ECA concern over health and safety awareness

The growing number of UK safety pre-qualification schemes continues to cause operational problems for contractors and is undermining the promotion of health and safety awareness, the Electrical Contractors’ Association (ECA) has warned.

Pre-qualification schemes have a useful role to play when listing contractors for invitation to tender and are especially useful in determining health and safety awareness and management competence.

However, according to the ECA, the expansion in the number of schemes to about a dozen in recent years is undermining their usefulness.

And the number of schemes causes unnecessary duplication, costs and wasted time. Too often, instead of adding value for clients and contractors, the number of schemes reinforces the myth that health and safety is a burden.

“No contractor should have to buy into numerous schemes just to show it has basic health and safety credentials," said ECA director David Pollock.

“The different requirements costs construction and maintenance business time and money. That is bad enough, but the cost of engaging with numerous schemes also undermines the important message that cost-effective health and safety measures add value to business”.

Recognising this, ECA is working with SELECT, fellow members of the Specialist Engineering Contractors Group (SEC) and other key industry players, including the Health and Safety Executive, the Major Constructors’ Group/Construction Confederation and CHAS, to establish UK-wide core criteria for health and safety pre-qualification.