Safety Schemes in Procurement
Last updated: 07 June 2012 15:30 UKWe are committed to ensure the health and safety of our residents, visitors, employees and everyone that uses our facilities and services.
As part of this on going commitment, we continually assess and monitor the way in which contractors and suppliers provide their services in Portsmouth, while also reviewing the way in which we carry out such assessments.
Any provider who wants to enter into a contract with us must be compliant with the Safety Schemes in Procurement (SSIP) Health and Safety Assessment Scheme.
SSIP, a not for profit umbrella organisation, was launched in May 2009 with the full support of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to facilitate mutual recognition between health and safety pre-qualification schemes, reducing duplication and improving standards of health and safety - ultimately saving lives.
SSIP does not just apply to construction companies but includes all organisations that provide services for us that may have an effect on our staff, residents, clients and customers. The aim of the scheme is to save time and resources by avoiding unnecessary duplication in assessing competence.
To require all our contractors to be SSIP compliant prior to the start of the contract is not feasible because of the limited resource in assessing companies. Therefore, any company who tenders for work with us must either be SSIP compliant or working towards compliance, which must be achieved within the term of the contract. Failure to subscribe to this requirement will be taken into consideration with any further applications for work.
In circumstances where a provider is not registered with a SSIP member our preferred SSIP scheme member is the Contractors Health & Safety Assessment Scheme (CHAS) - website www.chas.gov.uk. CHAS is a renowned and reliable pre-qualification scheme, which we have used for the vetting of suppliers for several years. It originated and is administered by the London Borough of Merton and is nationally recognised and used by local authorities throughout the UK. It is also the founder member of the SSIP scheme.
For further information on how your company can gain compliance please visit the SSIP website at www.ssip.org.uk.
Our ‘Health & Safety: The Procurement of Contractors, Suppliers and Partner Organisations Policy’ can be accessed, along with all of our corporate policies and strategies using the following link - http://www.portsmouth.gov.uk/yourcouncil/our-policies-and-strategies.html.
