Safety Schemes in Procurement Newsletter

Transcription

1 Safety Schemes in Procurement Newsletter Summer 2016 Our mission is to facilitate and maximise mutual or cross-recognition of health and safety assessments between SSIP member schemes, wherever it is practicable to do so. The Safety Schemes in Procurement Forum (SSIP) was launched in May 2009 with the active support of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and stakeholders, key trade associations, certification bodies and others across the construction industry. For further information or enquiries linked to SSIP, including this newsletter, please contact the SSIP forum administrator: SSIP Forum, Suite 3, 5 New Mart Place, Edinburgh EH14 1RW T: +44 (0) E: ssip@aps.org.uk The up-to-date SSIP Forum membership list is at: In this issue: New Forum project manager announced Affiliate Member category now available Updated Terms of Reference will help buyers and suppliers How CDM 2015 applies to building maintenance work PAS 91 update underway Benefits of choosing and using SSIP

2 Page 2 Summer 2016 Chairman s Welcome and Introduction Welcome to the summer SSIP Newsletter, which goes to press as BSI ends its early 2016 review of the draft Construction Prequalification Standard PAS 91. The PAS 91 document specifically highlights SSIP scheme members as an effective route to health and safety assessment, and SSIP members have contributed to the BSI consultation. BSI aims to bring PAS 91 up to date with key legal changes, such as the recent introduction of CDM Expect to see the new PAS 91:2016 later this year. In this issue, we also introduce SSIP s new project manager, underline the recently updated strategic aims of SSIP, take a look at how CDM 2015 affects some types of maintenance work, and highlight the rapid growth of SSIP Portal use. By making information about a supplier's SSIP assessment, or OHSAS certification, available to all buyers through the Portal, SSIP is helping buyers to specify that their supplier can be assessed by any SSIP member scheme, rather than a specific scheme. The SSIP Forum is working hard to ensure that it continually improves its ability to deliver its mission and objectives, which we outline on page 3. As part of this, we are pleased to report that SSIP will soon become a notfor-profit company. This will help SSIP push on with further improvements to how member schemes deliver mutual recognition of health and safety assessments. Paul Reeve, acting chairman SSIP FORUM MANAGER APPOINTED We are pleased to advise readers that David Riley, of JAD Associates, has been contracted to take the role of SSIP Forum project manager, to add to the administrative support for the Forum, which is provided by APS. He has previously worked with IRCA, the HSE and SSIP to develop the SSIP assessor competence matrix. David s role is part-time, but he has already been actively assisting with the further development of SSIP, including moving SSIP to limited-company status, and with the thorough overhaul of the SSIP Terms of Reference see NEW SSIP MEMBERSHIP CATEGORY... The SSIP Forum does not aim to foster new health and safety assessment schemes, but there are still assessment schemes operating in the UK that are not members of SSIP. Full membership of SSIP is only open to a health and safety assessment scheme that has already been operating with commercial viability for at least 24 months, and which meets SSIP s requirements. However, a new category of membership is now open to organisations that are seeking to join SSIP but which do not currently meet all the requirements for membership. The new category of Affiliate Member allows prospective members to develop a better understanding of SSIP s aims, and how it operates, while preparing for full membership. Affiliate membership, which lasts for a maximum of two years, confers the right to use an SSIP Affiliate Member logo. If you would like to know more about SSIP affiliate membership, please visit the SSIP website at:

3 Summer 2016 Page 3 NEW SSIP TERMS OF REFERENCE AIM TO HELP BUYERS AND SUPPLIERS In April, SSIP members adopted significantly updated Terms of Reference (ToR). As well as a range of essential rules and information for members, the ToR confirm that the main purpose of the SSIP Forum is to act as an umbrella organisation to facilitate and maximise mutual or cross-recognition of health and safety assessments between SSIP member schemes, wherever practicable to do so. Two strategic aims of the forum are to: reduce the overall cost of health and safety pre-qualification to suppliers and/or buyers; and actively advise buyers on the benefits of using an SSIP member scheme, the benefits of using SSIP services (such as the Portal) and the interpretation of health and safety organisational capability standards in UK prequalification schemes. The ToR add that the specific aims of the Forum, to which its members are fully committed, include: operating a robust and consistent Deem to Satisfy (DTS) agreement between SSIP member schemes, which is both clear and transparent; providing confidence in first-stage safety capability assessments by developing the SSIP Core Criteria and ensuring a consistent, reliable and quality-controlled standard of assessment via qualified, competent assessors; helping and encouraging buyers to recognise SSIP and its aims and objectives, and to specify and recognise SSIP member schemes in general, rather than a specific scheme provider; helping buyers and suppliers achieve value for money through avoiding unnecessary duplication or differing health and safety assessment requirements, wherever possible; demonstrating savings made to buyers and suppliers as a result of SSIP activity; promoting the work and value of SSIP; and actively encouraging the standardisation of prequalification criteria, including PAS 91 and other common industry standards. PORTAL POINTS TO SSIP-ASSESSED SUPPLIERS The SSIP Portal gives clients and other buyers free, rapid access to essential information on more than 45,000 suppliers who have been assessed or certified by SSIP Member Schemes. The information is kept up to date by a live feed to the Portal from member schemes. If you are a buyer or even a potential buyer please sign up to the Portal and start using this valuable supply-chain facility straight away. It will allow you and your suppliers to share fully in the commercial benefits of crossrecognition between SSIP Member Schemes. New figures, from Altius, show significant growth in regular use of the Portal, in terms of the number of search hits: Year Total hits , , , , , ,830 There were also 147,912 one-off buyer searches (without the need to register as a regular user) in If you would like to find out more about using the SSIP Portal, please contact Portal hosts Altius on , or, for more information, go to: Please note: Using the SSIP Portal is free (subject to conditions of use). It s a highly effective tool for checking the status of a supplier s SSIP member assessment, but it is not a general supplier search tool.

4 Page 4 Summer 2016 CDM 2015 AND MAINTENANCE All maintenance work is covered by relevant health and safety legislation (e.g. the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, or the Work at Height Regulations 2005). In addition, however, some building maintenance work may be covered by CDM As a general rule, what determines if CDM 2015 applies to maintenance work is if the work being carried out is part of wider building construction work, or it has the features of a construction project. Essentially, if maintenance activity is part of building, civil engineering or engineering construction it is covered by CDM In the context of health and safety assessment, this is important, since contractors who aren t doing construction work should not be asked assessment questions as if they are. Useful examples The following illustrates whether maintenance is covered under CDM 2015, based on HSE information*: Office facilities management. Activities including pressure-washing premises steps, fixed wiring inspections and the use of mechanical floorwashers would not generally fall under CDM. However they would if they were carried out in conjunction with construction work. Hotel maintenance. Activities including servicing a boiler or lifts, and odd jobs such as door, floor or carpet repairs, would not generally fall under CDM 2015 for the reasons above. Utilities business maintenance. Meter-repair work, cleaning solar panels, switching activities in an electrical sub-station, or fault detection work on an electrical or gas network would also be exempt, if they are separate from a construction project. Engineering projects or new builds would still fall under the HSE definition, so planned outages for repairs or undergrounding cables would be covered by CDM Ultimately, the standby is that the courts decide whether an activity is covered by CDM 2015 but, in any event, the work needs to be carried out with due regard to health and safety. * Source: adapted from information in The IOSH Magazine, February 2016 Please note: the assessment activity of SSIP members is not restricted to the construction industry, or construction activity. Assessment by SSIP members to health and safety core criteria relates to the types of activity usually carried out by the supplier. Take the simple example of fitting a new door handle: it s maintenance but if it s taking place as part of wider building, civil engineering or engineering construction work, then it s probably also covered by CDM 2015 (e.g. one of the project tasks and trades). When it comes to CDM 2015, what matters is not just whether a job is maintenance but also its context in relation to wider building work. The HSE recently issued a general statement that where maintenance activity involves construction processes, requires construction skills and uses construction materials, it is most likely to fall within the term construction work, but that general maintenance which mainly involves mechanical adjustments, replacing parts or lubrication is unlikely to be construction work. Stakeholder support The SSIP Forum is grateful for the active support of the following stakeholders: British Approvals for Fire Equipment (BAFE) Build UK (formerly via NSCC) Civil Engineering Contractors Association Construction Industry Council Constructionline Danny Sullivan Group Ltd Electrical Contractors Association Health and Safety Executive Specialist Engineering Contractors Group VolkerWessels UK John Murphy MBE - Founder SSIP chairman

5 Summer 2016 Page 5 WHAT HSE S CDM 2015 GUIDANCE SAYS ABOUT SSIP The HSE says: Designers or contractors can use the services of an independent (third-party) assessor to assess their organisational capability. If they do, there are companies that provide pre-qualification assessment services, including those who are members of the Safety Schemes in Procurement (SSIP) Forum. The SSIP Forum is an umbrella body with binding agreements to ensure member schemes recognise each other s pre-qualification assessments. The website ( provides a free search facility for any business that has undergone an SSIP assessment. The guidance adds that, while it is not the only way, SSIP assessment is one way a designer or contractor can demonstrate organisational capability at the pre-qualification stage. Source: Managing health and safety in construction: Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 Guidance on the Regulations (L153) is at: THE BENEFITS OF CHOOSING AND USING SSIP PAS 91 GETS SET FOR REVISION The effective cross-recognition of health and safety assessments by different schemes continues to depend greatly on the understanding and behaviour of clients, main contractors and other buyers. Recognising an SSIP-assessed supplier allows a buyer to meet an industry-wide recognised basic standard of health and safety capability. It also frees up time and resource for buyers to concentrate on more job-specific (so called Stage 2 ) health and safety questions. Good supplementary questions are invaluable in supplier assessment, since they can find out more about suppliers experience of specific work, and whether they have a suitably trained team and other resources. The full SSIP Forum met in June 2016, hosted by CHAS. Pictured here are the representatives of more than a dozen leading SSIP member schemes, along with Susan Gynn (SSIP administrator, second right) Increasingly, public and commercial-sector buyers are using PAS 91 questions for their basic prequalification or other supplier assessments, and SSIP is specifically mentioned in PAS 91 as an effective route for construction health and safety assessment. PAS 91 has been undergoing some updating and other fine-tuning, notably to reflect changes brought about by CDM 2015 (the health and safety questions are a mandatory part of PAS 91). Other changes have also been necessary to reflect public-sector and other legal requirements. The current BSI consultation on updating PAS 91 is now over, and a revised PAS 91:2016 is likely to appear later this year.

6 Page 6 Summer 2016 SSIP Forum Membership Registered Member (Assessment) Schemes UKAS-accredited Registered Member Schemes * Acclaim Accreditation ACM Limited Achilles BuildingConfidence ACS Registrars Alcumus Safecontractor AJA Registrars Alcumus SM & MS Contractorplus Altius VA CDM Comply ARB Approved Contractor Scheme Association for Project Safety Avetta (formerly PICS Manual Audit) British Constructional Steelwork Association BESA Health and Safety Assessment Contractors Health and Safety Assessment Scheme CQMS Safety Scheme D W Health & Safety Alcumus ISOQAR British Standards Institution Bureau Veritas Certification UK Certification International (UK) DAS Certification DNV Certification DQS UK ERM Certification & Verification Services Exova BM TRADA Eurosafe UK Exor (Operated by Santia Accreditation) FASET Membership Audit Greenlight Safety Consultancy LOR Contractors HSE Assessment Scheme MSL Safepartner IMS International Intertek Certification Limited LRQA SSIP Registration Scheme NQA NSAI Ocean Certification National Accreditation Scheme for Safety & Health SGS Systems & Services Certification Services National Association of Shopfitters Steel Construction Certification Scheme National House-Building Council PASS (Operated by Principal Safety) The British Assessment Bureau Safe-T-Cert (Operated by Construction Employers Federation) Safety Management Advisory Services The Health and Safety Assessment Scheme Worksafe URS Certification * Under the deemed to satisfy arrangement, schemes recognise UKAS-accredited SSIP member certification to OHSAS in place of their own scheme (but not the other way round). New members are highlighted in the list above in bold.