9.4b THE EMPLOYMENT AND CONTROL OF CONTRACTORS: PART TWO

Last updated: 08 August 2025

Stage 1 Health and Safety Evaluation

WORKING ON COUNCIL PREMISES AND SITES OR PROVIDING GOODS OR SERVICES TO THE COUNCIL

PART TWO – THE TOOLKIT

This document includes additional information for implementing the Buckinghamshire Council Policy on the Employment and Control of Contractors (Part 1). The associated forms and checklists can be found in Part 3, Forms and Checklists

1.0 Stage One Health and Safety Evaluation

It is Council Policy that all contractors (with certain exceptions – see main Policy 6.1 for details) are assessed for health and safety. There are a number of alternatives for carrying out the stage one health and safety evaluation of a contractor. The preferred method is for contractors to be accredited by a member of SSIP e.g. CHAS (see below for more details on those schemes) but in addition there are 2 other methods:-

Membership of a scheme which is not part of, but which is claimed to be, equivalent to SSIP – this will need to be checked by the contracting officer and may be difficult to verify without doing a full Council evaluation due to the number and differing standards of schemes. Any costs associated with doing this must be built into the tender process.
Evaluation by the Council using the appropriate internal Council evaluation forms; this also requires internal resource which will need to be incorporated into the selection process.

See below (1.3) for a more detailed explanation of the Council’s internal evaluation procedures the standard forms can be downloaded from Part 3, Forms and Checklists.

1.1 What Is SSIP?

SSIP stands for Safety Schemes in Procurement (SSIP). The proliferation of health and safety pre-qualification questionnaires has placed increasing burdens on contactors to repeatedly pre-qualify for work. In order to avoid this some of the schemes have agreed to mutual recognition arrangements - SSIP. Any member of a SSIP scheme automatically meets BCC Stage One Health and Safety Evaluation requirements.

Any contractor who is registered or accredited as compliant or approved with a SSIP member also meets the HSE recommended CDM Core Criteria standard (stage 1).

There are a number of contractor health and safety prequalification schemes that have signed up to SSIP of which CHAS is just one. For their construction projects the Council insists on the contractor being registered with Construction line who automatically carry out the health and safety accreditation checks as part of their membership.

More information about SSIP and the prequalification schemes that have joined can be found at www.ssip.org.uk

It is important that client officers using the SSIP database check that the compliance date on the evidence provided by the contactor does not exceed two years. If it does the contractor must be directed for reassessment to achieve compliance with their affiliated organisation before considered for contract work.

1.2 What is CHAS?

CHAS stands for the ‘Contractors Health and Safety Scheme’. The scheme was set up to cut down on duplication of effort and avoid contractors having to provide the same health and safety information to different organisations every time they tender for work.

Any type of contractor, not just those in construction, can be assessed by CHAS and the process is tailored to suit the size and type of organisation; even the self-employed. Like all such schemes contractors have to pay a small fee to be assessed.

Officers needing to check contractor’s details should contact the Health and Safety Team who will provide the Officer with a confidential database access I.D. and Password. Further general information may be obtained from the public part of the web site at www.chas.co.uk.

Guidance on Using CHAS

All Contractors

The onus is on the contractor to provide evidence of their membership of CHAS; however, it may be necessary to confirm this with CHAS using their database.

There are different categories of CHAS membership; the Council’s requirement is for a contractor’s CHAS compliance to be 2 years old or less.

To find out on what basis a contractor has been given membership CHAS go into the back detail and read what the assessors have said and check the attachments provided by the contractors and / or the assessors.

CHAS Accredited - If a Contractor wants to be accredited (a commercial decision for them to make) they must be assessed annually with CHAS. If the contractor is not reassessed after a year, they will lose their Accredited Status, however they do not lose their Compliance Status which is valid for two years.
CHAS Compliant – if a contractor does not renew their assessment after 2 years their status on CHAS does not change but the contractor will appear on the database as “Compliant (not valid)” on a white background. Some authorities accept CHAS Compliance Status beyond 2 years, the Council does not.

It is therefore important to check the compliance date does not exceed two years. If it does the contractor must be directed for reassessment with CHAS to achieve compliance before being considered for contract work.

Organisations which Appear as CHAS Compliant but with Action Plan

In some cases, CHAS require the contractor to make some minor improvements to their health and safety but does not prevent them reaching a compliant standard. In these cases, this will be flagged on the system with an action plan.

CHAS do not follow up these Action Plans but rely on the users of CHAS to make sure that the action plan has been implemented. The Action Plan is not mentioned on the front page and so is not clearly flagged up to users. Users should reference the action plans in the comment box at the bottom of each individual section of the assessor’s findings for any relevant information.

If items in the Action Plan are relevant to the contract being let the contracting officer must raise the issues in the Action Plan with the contractor, before using them. The officer should obtain evidence that the relevant improvements identified in the Action Plan are addressed.

Additional CHAS information for Construction Contractors

For each individual contractor, the front page of CHAS indicates compliance, fail, resubmit etc. but does not indicate the fact that contractors may not class themselves as a construction related contractor.

Therefore, construction contractors can become CHAS compliant but may have opted out of answering the construction related questions. This is not highlighted on each contractor’s front page. If CHAS users are not aware of this, they could be allowing contractors to do work for the Council when they have not been assessed to the required standards for the type of work they are bidding for.

This is normally a question of contractors not understanding the CDM definition of Construction Contractors.

CHAS do not question that a contractor opts out of answering the construction-related questions even though each contractor does get put into specific work category. Therefore, the original assessed questionnaire must be referenced to verify that the construction questions have been completed and thus assessed if the user is seeking a construction contractor.

N.B. In some cases a contractor may undertake work defined as construction by CDM but would never act in any duty holder’s role or on work above the threshold for notification (to HSE of a Construction Project) except as a subcontractor of a competent principal contractor. In such cases please refer to the Health and Safety Team for guidance as to whether the construction questions should be completed.

1.3 Other Methods of Stage One Evaluation - SSIP Equivalent and Council Internal Prequalification Arrangements

The preferred option is for contractors to be accredited through a member of SSIP, contractors should be encouraged of the benefits of this during dialogue with them. However, they are not obliged to belong to one of these schemes and they may claim membership of an equivalent scheme.

Where equivalence is claimed it is the responsibility of the contracting officer / client service to verify this, CHAS may be able to help (for a fee) but it may not be possible to confirm CHAS equivalence without the contractor completing the Council’s internal evaluation forms.

If they are not SSIP or equivalent, then the relevant internal Council Stage One qualification form should be completed.

The Council’s Evaluation form is divided into sections, only the sections relevant to the particular contract need to be completed, e.g. for social care contracts all the construction related sections can be removed.

Written guidance to assist Assessors in deciding the adequacy of the completed evaluation forms is given in Part 3 Forms and Checklists Appendix 17.

Stage 2 Health and Safety Evaluation

The Stage Two Evaluation assesses the contractor’s competence to do the type of work they are tendering for. The following must be specifically considered during the Stage Two Health and Safety Assessment:

References on quality and health and safety performance. References templates for this are in Part 3, Forms and Checklists.
Contractors reference form – General - Appendix 4
Contractors reference form – Construction – Appendix 5

At least 2 references should be provided by the contractor and they should include details of:

their experience of the Contractors for carrying out works was undertaken safely (including, in the case of construction work the experience of duty holders i.e. designers, principal contractors, contractors and the principal designers if applicable);
the training given to staff for the type of work to be undertaken;
the company’s financial stability for the value of the works undertaken;
that sufficient time has been allocated to health and safety issues, as unrealistic timescales can mean that health and safety is sacrificed to complete the job on time, and
how health and safety is monitored and managed on the job by the contractor.

Minimum requirements apply to certain work e.g. work on the highway, asbestos, gas, construction, food hygiene for which qualifications or membership of an approved body, e.g. Gas Safe Register for gas fitting, FASTCO for forestry work, IEE membership for electrical contractors, etc, are required. The person organising the contract must ensure that these are taken into account when drawing up the contract and determining competency as part of the qualification process.

Contracting officers or consultants assessing contractors for a contract award or suitability for inclusion on a Council List of Contractors or for a CDM duty holder’s role must be competent to make such assessments (see definition of competency in Part 3 Forms and Checklists, Appendix 16).

Work must not be awarded to any contractor who has not achieved full compliance with the requirements of this policy.

All contractors must be made aware that they may be removed from the Council List of Contractors or their contract may be terminated should there be serious or persistent breaches of accepted safe working practice. Provision for this must be made within the contract.

Some Health and Safety Stage 2 proforma assessment forms are available from CHAS www.chas.co.uk

Method Statements

A method statement details how a project will be undertaken but in order to be of any value it must be compiled following a complete risk assessment of the work to be undertaken and must be specific to the site. An example method statement is shown in Part 3, Forms and Checklists, Appendix 14.

Standard Condition of Contract for Purchasing

The following general standard contract terms can be used in contracts:

‘The Contractor shall use all reasonable endeavours to ensure that his staff, agents, suppliers and sub-contractors act in full accordance with the conditions of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and any other subordinate or relevant health and safety legislation or other instrument having the force of law or Code of Practice which may come into force during the period of the Contract.’

Checks at Contract Completion – Building / Construction Work

Managers are responsible for checking that the contractor has left their site in a clean and safe condition.

For all works the manager of the premises must:

Check that all waste material and equipment have been removed from site.
Check work areas have been left in a clean and safe condition.

In addition, managers may need to check that:

They have received adequate operating and maintenance instructions for any equipment installed.
They have received adequate training for operation or maintenance of machinery.
Any documentation e.g. test certificates are handed over to them.
In the case of service contacts any premises or equipment leased from the Council are handed back in acceptable condition with all necessary supporting documentation.

For work where the CDM 2015 Regulations apply, a Safety File giving information for the client / building user / owner about future repair and maintenance risks must be produced and handed over to the client to retain or the information may be added to the existing file as appropriate.

The Council’s Insurance Team must also be informed that the Council is now responsible for the building or equipment.

Further Information

For further information you can contact the Council’s Health and Safety Team via E-mail on health&safety@buckinghamshire.gov.uk or by phone on 01296 674412.

HSE Publications

Managing Health and Safety in Construction, Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015, Guidance on Regulations ISBN 9780717666263.

Other publications are available on specific topics please see the Council’s Health and Safety Policy and Procedures and / or health and safety information available from the HSE (Health & Safety Executive) Website www.hse.gov.uk.

Guidance on the CDM 2015 Regulations

This is an abbreviated guide to the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 (CDM15) as they apply to Buckinghamshire Council. For full detailed information refer to the document ‘Managing Health and Safety in Construction’ Guidance on Regulations ISBN 9780717666263 available from HSE books.

The HSE Guidance provides practical guidance on complying with the duties set out in the CDM 2015 Regulations.

The key aim of CDM15 is to integrate health and safety into the management of the project and to encourage everyone involved to work together to:

(a) improve the planning and management of construction projects from the very start;

(b) identify hazards early on, so they can be eliminated or reduced at the design or planning stage and the remaining risks can be properly managed;

(d) discourage unnecessary bureaucracy.

The Regulations apply to all construction work in Great Britain.

"construction work" means the carrying out of any building, civil engineering or engineering construction work and includes:

(a) the construction, alteration, conversion, fitting out, commissioning, renovation, repair, upkeep, redecoration or other maintenance (including cleaning which involves the use of water or an abrasive at high pressure or the use of corrosive or toxic substances), de-commissioning, demolition or dismantling of a structure;

(b) the preparation for an intended structure, including site clearance, exploration, investigation (but not site survey) and excavation, and the clearance or preparation of the site or structure for use or occupation at its conclusion;

the assembly on site of prefabricated elements to form a structure or the disassembly on site of prefabricated elements which, immediately before such disassembly, formed a structure;
the removal of a structure or of any product or waste resulting from demolition or dismantling of a structure or from disassembly of prefabricated elements which immediately before such disassembly formed such a structure; and
the installation, commissioning, maintenance, repair or removal of mechanical, electrical, gas, compressed air, hydraulic, telecommunications, computer or similar services which are normally fixed within or to a structure.

But it does not include the exploration for or extraction of mineral resources or activities preparatory thereto carried out at a place where such exploration or extraction is carried out.

The Regulations cover:

general management duties, which apply to all construction projects, including those, which are non-notifiable,
additional management duties, which apply to projects above the notification threshold (projects lasting more than 30 days or involving more than 500 person days of construction work). These additional duties require particular appointments or particular documents which will assist with the management of health and safety from concept to completion, and
physical safeguards for construction sites which need to be provided to prevent danger. Duties to achieve these standards are held by contractors who actually carry out the work.

Those who do not do construction work themselves, but control the way in which the work is done also hold duties.

This summary covers the sections of the Regulations most applicable to the Council but for more details on other sections please contact The Health and Safety Team.

Clients Duties – All construction projects:

Clients must make sure that: -

(a) designers, contractors and other team members that they propose to engage are competent (or work under the supervision of a competent person), are adequately resourced and appointed early enough for the work they have to do;

(N.B. Clients must only employ designers and other duty holders who are competent to carry out their CDM15 duties. Further help with assessing competence is given in the HSE Guidance;

(b) they allow sufficient time for each stage of the project, from concept onwards;

(c) they co-operate with others concerned in the project as is necessary to allow other duty holders to comply with their duties under the Regulations;

(d) they co-ordinate their own work with others involved with the project in order to ensure the safety of those carrying out the construction work, and others who may be affected by it;

(e) there are reasonable management arrangements in place throughout the project to ensure that the construction work can be carried out, so far as is reasonably practicable, safely and without risk to health. (This does not mean managing the work themselves, as few clients have the expertise and resources needed and it can cause confusion);

(f) contractors have made arrangements for suitable welfare facilities to be provided from the start and throughout the construction phase;

(g) any fixed workplaces (for example offices, schools) which are to be constructed will comply, in respect of their design and the materials used, with any requirements of the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992; and

(h) relevant information likely to be needed by designers, contractors or others to plan and manage their work is passed to them in order to comply with CDM Regulation 10.

The Pre-Construction Information:

Clients must provide designers and contractors who may be bidding for the work (or who they intend to engage), with the project-specific health and safety information needed to identify hazards and risks associated with the design and construction work. It is not acceptable for clients to make general reference to hazards which might exist - for example that ‘…. there may be asbestos present in the building’. Clients should carry out the necessary surveys in advance and provide the necessary information to those who need it.

Additional Client Duties for Notifiable Projects:

For notifiable projects, (i.e. projects lasting more than 30 days or involving more than 500 person days of construction work which are notifiable to the HSE) in addition to the duties set out above, clients must:

appoint a Principal Designer (previously known as the CDM Co-Ordinator) to advise and assist with their duties and to coordinate the arrangements for health and safety during the planning phase;

appoint a Principal Contractor to plan and manage the construction work, preferably early enough for them to work with the designer(s) on issues relating to buildability, usability and maintainability;
ensure that the construction phase does not start until the Principal Contractor has prepared a suitable construction phase plan and made arrangements for suitable welfare facilities to be present from the start of the work; and
make sure the Health and Safety File is prepared, reviewed and updated in readiness for handover at the end of the construction work. This must then be kept available for any future construction work or to pass on to a new owner.

Getting the right people for these roles and making early appointments is particularly important for clients with little construction or health and safety expertise, as they will need to rely on the advice given by the Principal Designer on matters relating to the competence of those who they intend to appoint, and the adequacy of the management arrangements made by appointees.

For notifiable projects, if a client does not make these appointments they become legally liable for the work that both the Principal Designer and Principal Contractor should do, as well as for not making the appointments.

Principal Designer Duties:

Principal Designers must:

a) give suitable and sufficient advice and assistance to clients in order to help them to comply with their duties, in particular:

the duty to appoint competent designers and contractors; and

(ii) the duty to ensure that adequate arrangements are in place for managing the project;

b) notify HSE about the project;

c) coordinate design work, planning and other preparation for construction where relevant to health and safety;

d) identify and collect the pre-construction information and advise the client if surveys need to be commissioned to fill significant gaps;

e) promptly provide in a convenient form to those involved with the design of the structure; and to every contractor (including the Principal Contractor) who may be or has been appointed by the client, such parts of the pre construction information which are relevant to each;

f) manage the flow of health and safety information between clients, designers and contractors;

g) advise the client on the suitability of the initial construction phase plan and the arrangements made to ensure that welfare facilities are on site from the start; and

h) produce or update a relevant, user friendly, health and safety file suitable for future use at the end of the construction phase.

Principal Contractor Duties:

Principal Contractors must:

a) satisfy themselves that clients are aware of their duties, that a Principal Designer has been appointed and the HSE notified before they start work;

b) make sure that they are competent to address the health and safety issues likely to be involved in the management of the construction phase;

c) ensure that the construction phase is properly planned, managed and monitored, with adequately resourcing and competent site management appropriate to the risk and activity;

d) ensure that every contractor who will work on the project is informed of the minimum amount of time which they will be allowed for planning and preparation before they begin work on site;

e) ensure that all contractors are provided with the information about the project that they need to enable them to carry out their work safely and without risk to health, whilst requests from contractors for information should be met promptly;

f) ensure safe working and co-ordination and co-operation between contractors;

g) ensure that a suitable construction phase plan (‘The Plan’) is:

(i) prepared before construction work begins;

(ii) developed in discussion with, and communicated to, contractors affected by it;

(iii) implemented; and

(iv) kept up to date as the project progresses.

h) satisfy themselves that the designers and contractors that they engage are competent and adequately resourced;

i) ensure suitable welfare facilities are provided from the start of the construction phase;

j) take reasonable steps to prevent unauthorised access to the site;

k) prepare and enforce any necessary site rules;

l) provide (copies of or access to) relevant parts of the plan and other information to contractors, including the self-employed, in time for them to plan their work;

m) liaise with the Principal Designer on design carried out during the construction phase, including design by specialist contractors, and its implications for the plan;

n) provide the Principal Designer promptly with any information relevant to the health and safety file;

o) ensure that all the workers have been provided with suitable health and safety induction, information and training;

p) ensure that the workforce is consulted about health and safety matters; and

q) display the project notification.

Designer Duties:

Designers are required to undertake the following actions:

check that the project client is aware of their duties under CDM before carrying out any work;
don’t accept an engagement unless competent to do so;
consider the pre-construction information and use it to inform preparation of the design; and
avoid foreseeable risk in preparing a design.

The Health and Safety File:

For notifiable projects, the Health and Safety File (‘The File’) is a source of information that will help to reduce the risks and costs involved in future construction work, including cleaning, maintenance, alterations, refurbishment and demolition. Clients therefore need to ensure that the file is prepared and kept available for inspection in the event of such work.

It is a key part of the information, which the client, or the client’s successor, must pass on to anyone preparing or carrying out work to which CDM 15 applies. As soon as a Principal Designer is appointed, clients should discuss and agree a suitable, user-friendly format for the file and what type of information it should contain.

At the end of the construction phase, normally at practical completion, the file must be finalised and given to the client by the Principal Designer.

The Key Appointments under CDM for notifiable projects are therefore:

The Designers – this may be an individual or a company.

The Principal Designer - this may be an individual or a company.

The Principal Contractor – this will always be a contractor.

It is possible for more than one duty to be held. In practice this is unlikely to be an individual except in the case of uncomplicated low-risk projects. In the case of large complicated high-risk projects it may be the case, e.g. where design and build projects are routinely undertaken. However, in such arrangements the client needs to be satisfied that the Principal Designer’s role is sufficiently independent to carry out his duties effectively.

Meaning of Terms Used in the Regulations:

"client" means a person who in the course or furtherance of a business —

seeks or accepts the services of another which may be used in the carrying out of a project for him / her; or
carries out a project him / her self;

"construction site" includes any place where construction work is being carried out or to which the workers have access, but does not include a workplace within it which is set aside for purposes other than construction work;

"construction phase" means the period of time starting when construction work in any project starts and ending when construction work in that project is completed;

"construction phase plan" means a document recording the health and safety arrangements, site rules and any special measures for construction work;

"contractor" means any person (including a client, Principal Contractor or other person referred to in the CDM Regulations) who, in the course or furtherance of a business, carries out or manages construction work;

"design" includes drawings, design details, specification and bill of quantities (including specification of articles or substances) relating to a structure, and calculations prepared for the purpose of a design;

"designer" means any person (including a client, contractor or other person referred to in these Regulations) who in the course or furtherance of a business —

a) prepares or modifies a design; or

b) arranges for or instructs any person under his control to do so, relating to a structure or to a product or mechanical or electrical system intended for a particular structure, and a person is deemed to prepare a design where a design is prepared by a person under his control;

"project" means a project which includes or is intended to include construction work and includes all planning, design, management or other work involved in a project until the end of the construction phase;

"structure" means —

a) any building, timber, masonry, metal or reinforced concrete structure, railway line or siding, tramway line, dock, harbour, inland navigation, tunnel, shaft, bridge, viaduct, waterworks, reservoir, pipe or pipe-line, cable, aqueduct, sewer, sewage works, gasholder, road, airfield, sea defence works, river works, drainage works, earthworks, lagoon, dam, wall, caisson, mast, tower, pylon, underground tank, earth retaining structure or structure designed to preserve or alter any natural feature, fixed plant and any structure similar to the foregoing; or

b) any formwork, falsework, scaffold or other structure designed or used to provide support or means of access during construction work,

c) and any reference to a structure includes a part of a structure.

For the purposes of these Regulations, a project is notifiable if the construction phase is likely to involve more than-

a) 30 days; or

b) 500 person days, of construction work.

Summary of the duties under the CDM Regulations