SMAS Worksafe cost-saving solution
The Aim of Safety Schemes in Procurement
In 2009, Safety Schemes in Procurement (SSiP) was formed to help achieve a H&S prequalification approach which was transparent, simple and strategic to procurement; and which was supported by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
A primary outcome for SSIP has been to establish a consistent approach to H&S assessments and streamline prequalification. One significant way in which it does this is through its ‘deem to satisfy’ mechanism, which offers a straightforward mutual recognition between its Member Schemes; meaning a company with a valid certificate with one Scheme is able to simply verify this with another Scheme in order to achieve secondary certification with them too.
SSiP currently reports in “excess of 75,000 suppliers are registered with an SSIP Member Scheme” and states based on recent findings that “Since inception of SSIP … mutual recognition has enabled savings to suppliers more than £41m in addition to the time savings by all parties involved.”
Our Commitment as an SSiP Member Scheme
When SMAS signed up as a registered member of SSiP and joined other organisations as a Member Scheme, we committed to the overall aims of the system to which we subscribed. That is – to actively drive out unnecessary cost and confusion from the supplier health and safety assessment requirement and help to reduce the administrative burden of multiple assessments by enabling effective cross-recognition of the SMAS Worksafe certificate against alternative SSiP Scheme certification e.g. CHAS and Safecontractor.
We fully committed to this vision and have operated since with SSiP’s core philosophy at the centre of our decision-making around the approach we take to assessments and our fees.
A Reduction in Bureaucracy should mean Cost Savings for All
As with any system setup to enable savings in industry, there is a clear expectation to see those savings passed down to all parties involved; especially to those who are directly the cost bearers of a particular process; which in this instance are the contractors required to demonstrate H&S systems at prequalification and to multiple clients.
SSiP enables real savings to contractors on the ground. SSiP mutual recognition offers a real opportunity for SMAS and other Member Schemes to do just that.
SMAS Worksafe – a Transparent and Simple Approach to H&S Assessment
SMAS take a practical approach to assessments. This is influenced heavily by the virtues of SSiP and our commitment to provide a genuine value-for-money service to our members and to enable direct savings to the front-line construction industry.
An approach to Mutual Recognition that meets the aims of SSiP
Other Schemes charge as much, or in some cases more, for organisations to request mutual recognition, rather than complete a full assessment with them. SMAS do not feel this is either fair or proportionate to the work involved in processing this request.
We have therefore committed to a much smaller fee for mutual recognition which covers the basic administrative costs involved in processing this registration for you. This means that if you have a Client who requires SMAS Worksafe and you already hold an SSiP certificate with another Scheme, then you only pay a reduced fee to register with SMAS, reducing the time involved to satisfy your Client but also helping you achieve significant cost savings too.
Additional Benefits of Mutual Recognition with SMAS
If your organisation holds an SSiP certificate with another Member Scheme, then you simply pay a lower cost and undertake a quick registration process in order to achieve SMAS Worksafe accreditation.
This means that for a discounted price you can benefit from:
- A significant saving in time and money to satisfy many Client H&S requirements – including Redrow Homes, Cala Homes, Persimmon Homes, Miller Homes, and many more…
- Be registered on the SMAS Contractor portal and visible to all Our Clients who use the platform to find and procure new suppliers