SSIP: Safety Schemes in Procurement
What is SSIP?
Safety Schemes in Procurement (SSIP) is the mutual recognition scheme for occupational health and safety standards particularly within construction. SSIP facilitates mutual recognition between health and safety pre-qualification schemes saving time, effort and cost of multiple certifications.
It reduces duplication and demands on suppliers to have multiple certifications to different schemes saving them time and money and allowing them to focus on the job.
If you have OHSAS 18001 or ISO 45001 certification with NQA, then NQA as a Registered Member of SSIP can also certify you against the requirements of SSIP at your next scheduled audit activity where an on site audit takes place.
“Since inception of SSIP we are pleased to advise mutual recognition has enabled savings to suppliers in excess of £156m*in addition to the time savings by all parties involved. We are keen to work with any buyer who would like to know more about the benefits of recognising the many thousands of suppliers who are currently assessed by SSIP members.” Eleanor Eaton, Chairman, SSIP
DEEM TO SATISFY CHART - If you already have a valid full approval, and you need to acquire certification from another scheme, the 'Deem to Satisfy Chart' list here shows which H&S Assessment Scheme product is available under the Deem to Satisfy agreement.
Helps you with
- Be recognized by other SSIP member schemes - CHAS, EXOR, Safe Contratcor
- Cost Reduction
- Reduced Auditing
- Mutual Recognition
- Pre-Qualification
- Contract to Supply
- Bids and Tenders
- Eliminating Duplication of Certifications and Assessments.
Benefits of Health & Safety Certification
Reduced operating costs
Less down-time due to incidents and ill health and lower costs from legal fees and compensation means money saved.
Improved stakeholder relationships
Make the health and property of staff, customers and suppliers more of a priority and people will respond.
Legal compliance
Understand how statutory and regulatory requirements impact your organisation and its customers.
Improved risk management
Identify potential incidents and implement controls and measures to keep risk as low as possible, protecting employees and customers from harm.
Proven business credentials
Independent verification against a globally recognised industry standard speaks volumes.
Customer satisfaction and safety
Meet customer requirements consistently whilst safeguarding their health and property.
Win more business with SSIP
This occupational health and safety standard is recognized by Safety Schemes In Procurement (SSIP) within the construction industry.
Corporate Social Responsibility
Implementation of a structured management system can aid demonstration of CSR and organizational culture.
Background to SSIP
The CDM Regulations introduced Stage 1 Core Criteria for assessing the Health and Safety competence of contractors and consultants working in the construction industry.
This allowed existing H&S prequalification schemes to build on and formalise mutual recognition (already in operation amongst some) wherever practical to do so and so the SSIP was born.
SSIP was later been enhanced with the introduction of the Health and Safety pre-qualification in the 2013 edition of the Government-backed construction pre-qualification document PAS 91.
The Health & Safety Executive (HSE) was instrumental in the formation of, and continues to support, the SSIP Forum. It views an accreditation certification from a SSIP Scheme member as ‘deemed to satisfy’ the Core Criteria requirements.
SSIP is an important move towards consolidating and building confidence in Stage 1 pre-qualification in the UK construction industry.
SSIP member and portal
Most SSIP members have signed “mutual recognition” agreements - this means that as far as health and safety is concerned, if you have been successfully certified by one SSIP member, that certification is recognised by the others.
Some SSIP members such as Constructionline have a “one way” agreement in place which means they will accept information from other SSIP members, but as they do not carry out assessments themselves, this cannot be reciprocated.
There is a centralised verification database listing the details of more than 30,000 contractors which have been assessed by SSIP members. The service levels for each SSIP member are described in detail on the SSIP web site at www.ssip.org.uk.
Benefits of SSIP
You can use your NQA SSIP Registered Scheme certification to be recognised by other SSIP Member schemes, such as CHAS, EXOR, Safe Contractor. This saves time and money by reducing duplication within pre-qualification schemes.
SSIP registration can benefit construction companies and related businesses of any size. Through:
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Simplifing the application process when bidding on a job
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Providing instant safety credentials, as well as a level of confidence and legitimacy for your business
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Reducing costs associated with prequalification bureaucracy and administrative work
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Streamlining the supply chain so you can focus on fulfilling project-specific requirements
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Providing a valuable marketing tool that can raise your profile
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Ensuring your company is listed in the searchable SSIP online portal
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Helping you to manage risks more effectively as part of a broader culture of safety.
Whatever your role within CDM, there are a range of valid reasons to pursue SSIP registration along with or in addition to OH&S compliance.
An important feature of the SSIP Forum is the HSE’s message that a buyer can be confident a supplier who is registered or accredited as compliant or approved with an SSIP member has been assessed to the Core Criteria standard (Stage 1).
The buyer, having verified their status, will only then need to focus on the project or job specific assessment (Stage 2).
Steps to Certification
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Step 1
Complete a Quote Request Form so we can understand you and your business. We will then use this to personally prepare a proposal for your certification and define what is known as your 'scope of assessment'.
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Step 2
We will then contact you to book your assessment with an NQA assessor. It consists of two mandatory visits that form the Initial Certification Audit. Please note that you must be able to demonstrate that your management system has been operational for a minimum of three months and has been subject to a management review and a full cycle of internal audits.
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Step 3
Following a successful stage two audit, a decision is made. If positive, your certification will be issued by NQA, with both a hard and soft copy of the certificate awarded. Certification is valid for three years and maintained through surveillance audits (years one and two) and a recertification audit in year three.