS application

We often get companies asking us what is the difference between having 4 employees or 5 when applying for CHAS. CHAS define an employee as someone who you pay through your PAYE system, there are different assessment fees due depending on the number of employees you declare.

In particular to CHAS there is an increased number of documents you need to provide as well as evidence of your safety arrangements including Health & Safety policy.

Once you have 5 employees or more you have legal requirements under the Health & Safety at Work Regulations 1974, you need to have formal arrangements in place for competent Safety advice as well as a full Heath & Safety Management system.

If you are not sure which bracket you fall under, or if you have enough documentation to satisfy the assessment get in touch and we will be able to provide you with advice.

5 Top Tips for Preventing Falls from Height

Insight by

Bob Evans

Bob Evans

Published on

20 June 2022

Health and safety blog

Falls from height continues to be the largest causes of major injuries and fatalities.  About 4000 working at height-related accidents occur each year at work and the most common cases are falls from ladders and through fragile services. Alarmingly, two thirds of all major injuries at work are caused by ‘low falls’ A low fall is a fall from a height below 2 metres.  A high fall is a fall from a height of more than 2 metres.

5 Top Tips for Preventing Falls from Height:

  1. As with all work activities, a suitable and sufficient risk assessment is key to preventing falls from height. The planned activity and location should also be assessed immediately before work takes place, in case there have been any changes since the original assessment took place. The above case is a good example, in terms of missing panels that had not been put back following previous works.
  2. All parties involved should be made aware of the findings of the risk assessment, so there needs to be procedures in place to ensure good communication of the hazards, control measures and any changes to the planned works.
  3. In terms of control measures, eliminating the need to work at height is usually the best option. However, in reality, that isn’t always possible. Use suitable work equipment such as a working platform, or an existing safe area with a permanent guardrail, and make sure workers can reach it safely.
  4. All works should be supervised, and the job undertaken by competent staff. Assessing someone’s competency would include looking at their experience, knowledge and skillset, as well as their qualifications.
  5. Consider both personal and collective measures to minimise the distance and consequences of a fall, where some risk does remain, such as fall arrest equipment or safety nets.

Most falls from height can be prevented, by ensuring proper planning of the work and by selecting the right equipment for the job. When equipment is not suitable, it can lead to workers finding other ways to complete the job, which can have fatal consequences.

You can download HSE’s Working at Height Brief Guide Here

SSIP Accreditation and CHAS

Insight by

amanda

Amanda Lambert

Published on

23 August 2021

CHAS

SSIP Accreditation and CHAS

Have you recently been asked for an SSIP accreditation?

SSIP Accreditation and CHAS – SSIP (Safety Schemes in Procurement) is an umbrella group which sits above a number of accreditations you can get which assess your companies Health & Safety. There are a number of assessments you can go for and we have highlighted the most popular ones below:

CHAS

The majority of our clients go for CHAS accreditation as this seems to be the popular one within the industry. CHAS have recently gone online with their submissions so customers can upload their documentation and then pay for the assessments once they are ready to submit.

This makes it easier for customers to see progress and communicate with their assessor.

If you are looking to get CHAS accreditation but are having trouble with the necessary documentation we can help with the preparation of these, we also provide a safety advisor service for companies with less than 5 employees so we can stay with you and help to implement the new documentation.

Impartial advise

Feel free to call us 0800 031 5404, 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. Feel free to contact us.

Learn more about CHAS

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

If you have any questions on what is CHAS accreditation please get in touch.

Acclaim Accreditation

Insight by

amanda

Amanda Lambert

Published on

13 July 2021

CHAS

Acclaim Accreditation

What is a Acclaim Accreditation

Acclaim was created in 2012 and is a member of SSIP (Safety Schemes in Procurement)

SSIP is an umbrella organisation formed in 2009 to reduce the duplication of health and safety assessments.

Acclaim is the accreditation arm of Constructionline. When you join Constructionline, you will be directed to Acclaim to complete the Health and safety accreditation process to obtain the SSIP certificate.

Do I have to apply for an Acclaim at the same time as I do for a construction line?

Yes. Acclaim has been included within all paid Constructionline memberships and is no longer offered as a standalone product.

Constructionline Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum memberships include Acclaim but also offer a ‘Deem to Satisfy’ certificate for those who hold a valid SSIP with an alternative provider.

What will an Acclaim 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

How much does an assessment cost?

Fees charged by our members vary and take into account other membership fees. It is essential to recognise that all assessments are equal and all are carried out against the same standard.

If you are not sure feel free to call us for support.

How long will it take to get a certificate?

This varies from scheme to scheme and is dependent on you providing everything needed for the assessment. Typically, schemes will try to complete their initial assessment within ten working days.

Who is Seguro and how can you help me?

Seguro is a health and safety company that specialises in SSIP accreditation. We completed over 500 applications per year. Our success rate is 100%.

We We are here to support you through the acclaim accreditation 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 request a quote.