By Eleanor Eaton, Chair of Safety Schemes in Procurement (SSIP)
In today’s dynamic business landscape, demonstrating a robust commitment to health and safety isn’t just good practice; it’s a fundamental legal requirement and a strategic imperative. For businesses across various sectors, particularly those operating within complex supply chains, navigating the myriads of compliance demands can feel like an uphill battle.
This is where Safety Schemes in Procurement (SSIP) steps in, offering a streamlined, efficient, and increasingly vital pathway for businesses to demonstrate their legal requirements for skills, knowledge, experience, and organisational capability.
As Chair of SSIP, I am continually working to promote the benefits of our assessment process, actively reducing health and safety assessment costs and bureaucracy within the supply chain. Our focus remains on ensuring SSIP remains agile and evolves to ensure health and safety pre-qualification assessment is always fit for purpose.
Proportionate Approach and Unrivalled Visibility
One of the core strengths of an SSIP assessment lies in its proportionate approach. We understand that businesses come in all shapes and sizes, and their health and safety risks vary. Our member schemes are audited against the SSIP Core Criteria, which define what it means for a business to comply with basic health and safety legislation. This ensures an equivalent level of health and safety competence across the board, regardless of which SSIP Member Scheme a business chooses. This prevents unnecessary burdens on smaller enterprises while ensuring robust standards for all.
Furthermore, achieving SSIP certification provides invaluable visibility on the SSIP Portal. This central, freely available database lists over 90,000 suppliers registered with an SSIP Member Scheme. For clients, this means quick and easy access to a pool of pre-qualified, competent contractors, saving them significant time and effort in their procurement processes. For businesses, it means being readily discoverable by potential clients actively seeking compliant partners – a powerful marketing tool in its own right.
The Power of “Deem to Satisfy” (DtS)
Perhaps the most significant benefit of an SSIP assessment is the ability to “Deem to Satisfy” (DtS) into all SSIP providers. This mutual recognition principle is the
cornerstone of SSIP’s mission to reduce duplication. If a business is certified by one SSIP Member Scheme, that certification is recognised by all other Registered members. This eliminates the need for businesses to complete multiple, often near-identical, health and safety assessments for different clients who may prefer different schemes.
The financial and administrative savings generated by DtS are substantial. In 2023 alone, suppliers and clients collectively saved over £68 million through mutual recognition. This allows businesses to reallocate valuable time and resources from repetitive paperwork to operational excellence and growth, fostering innovation and competitiveness.
SSIP: Accelerating Your Compliance & Strengthening Your Tender Position
The procurement landscape is continuingly evolving, with a clear move towards efficiency and robust risk management. While the Common Assessment Standard (CAS) is gaining traction, especially in the public sector, SSIP’s core mission to reduce duplication and streamline health and safety compliance remains paramount.
The good news for SSIP-certified businesses is that our rigorous health and safety assessments are directly integrated into the CAS framework. This means:
· You’ve already met a significant portion of CAS criteria. Your existing SSIP certification directly addresses the health and safety questions within the CAS.
· Faster Assessments: Leverage your SSIP certification to significantly speed up your CAS submission. You’ll provide less information and complete the assessment in a fraction of the time.
· Enhanced Tender Opportunities: This streamlined approach not only saves you administrative effort but also accelerates your ability to tender for both public and private sector projects that increasingly require CAS compliance.
SSIP certification isn’t just about compliance; it’s about giving you a significant head start, saving you time, and boosting your competitive edge in today’s demanding market.
A Strategic Investment in Your Business
In conclusion, an SSIP assessment is far more than a tick-box exercise. It is a strategic investment that provides clear, demonstrable evidence of your business’s legal compliance regarding skills, knowledge, experience, and organisational capability. Through a proportionate approach, enhanced visibility on the SSIP Portal, the significant
benefits of “Deem to Satisfy,” and seamless alignment with the Common Assessment Standard, SSIP empowers businesses to:
· Demonstrate competence with ease and confidence.
· Unlock new business opportunities by meeting client requirements.
· Achieve substantial cost and time savings through reduced duplication.
· Streamline and accelerate engagement with the Common Assessment Standard.
By embracing SSIP, businesses are not just meeting their legal obligations; they are positioning themselves for greater efficiency, increased competitiveness, and a safer, more sustainable future within their respective industries.
