Chas or safe contractor?

[local patios and driveway]

Anyone following either of these schemes for health and saftey part of business? Got any views on either or maybe views on exor?

Im not sure which scheme to follow, but we want to step up on a commercial level and at the very least make working on site safer

[haggistini]

Dunno!

[London Stone Paving]

What is the cost of joining them?

[bobbi o]

Chas is the one if you want public sector work.you'll need an h&s advisor to guide you thro it,be prepared to spend some wonga and get all the relevant training for your trade and the tools/machinery you use.

[local patios and driveway]

Thanks bobbi. I had been told it wasnt cheap, but like you say its good for public sector work, specifically the groundwork side of the business. Im going to take a look down that road and see how it pans out

[London Stone Paving]

Before you commit to spending a load of money I would have a think about it. Health & safety is not as daunting as it looks and is something you can do in house. How many people are you currently employing?

[DNgroundworks]

Id say CHAS myself, have looked into it a little bit before. TBH i struggle to get my head round all the H&S stuff, im slowly learning though.

Construction Line could be good too, councils round my way actively search the database for suitable contractors - ive heard it can be hardwork joining though.

[Dave_L]

Either will wrap you up in reams and reams of paperwork!

[DNgroundworks]

Does it not help with pre-qualifying for tenders though Dave? It means you dont have to go through the same H&S malarky at the beginning of every tender, you can just submit your CHAS number?

[Dave_L]

I no longer get involved with big tenders/site stuff. Too many out there doing it for nothing, waste of time.

Last big outfit we worked for was Connaught, the H&S input they required was horrendous (SafeContractor and EXOR). Not keen to go back to it.

[DNgroundworks]

So where does your work come from Dave LA's, private's, etc?

[bobbi o]

You can currently survive without chas,in the future who knows.

you need it to tender for most public sector opportunitys.

most folks like us dont bother,as its a major hassle. personally, i couldnt fill out the forms,so joined a local construction safety group and got a professional form filler to do it.

all the boys had to do courses for stihl saws/first aid/banksman/fire safety/loaders etc etc etc. most of this was done on site/yard. if your the boss you'll have to do a serious 5 day in the classroom job. in my case it was streetworks supervisor.

i'd advise you to go for it,as you may have a tasty job come up,which without it you may not be allowed to tender.

[Dave_L]

So where does your work come from Dave LA's, private's, etc?

Mainly private work, with a fair bit of commerial work but no LA work apartfrom a bit of school work.

[Dave_L]

Strange timing or what - This week we are working in a School - and last week we were asked to quote for road resurfacing around a hospital for the local authority!