Increasing demand by specifiers for pre-qualification scheme accreditation

As regular users of Simian’s retained service will testify, the insistence by Principal Contractors and other specifiers that their suppliers hold some form of pre-qualification scheme accreditation, appears to be on the increase.

Of course, the driver for this is the desire for scaffolding specifiers to ensure that have carried out the necessary levels of capability checking, or, as some would say, health and safety due diligence, so in that context, it’s entirely understandable. However, many of our clients get frustrated at the sheer number of the accreditations they are required to hold, with relatively few of the specifiers being entirely consistent with one another in what they require.

The majority of the more credible schemes are affiliated to SSiP (Safety Schemes in Procurement) – an umbrella organisation that exists to streamline pre-qualification and encourage straightforward mutual recognition between its Member Schemes.

Many of the registered members of SSiP will be instantly recognisable to our retained clients and these include NASC (membership of NASC also now infers membership of SSiP!), CHAS, Achilles Building Confidence and Safe Contractor.

In addition to the accreditations detailed above are other schemes, that concentrate on management systems and processes, such as RISQS (for rail work) and formal management systems such as those for Health & Safety (OHSAS 18001 & ISO 45001), Quality (ISO 9001) and the Environment (ISO 14001).

Regardless of the system, Simian can assist.

Our team of scaffolding and health and safety qualified staff can tailor any system to meet your specific demands – be that help with the submission of a SSiP questionnaire, accreditation to work as a supplier on the UK’s railways, or assistance one of the internationally recognised standards – give us a call on 0345 602 2418 or email us at hello@simian-risk.com.