CHAS · SafeContractor · Achilles · UK contractor prequalification
CHAS, SafeContractor and Achilles accreditation for contractors who want to pass prequalification first time.
CHAS, SafeContractor and Achilles each assess contractors under their own schemes, and Sterling's expert and experienced consultants prepare the health and safety evidence those assessors ask for.
- Fixed scope, one proposal: consulting, Effivity software and Sterling Academy access in one proposal
- A team of expert and experienced health and safety consultants, working with contractors since 2003
- The Sterling Promise: 100% on-time completion, 100% success, 8,100+ client engagements. Sterling does not accredit; each scheme operator assesses and decides
8,100+ client engagements in 60+ countries.
Client experience across standards
What it is
What are CHAS, SafeContractor and Achilles?
They are UK prequalification schemes. A contractor submits its health and safety arrangements, and often its environmental and quality information, to the scheme operator, which assesses them and, if satisfied, lists the contractor as accredited. Buyers then use that status to shortlist contractors without repeating the same questions.
CHAS, now operating as Veriforce CHAS, runs contractor health and safety assessments. SafeContractor runs contractor certification, including SSIP certification. Achilles runs UVDB, a supplier pre-qualification community for UK utilities with an on-site audit option called UVDB Verify.
Status. Each operator publishes its own assessment standards, question sets and levels, and updates them from time to time. We prepare you against the version your assessor will use.
Who it is for
Who asks contractors for CHAS, SafeContractor or Achilles?
The request usually arrives in a tender or a client onboarding pack:
- Principal contractors and facilities managers. They need proof that subcontractors manage health and safety before work starts.
- Public sector and housing buyers. Frameworks often ask for SSIP-recognised accreditation.
- UK utilities. Water, energy and telecoms buyers use Achilles UVDB to qualify suppliers.
- Growing contractors. Firms moving into larger contracts meet these schemes for the first time.
Read the tender wording carefully: it names the scheme and level that counts.
Requirements
What do these schemes assess?
Each operator publishes its own question sets and levels, which are not reproduced here. The list below is what Sterling's work covers across the three schemes.
- Health and safety policy and arrangements: signed, current and matching how you actually work
- Risk assessments and method statements: for the work you tender for, not generic templates
- Competence and training: records for managers, supervisors and operatives
- Incident and monitoring records: accidents, inspections and actions taken
- Environmental and quality information: where the scheme level you need asks for it
- Assessor queries: answered with evidence until the assessment is closed
What does useful prequalification evidence look like?
A dated policy signed by a director, risk assessments tied to real jobs, training certificates, inspection records, accident reports with actions, and subcontractor checks. We keep them in Effivity, so the renewal submission is an update, not a rebuild.
Your engagement
What your CHAS, SafeContractor and Achilles engagement includes
Most contractors fail prequalification on missing or generic evidence, not on bad practice. Sterling fixes the evidence and the habits behind it, with one team from first submission to renewal.
Scheme and level check
The scheme and level your clients ask for, confirmed before you apply.
Policies and safe systems of work
Written with your managers, for the work you actually do.
Effivity ISO & GRC software
Records, inspections and actions in one workspace, included with the engagement at no additional cost.
Training for your people
Preferential Sterling Academy access, including complimentary awareness training for your people as part of the engagement.
Submission preparation
Question sets answered and evidence attached, reviewed before submission.
Assessor query support
Help closing every query until your status is confirmed.
Sterling does not accredit. Each scheme operator assesses your submission and decides on accreditation.
Often combined with
Standards organisations pair with CHAS, SafeContractor and Achilles
- API Spec Q1API Spec Q1 certification consulting for oil and gas suppliers: contract review, design, purchasing and release controlled, prepared for the APIQR audit.
- AWS StandardAWS water stewardship certification to the Alliance for Water Stewardship Standard: what it is, who asks for it and how Sterling prepares your site for audit.
- GRESBGRESB assessment explained: Real Estate, Infrastructure and Development components, the annual cycle, validation and ratings, and how Sterling prepares you.
- IEC 61511IEC 61511 compliance for process plants: the safety instrumented system lifecycle, functional safety management and the evidence your assessors expect.
- IEC 62443IEC 62443 certification consulting for industrial automation and control systems: zones, conduits and security levels for owners, integrators and suppliers.
- ISO 19443ISO 19443 certification support for nuclear supply chain quality: gap assessment, ISO 9001 based QMS, ITNS controls and audit readiness.
Effivity · ISO and GRC software, included in every engagement
How Effivity helps you run, automate and simplify your CHAS, SafeContractor and Achilles work.
Every Sterling CHAS, SafeContractor and Achilles engagement includes Effivity, the ISO and GRC automation platform built by the Sterling group and used in 50+ countries. Your consultant configures the workspace within the agreed scope, so documents, risks, audits, nonconformities, training records, supplier and contractor checks and management review live in one place, the system runs in daily work and the scheme assessor reviews a live system rather than a binder. Sterling consulting clients get their Effivity subscription included with the engagement, at no additional cost.
Context, scope and interested parties
The scope, the issues that matter and the interested parties behind your CHAS, SafeContractor and Achilles work sit in one register and are reviewed on a schedule, so the context stays current instead of being rewritten before each review.
Policy, roles and objectives
Commitments, responsibilities and objectives with their measures, owners and dates live where the people who own them work; progress is reported from the system, not from a separate spreadsheet.
Risks and opportunities
A risk and opportunity register with owners, actions and review dates; treatments tracked to closure and brought to management review automatically.
Competence, awareness and documented information
Training and competence records for every person, linked to Sterling Academy; documents with versions, approvals and distribution, so the current version is the only one in use.
Operational controls, suppliers and contractors
The controls your CHAS, SafeContractor and Achilles work depends on, with supplier and contractor checks, inspections and maintenance, each with its record created as the work is done.
Monitoring, internal audit and management review
Audit programmes, findings and follow-up; indicators on live dashboards; a management review that records its inputs, decisions and actions.
Nonconformity and corrective action
Raised, investigated and closed with root cause and the evidence that the action worked; recurring issues visible to management before they become a finding.
Your own processes, forms and reports
Forms, fields, workflows and reports adapted to how you work, without code; legal and customer requirements tracked to the processes they affect.
What this means at the assessment
When the assessor asks for a policy, a risk assessment or a training record, each is a record in Effivity with a date, an owner and the evidence attached. At renewal the file is already current.
In your engagement
- Subscription included with the engagement, at no additional cost
- Configured by your Sterling consultant within the agreed scope
- Your documents, records and registers migrated, not retyped
- Admin and user training for your team
- Modules for QMS, EMS, OHSMS, ISMS and more when you integrate other standards
Sterling Academy · e-learning for your people
Build health and safety awareness across your workforce, not just the office.
Sterling Academy delivers e-learning for the whole workforce and for the people who run the system: video lessons with practice checkpoints, a final exam and a numbered Certificate of Completion for each learner, verifiable online. Sterling consulting clients benefit from preferential Sterling Academy course access and special pricing through their Sterling consultant, including complimentary awareness training for their people as part of the engagement.
- Awareness training for every employee, with the evidence of competence your CHAS, SafeContractor and Achilles work needs
- Practitioner courses for the people who own processes and records
- Internal auditor training for the people who will audit the system, as applicable to your standard, as part of the engagement
- Learner progress by department and a training status report ready for the scheme assessor
- New hires trained as they arrive, so evidence stays current
- A Sterling consultant reachable when a learner needs one
Keep exploring
Explore more about CHAS, SafeContractor and Achilles
CHAS, SafeContractor and Achilles resources
Services for CHAS, SafeContractor and Achilles
Why Sterling
Want to pass CHAS, SafeContractor or Achilles first time? Come to Sterling.
Contractors working for several clients often need more than one scheme. We build one set of evidence that serves all of them, and connect it to ISO 45001 when you are ready.
60+ countries since 2003
Management systems implemented for manufacturers, contractors, service firms and public bodies across every region we serve, with one engagement team accountable across every country you operate in.
All-inclusive proposal
Consulting, Effivity, training and Academy access in one proposal, with scheme fees identified separately. No surprises, ever.
A system your people can use
Less documentation and maximum effectiveness: documents, training and software connected to day-to-day operations, so your people adopt the system rather than tolerate it.
Expert and experienced consultants
Expert and experienced consultants who have advised on management systems across sectors and countries since 2003, and who build your CHAS, SafeContractor and Achilles work properly the first time.
The Sterling Promise
What our CHAS, SafeContractor and Achilles success guarantee means
We stay with you until your agreed CHAS, SafeContractor and Achilles outcome is achieved, supporting implementation, preparation and the resolution of findings. Clear explanations, practical delivery, included software and employee learning turn the investment into lasting capability rather than a certificate on a wall.
The engagement identifies the scheme, level, outcome and responsibilities. Your organisation supplies accurate information and puts the agreed arrangements into use. The scheme operator assesses the submission and retains its decision. Our commitment concerns the agreed support, not a promise of any future tender award.
FAQs
Frequently asked questions about CHAS, SafeContractor and Achilles
Do we need CHAS, SafeContractor and Achilles, or just one?
Usually just the one your clients name. Buyers choose their scheme, so check each tender or onboarding pack; where schemes are recognised through SSIP, one assessment may satisfy more than one client.
What is SSIP?
SSIP is Safety Schemes in Procurement, a recognition arrangement between UK health and safety prequalification schemes. CHAS and SafeContractor both offer SSIP certification; confirm with your buyer whether SSIP recognition meets its requirement.
Is ISO 45001 accepted instead of CHAS or SafeContractor?
Not automatically. Some buyers accept ISO 45001 certification as evidence, others require their chosen scheme regardless, so check the tender; ISO 45001 evidence does make scheme submissions faster.
Keep exploring
More on CHAS, SafeContractor and Achilles and related standards
More in Construction, energy, oil & gas
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