A new survey has found that the vast majority of construction buyers don’t rate health and safety accreditation as their top priority when selecting a contractor.
The survey, which was commissioned by government certification service Constructionline, interviewed 105 construction buyers from a range of sectors, including local authorities, housing associations, universities, the Police and health authorities. Only 29 per cent of buyers rated health and safety accreditation as their number one priority for choosing a contractor, but almost half put cost at the top of the list.
In response to the findings, Safety Schemes in Procurement (SSIP) – the umbrella body of health and safety accreditation schemes – called on construction firms to consider how they assess their contractors’ health and safety capabilities before they are allowed on site.
Paul Reeve, SSIP chairman and head of business policy and practice at the Electrical Contractors’ Association, said: “The construction sector has been hit very hard by the recession and so it’s understandable that everyone in the industry is closely monitoring costs. One way clients can save on their direct costs, and avoid putting extra costs on their suppliers, is to pre-qualify suppliers who have been assessed by an SSIP member scheme.”
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No Sh*t Sherlock, Cost comes first.
Bloody hell, never would have imagined that, would you?
And how many of the others were liberal with the truth do you suppose?
We have just been approved by one of these procurement schemes.
All done on-line and by submission of “documented evidence”.
Not once did anyone phone to check anything submitted, let alone visit us to verify that we actually do what we say we do.
How is this deemed to be adequate under any circumstances?
Maybe the CV influenced them?
Pity it did not influence employers when chasing work post HSE?
Bob is bang on the money – again!
As for Mr Reeve, an individual whose opinion I usually respect – he is well off the mark. PQQs are meaningless and will remain so until audited by the ‘service provider, in the field.
The ‘assessors’ SSiP or otherwise are in the main box-tickers, operating under some illusion (powermad).
In construction, cost wins every time – recession or boooom!
Another self-serving organisation trying to justify their existence by promoting the benefits of their service. Cost is always and always will be the main priority for clients – end of story.