Making mutual recognition under SSIP simpler

SMAS is taking its Deem to Satisfy process online and it now only takes a few short minutes to apply.

When SMAS became a registered member of Safety Schemes in Procurement (SSiP) we fully committed to incorporating their core philosophy at the heart of our decision-making as well as the approach we take to Health and Safety (H&S) assessments. This has further influenced our aims in trying to actively drive out unnecessary cost and confusion from the supplier health and safety assessment requirement.

To further help and reduce the administrative burden of multiple assessments, we are able to cross-recognise the SMAS Worksafe certificate against alternative SSiP Scheme certificates, for example those issued by CHAS and Safecontractor. This process is called Deem to Satisfy (DtS) or Verification as it was formerly known and has been offered by SMAS and other SSiP members since its inception in 2009.

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 bearing the cost of the process. With SMAS investing heavily in the online Deem to Satisfy process, this greatly reduces the number of steps taken by the members required to demonstrate H&S systems at prequalification. This means not only can the members save time, but they can instantly become more attractive to multiple clients. The contractor has already done the hard work and carried out a full assessment with an alternate scheme, so we shouldn’t be looking to ask too much from them this second time around.

With exclusive access to the SSiP portal, SMAS are able to draw out all the relevant information needed and so can process these requests with very little information required from the contractor themselves. This means heavily-reduced steps for our members who come in via the deem to satisfy route, taking only a few short minutes to complete the process and attain a SMAS Worksafe certificate.

SMAS Technical manager, Marcus Rose, commented, “We believe this is another way we are offering genuine savings to our members, not only in terms of providing value for money services, but also reducing the burden of the bureaucracy involved by removing unnecessary hoops and providing smarter ways to fulfil their Clients SSiP requirements.”