In today’s article, we’ll be looking at SSIP Accreditation and how it can help simplify your health and safety accreditation requirements.
The need for accreditation
Many organizations quite rightly place strict Health & Safety requirements on potential suppliers that are seeking contracts.
There are various accreditation schemes out there; they all look for evidence that you’re fulfilling your obligations under the Health & Safety at work act. Examples of these schemes include:
- CHAS
- HSAS
- Acclaim
- etc
When looking for customers, businesses can face numerous demands for prequalification questionnaires, many of which have the same basic criteria. If you work across different industries or sectors, or just for a varietor just for a variety of customers y of customers you may need various accreditations. This activity can create in a significant administerial burden for small construction companies.
SSIP Accreditation aims to simplify this by providing common recognition between schemes as long as they are members of SSIP, negating the need for the potential supplier to hold multiple accreditations.
By offering straightforward shared recognition between its Member Schemes, SSIP accreditation can simplify prequalification for organizations bidding for work through utilizing a SSIP accredited certificate from your assessing organization.
What is the SSIP Accreditation
Focussing primarily on the construction industry, Safety Schemes in Procurement (SSIP) was founded in 2009. SSIP is an institute that looks to generate efficiencies by standardizing health and safety accreditation and simplify processes for members.
SSIP Registered Membership can be acquired by all third-party Health & Safety assessment schemes.
If a scheme becomes a member of SSIP and, providing the other registered member approval was delivered in accordance with SSIP regulations, then it shares mutual recognition with others within SSIP.
For businesses, this is how they can negate the need for multiple accreditations leaving them to focus on obtaining the approval that’s right for them (which of course includes ensuring they are SSIP accredited!).
SSIP now has in excess of 60 members and has accredited over 50,000 suppliers and it’s core criteria is endorsed by the HSE (Health and Safety Executive)
Since it’s launch SSIP estimates that it has saved members a combined £142 million ((https://ssip.org.uk/ssip-savings-to-industry-top-156-million/))
Exploring the benefits of SSIP Accreditation
Typically when tendering, procurement specialists mandate various Health & Safety accreditations which a business must hold in order for them to participate.
Applying for Health & Safety accreditation can be challenging. You’re likely working towards your own safety management system and on top of this there can be a variety of issues to go through i.e.
- Information around accidents
- Risk assessments
- Policy
- Training
Getting this right can take time and cost.
You could find yourself in a situation where one customer requires one H&S accreditation while another customer asks for something different.
Before you know it, you need a plethora of standards merely to tender for work. All of which would take time and money to obtain.
SSIP Accreditation aims to diminish duplication, simplify tendering and promote transparent and simple appreciation between its Member Schemes.
If you choose an assessment company that offers SSIP Accreditation (and provides a SSIP Certificate), then you’ll meet the requirements.
Benefits of SSIP Accreditation
SSIP acts as an umbrella organization for different assessment schemes encouraging shared recognition within its membership. It is not an assessment scheme and does not assess organizations looking to be certified.
As we stated earlier, if a scheme becomes a member of SSIP then it shares mutual recognition with others within SSIP.
Other benefits include:
- Credibility to prospective customers.
- No need to obtain multiple certificates.
- Requirement to be accredited by only one SSIP scheme.
- Customers can request confirmation of SSIP accreditation by way of ensuring compliance with CDM 2015.
- Online portal that provides register of SSIP accredited orgnaizitons.
- By having health and safety accreditation from SSIP members, you have met the requirements for all tenders that require SSIP.
- The SSIP accreditation demonstrates that an organization has met the core criteria and is sufficiently competent to engage with.
- Tendering processes become simplified (by demonstrating that standards have been met).
- SSIP accreditation has the benefit of universal recognition by other SSIP members and circumnavigates assessments from multiple bodies by having accreditation from only one SSIP scheme.
Summary
We hope you enjoyed this introduction to SSIP Accreditation, if you’ve utilized SSIP and would like to share your experience we’d love to hear from you, feel free to message us on Twitter or use the comments section below.