Altius have been successfully audited and accredited by Safety Schemes In Procurement (SSIP), paving the way towards mutual recognition of assessed contractors’ compliance with CDM 2007 ACoP stage one Core Criteria.
Altius firmly believe that SSIP is a huge step in the right direction, establishing common minimum standards for suppliers and helping to make supply chains more effective and successful. Gary Plant, MD of Altius said, “We are delighted to have joined the movement and fully intend to work with other members to bring further benefits to all of our clients”.
The SSIP Forum was established as an umbrella organisation to promote mutual recognition amongst health and safety pre-qualification schemes. The members of the SSIP Forum have made agreements to enable the mutual recognition of each other’s health and safety assessments. A key element in this agreement is that each of the participating schemes has agreed, and been subjected to, an independent annual audit by an Auditor appointed by SSIP, but agreed with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Currently, John Lacey, chair of the IOSH Construction group is fulfilling this role.
The SSIP Forum’s website is now live and can be found at www.ssip.org.uk. It describes the mutual recognition arrangements that are in place between the schemes. In simple terms, any contractor or supplier, who has their Health and Safety Competence assessed by an SSIP Forum member scheme, knows that that scheme applies the CDM 2007 Core Criteria in a proportionate, consistent and thorough manner, and that that scheme is subject to an annual audit under arrangements approved by the HSE. Any client looking to engage a supplier who has been assessed by an SSIP member will benefit from this, but also from knowing that the SSIP schemes operate mutual recognition. In this way clients have a larger pool of suppliers to choose from and contractors should have to undergo fewer onerous assessment processes.
Tameside, Wigan, Doncaster, Cardiff and Bexley Councils, along with Royal Mail Group, Kier Group, Persimmon and Miller Homes are amongst the increasing number of clients who have announced their intention to embrace the SSIP Forum’s ethos and simply seek verification of a contractor or consultant’s compliance with CDM 2007 ACoP Stage 1 Core Criteria with a relevant SSIP Forum member scheme.
Of course, all of Altius’ direct clients have additional requirements over and above the CDM Core Criteria, which still need to be assessed and kept up to date. However, Altius Assured vendors can rest assured that their Altius status gains them recognition with all SSIP members (including CHAS and Constructionline), and many public and private sector clients like those listed above, in addition to their chosen clients in the Altius scheme such as Punch Taverns and SGP Property & Facilities Management.