We wanted to give you plenty of notice to our operating hours over the Christmas period:

Close – 23rd December 12pm

Open – 3rd January 9am

All services are still available via the website, including risk assessments and making enquiries. All E-learning purchased will run as normal as the system is automated.

We will be monitoring emails on an adhoc basis so send any enquiries to: info@seguro-safety.co.uk

70 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:

• Abrasive Wheels
• Asbestos
• COSHH
• First Aid
• Manual Handling
• PPE
• Slips, Trips and Falls

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

Welcome to the December edition of our Health & Safety Questions

Please find below the five questions we thought were worth sharing from this months queries that have come into our office here at Seguro.

Why don’t I just go straight to CHAS?

We provide a service to help companies prepare their documentation to demonstrate their ability for carrying out their works safety.  Many companies have the skills but not the paperwork, we work with those companies providing a safety advisor service for the duration of their CHAS to ensure they implement the documents produced. (companies less than 5)

What does it mean that a company has a CHAS accreditation?

This means that a company has had their Health & Safety assessed by an SSIP umbrella body.

How do i get an SSIP certificate?

You can approach one of the many companies found on ssip or you can enquire with us how we can help you gain accreditation.

Do Constructionline carry out an onsite inspection?

No all assessments are carried out on the documentation you provide with your application.

How long does it take for Constructionline to do my assessment?

Constructionline can take up to two weeks to assess the documentation that you submit.

What is SSIP

SSIP (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

 

We have a number of enquiries on a daily basis asking us for bespoke risk assessment & method statements.

Our solution is use a template

Many customers ask us for a template for a job they are working on. We provide a wide range of bespoke risk assessment & method statements in template format on our website that need to be amended by the client to match their specific needs. These range from £6 to £12 per RAMS, or are provided free as part of our Safety Advisory service or Competent person service.

These Templates do need involvement from the client 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.

Bespoke risk assessment and method statements

These are when the client has a very specific request that does not fall into any template we have available. These are tailored to include the process you carry out as well as ensuring that all risks are appropriate to the job and site you working on. These require the input from one of consultants so will charge a fee. Whatever your requirements we will have the solution to help.

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

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

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 E-learning. 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 E-learning 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 E-learning course 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.

Why have a health and safety policy?

All companies  that employ 5 or more direct employees (on the PAYE and tax for the company) must have a written Health and Safety Policy in place. The Health and Safety Policy should cover all aspects of the companies activities and be relevant to all employees.

A Health and Safety Policy is required by the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 (HASAWA) the policy shows that the company takes its health and safety responsibilities seriously.

The policy has no maximum or minimum number of pages it should be bespoke to the company and cover all the necessary activities.

What is a health and safety policy?

A policy is a written statement, which has three basic parts:

• a statement section (often a single page) detailing how safety will be managed and the priority that the company gives to Health & Safety.
• an organisation section that details where responsibilities are allocated and how employees fit into the overall safety management system
• an arrangements section that contains details of how specific activities and functions are managed.

This arrangements section could include such matters as risk assessments, fire safety, first aid, accident reporting, electrical safety, work equipment, hazardous substances, manual handling and other workplace issues.

If you think you may need to get a policy for your company but your not sure where to start you can write your own policy or we can provide you with help.

Welcome to the November edition of ask Seguro

Please find below the five questions we thought were worth sharing from this months queries that have come into our office here at Seguro.

Should i apply for CHAS or Safe Contractor?

Which accreditation is very much a business decision and tends to be dictated by the client you are working for. They are both part of the SSIP umbrella group so you can deem to satisfy for the other one should you need it.

Im a sole trader why do i need CHAS?

CHAS is an assessment of your companies Health & Safety so the number of employees is not applicable, even as a sole trader you still need to be able to demonstrate that you know how to carry out your work activities safely.

I cant download your free toolbox talks.

We offer a free Toolbox talk pack which you can download by clicking here, as long as you follow the instructions you will be sent an email with the link to download.

How long does it take for CHAS to do my assessment?

CHAS can take up to two weeks to assess the documentation that you submit. You will receive all communication through the new portal.