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Tag: CHAS Support

Do I need to be a CHAS accredited contractor?

Insight by

Bob Evans

Bob Evans

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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    CHAS support

    Insight by

    Bob Evans

    Bob Evans

    Published on

    27 June 2024

    CHAS

    Table of contents

    CHAS Support

    A CHAS application can be daunting if you are not a health and safety advisor or have had no formal training in health and safety such as NEBOSH or similar.

    What Is CHAS?

    CHAS stands for (the Contractors Health and Safety Assessment Scheme) and is underneath the umbrella of SSIP.

    The CHAS assessment criteria are the same as those of all SSIP suppliers. SSIP (Safety Schemes in Procurement) is an umbrella organisation formed in 2009 to reduce the duplication of health and safety assessments.

    Many companies and government bodies require an SSIP accreditation before they allow you to tender.

    The CHAS assessment standards and requirements are listed below.

    • Policy
    • Arrangements
    • 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
    • Individual Qualifications and Experience
    • Monitoring, Audit and Review
    • Risk Assessment Leading to a Safe System of Work
    • Workforce Involvement
    • Co-operation and Co-ordination
    • Welfare Provision
    • Subcontractors and Sub-consultants
    • Contractor
    • Principal Contractor
    • Designer

    Our CHAS application process

    Step 1. Register for an account with CHAS and choose the membership level you require.

    Step 2. Purchase the associated Support Package via our website or by calling us.

    Step 3. We will contact you to request specific documentation. The information we require varies depending on the type of CHAS application selected.

    Step 4. We review your documents and implement anything missing, then upload all evidence to your CHAS portal and submit for assessment.

    Step 5. You will receive your CHAS-compliant certificate and enjoy all the benefits of demonstrating compliance.

    WHY select Seguro to support you with your CHAS application

    We have over 20 years of industry experience and complete over 500 applications yearly.

    As part of our hassle-free and in-depth service, we’ll complete the CHAS registration form on your behalf and prepare supporting documents as and when necessary.

    CHAS registration requires you to have a recognised health and safety management standard and covers compliance issues regarding your field of work.

    Once we have received the information we require from you, we aim to have your CHAS application submitted for assessment within five business days, although this is often even sooner.

    Our fees are the most cost-effective available. We will do the work while you get on with your job, saving you time and money.

    We will assign you a dedicated health and safety professional offering CHAS support throughout the process. We can implement policies, arrangements and procedures, assist with assessments like RAMS and provide training to your workforce. When we have completed the application, you will have everything you need to pass the CHAS accreditation.

    Testimonials

    Spinney Electrical

    I would just like to thank you for all your help patients & time.

    Finally!! Feeling relieved.

    Vicky

    13th February 2023

     

    City Dispense

    We’ve passed again, thank you for your help

    Regards

    Andy  | Director

    9th February 2023

     

    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

    26th February 2020

    Learn more about CHAS

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

    Get CHAS Support

    Complete the form, and we will tell you how it works and how much the whole process costs, including the CHAS fee for your circumstances.

      CHAS Training guidance

      Insight by

      amanda

      Amanda Lambert

      Published on

      14 March 2024

      CHAS

      Table of contents

      CHAS Training Guidance

      You will be required to prove that your personnel have been trained and you have the correct training and procedures to show they are performing their jobs responsibly with Health & Safety.

      The training requirements often differ depending on which sector you are in and the business size. CHAS has identified some set minimum criteria, and it is a good place to start for all companies.

      To comply with the standard, you may be required to train your personnel in the following courses if you have not already done so.

      CHAS will accept any training qualification provided it meets the content requirements and an organisation of suitable expertise has independently approved it.

      Such organisations include:

      • Relevant Trade Associations, e.g. BESA, ECA
      • Safety organisations, e.g. RoSPA, IOSH, IIRSM
      • Government agencies, e.g. CITB
      • Regulated training authorities, e.g. City & Guilds

      Seguro health and safety training

      We offer a vast amount of health and safety elearning courses at a fraction of the cost  you’d expect; this health and safety e-learning has the bonus of a minimal loss of productivity because it’s efficient and flexible.

      You can try them for FREE.

      Learn more about CHAS

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

      CHAS Deem to satisfy – Everything you need to know

      Insight by

      amanda

      Amanda Lambert

      Published on

      3 October 2016

      CHAS

      Table of contents

      CHAS deem to satisfy

      The CHAS Deem to Satisfy (DtS) scheme allows contractors to apply for CHAS Standard membership without undergoing another health and safety assessment.

      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.

      Eligibility

      Contractors must have already met the requirements of an assessment through another SSIP member scheme. 

      Benefits

      Contractors can save time and resources by avoiding a full assessment. They can also avoid paying full price for multiple accreditations. 

      Process

      Contractors can: 

      1. Check if they have a qualification that CHAS recognises by contacting CHAS or using the e-form. 
      2. Submit their assessment, which will be reviewed within 10 working days. 
      3. Respond to any requests for additional information within the 2-week deadline. 

      CHAS deem to satisfy 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

      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.

      CHAS Support

      Completing the CHAS Deem to Satisfy takes time and knowledge.

      We can make it easy for you by doing all the leg work for you. We carry out over 500 applications a year with 100% success.

        CHAS accreditation cost

        Insight by

        amanda

        Amanda Lambert

        Published on

        24 November 2015

        CHAS

        Table of contents

        CHAS accreditation costs

        Our CHAS accreditation cost article will give you all the information you need to make a decision, if CHAS is right for you.

        The CHAS accreditation costs below are dated January 2025. Please get in touch with us for up-to-date costs if this article becomes out of date.

        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 Advanced

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

        CHAS Elite

        The highest level of accreditation, which includes all the benefits of the other packages, plus access to the Common Assessment Standard 

        The Common Assessment Standard covers 13 areas of risk management, including: 

        1. Identity
        2. Financial
        3. Insurance
        4. Corporate and professional standing
        5. Health and Safety
        6. Environmental management
        7. Quality management
        8. Equality
        9. Corporate and professional standing
        10. Information security
        11. Information management
        12. Anit-Bribery and corruption
        13. Modern Slavery

        While CHAS accreditation isn’t legally required, some clients may specify that it’s needed to work on their sites. It’s a common requirement for public sector and commercial contracts.

        CHAS accreditation cost

        CHAS has developed a membership-type offering that gives you the benefits described below. The cost of each type depends on how many people you employ. Costs per annum: You must renew the certification each year.

        CHAS membership benefits include: 

        • Free legal assistance
        • Business Shield support
        • A free 1-month CHAS RAMs trial
        • Access to a jobs board
        • Free resources
        • Exclusive discounts

        CHAS Standard

        • 1 person £409 + VAT
        • 2 to 4 people £459 + VAT
        • 5 to 15 people £749 + VAT
        • 31 to 50 people £1189 + VAT
        • 102 to 200 people £2019 + VAT

        CHAS Advanced

        • 1 person £639 + VAT
        • 2 to 4 people £739 + VAT
        • 5 to 15 people £1,139 + VAT
        • 31 to 50 people £1,859 + VAT
        • 102 to 200 people £3,00 + VAT

        CHAS Elite

        • 1 person £879 + VAT
        • 2 to 4 people £919 + VAT
        • 5 to 15 people £1,339 + VAT
        • 31 to 50 people £2,329 + VAT
        • 102 to 200 people £3,679 + VAT

        Other CHAS accreditation Costs

        Training

        To comply with the standard, you may be required to train your personnel in the following courses if you have not already done so.

        • Asbestos The Control of Asbestos Regulations
        • Working at Height The Work at Height Regulations CHAS 2013 Ltd –
        • First Aid The Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations
        • Fire precautions The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and the Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres Regulations
        • Noise and vibration The Control of Noise at Work Regulations (NAW Regs) and The Control of Vibration at Work Regulations
        • Personal Protective Equipment Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations (PPE Regs)
        • Substances hazardous to Health Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regs (COSHH)
        • Electricity Electricity at Work Regs
        • Manual handling Manual Handling Operations Regulations (MHO Regs)
        • Work Equipment Provision and Use of Work Equipment (PUWE) Regs

        Competent person safety advisor

        You must employ a competent safety advisor if you employ more than five people. If you are a large organisation, you may already have one. Employing a qualified safety advisor may be prohibitive if you are a small contractor.

        We are the remote competent person safety advisor for over eight hundred companies. We can offer this service to you for a fraction of the cost.

        Cost Savings

        An alternative SSIP accreditation that saves you cost

        The other popular SSIP accreditation suppliers are:

        • PQS
        • Construction line
        • Safe Contractor
        • SMAS
        • CQMA
        • Builders profile
        • Evetta

        The costs for a PQS accreditation, for example, are:

        • Deem to satisfy £49 + VAT
        • 1 person £99 + VAT
        • 2 to 4 people £119 + VAT
        • over 5 people £149 + VAT

        As you can see, the cost is a fraction of the cost of CHAS. Why, you may ask. CHAS was a government project; in recent years, several corporations have bought it out. Costs have risen each time it has been taken over.

        CHAS and all the other accreditation suppliers operate under the SSIP umbrella and comply with the SSIP standard. This means the accreditation and applications are all the same.

        You can obtain a CHAS certificate with PQS accreditation with the deem to satisfy system. This can save you a lot of money.

        CHAS or other SIPP cost calculation

        The best way to calculate the full cost of your CHAS/SIPP accreditation is to tell us about your business, and we can give you a full breakdown of costs from the information you provide.

        We carry out over five hundred CHAS and other SIPP accreditations annually. We have the skills, prepared documents, and know how to get you accredited with the minimum of fuss and fast. We can turn around an accreditation within five days, subject to having all the information from you.

        Learn more about CHAS

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

        CHAS Support

        Completing the CHAS application takes time and resources, as well as completing lots of forms and health and safety documentation.

        We can make it easy for you by doing all the leg work for you. We carry out over 500 applications a year with 100% success.

        For a small fee, we can take the pain away for you.

        Complete the form, or call us on 0800 031 5404 and we will tell you how it works and how much the whole process costs, including the CHAS fee for your circumstances.

          What is CHAS Accreditation?

          Insight by

          amanda

          Amanda Lambert

          Published on

          19 August 2015

          CHAS

          What is CHAS Accreditation

          CHAS Accreditation was a government-run (not-for-profit) scheme administered by the London Borough of Merton. CHAS was acquired by Veriforce LLC, a US-registered company with headquarters in Houston, Texas, USA, in 2022.

          CHAS cofounded and helped pioneer the Safety Schemes in Procurement (SSIP) and the Common Assessment Standard.

          CHAS (Contractors Health and Safety Assessment Scheme) has been developed and refined over a number of years by local government health and safety and procurement professionals, with the support of the Health and Safety Executive.

          Although government bodies have developed CHAS, it is available for use by any public and private sector organisation as an aid when short-listing contractors, suppliers and consultants who apply to work for them.

          CHAS provides information and assurances about the health and safety systems and competencies of the organisations that have been CHAS assessed or registered as CHAS accredited.

          Organisations must submit an application to CHAS to become registered with CHAS and then have a CHAS assessment carried out. By doing so, their potential clients know that they meet minimum acceptable health and safety compliance standards. Clients from both the public and private sectors use CHAS to make assessments of contractors in this way.

          Once the CHAS application has been approved for an organisation, their details are uploaded to the CHAS database, where client members of the Scheme can review an organisation’s details to check that they are, in fact, CHAS registered. One of the benefits to contractors is that by making a successful CHAS application, they can demonstrate to a wide number of potential clients that they achieve or exceed the minimum standards laid down by the assessment scheme.

          With the implementation of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 (CDM), there are stricter requirements on Clients and Principal Contractors to ensure that they only employ ‘Competent Contractors’. CHAS has been named in the CDM Regulations by the Health and Safety Executive as being one of the assessment schemes that can be used when demonstrating your competence as an organisation.

          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.