Chas help

[AA Teccie (Paul)]

I run a small 2 man team doing domestic and commercial tree work. lately we have had quite a bit of commercial stuff come through and keep getting asked if we are chas accredited, i am not! i have started filling in the necessary paperwork and have completed it all apart from the having access to competent health and safety advise. I know it says as a sole trader i can do this myself or appoint an employee but i honestly dont think neither of us know 100% of everything there is to know. should i seek outside help? or is there somwhere i can look to update my knowledge on current h&s

 

Hi Simon,

 

As a small business you should find all you need, and probably more, here Help becoming an ARB Approved Contractor .

 

As others have said, if you are an AA member, or ARB Approved Contractor (which also includes CHAS), you could state that as a source of competent advice...BUT not myself as your H&S competence person. That would have to be yourself, or A-N-other, internal or external.

 

As others have said, CHAS can 'open doors' in the commercial arena and certainly ARB Approved Contractor status has benefitted greatly from the relationship.

 

Cheers, n 'good luck'..

Paul

[daveindales]

I do it every year and its a doddle. It serves me well.

 

Yes, I know its easy enough to fill in (I also did my own). There is a bit of paperwork though. The point I was trying to make was that I read somewhere that only 5% of applications to CHAS fail. Either people are really H&S conscious, or they just put what suits on the application forms, knowing that nobody will come out to check over their business.

[Robert_S]

It's designed to bypass the PQQ element of H&S on tender forms but is also looked at as an indicator of a basic level of H&S competence. For example, your doing everything you should be for the size of your business.

 

In the real world it really doesn't mean that much but is a box ticking exercise. Yes of course you can do it yourself but many get me to do theirs because the can't be bothered with the hassle and questions from assessors.

 

CHAS is quite a simple process and the assessors are very helpful. SAFEContractor is a nightmare.

 

If you need any advise or help PM me.

 

Best Regards.

 

PS I'm NEBOSH qualified which ticks the competence box quite nicely.

 

Ain't that the truth, I let my CHAS approval lapse but will get it again, the contract I secured required SAFE contractor. As above they were horrible to deal with :thumbdown:

[simonm]

Hi Simon,

 

As a small business you should find all you need, and probably more, here Help becoming an ARB Approved Contractor .

 

As others have said, if you are an AA member, or ARB Approved Contractor (which also includes CHAS), you could state that as a source of competent advice...BUT not myself as your H&S competence person. That would have to be yourself, or A-N-other, internal or external.

 

As others have said, CHAS can 'open doors' in the commercial arena and certainly ARB Approved Contractor status has benefitted greatly from the relationship.

 

Cheers, n 'good luck'..

Paul

 

 

Cheers Paul yes ive found those templates very useful in the past.