SSIP readiness checker

What SSIP is, and how this checklist is built

SSIP stands for Safety Schemes in Procurement. It is a forum of health and safety pre-qualification schemes — including CHAS, SafeContractor, SMAS and Constructionline — that all assess contractors against a single shared standard called the SSIP Core Criteria. Those criteria are approved by the HSE and describe what it means for a business to comply with the fundamentals of health and safety law, broadly mirroring the duties in CDM 2015 and the management approach in HSE's HSG65. This checklist groups its questions around those core criteria, so you are reviewing the same areas an assessor reviews.

“Deem to satisfy” — you usually only need one scheme

Because every member scheme assesses against the same Core Criteria, the schemes recognise each other's assessments. Holding a valid certificate with one SSIP member is generally accepted by clients and principal contractors who use another — this is the “deem to satisfy” or mutual-recognition principle. In practice it means you normally don't need to pass multiple full assessments to work for clients on different schemes, and an SSIP certificate also exempts you from the health and safety section of the Common Assessment Standard.

The five-or-more-employees threshold

One requirement depends on your size. Under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act, once you employ five or more people you must have your health and safety policy written down. Below that the duty still exists but the policy need not be in writing — although SSIP assessors expect a documented, signed policy regardless. The checklist above asks for your size first and tailors items such as the written policy and employers' liability insurance accordingly.

What assessors typically sample

• A health and safety policy whose statement of intent is signed by the most senior person and dated within the last 12 months, plus who is responsible for what.
• Site-specific example RAMS — commonly two, from separate recent projects. Generic, off-the-shelf documents are the most frequent reason for a referral; assessors spot them quickly.
• Training and competence evidence — usually a training matrix with expiry dates, certificates for legally required topics, skills cards (such as CSCS) and first-aid provision.
• Accident records and an awareness of what must be reported to the HSE under RIDDOR.
• Current insurance certificates — public liability, and employers' liability once you have employees.
• Where you use them, evidence that you check and monitor subcontractors; and, where relevant, your welfare, COSHH and PPE arrangements.

Important — what this tool does and doesn't do

This is a self-assessment of how ready your evidence is, not a prediction of the result. A high score means you appear to hold the kind of evidence an assessor expects to see; it does not guarantee accreditation. Each scheme makes its own assessment, and holding an SSIP certificate does not by itself prove you can manage the specific risks of any one site — clients still check that separately. For the definitive criteria and the current list of member schemes, see ssip.org.uk.