Contractor approval process: a practical GB workflow

Approve a contractor for a defined scope of work, at a defined site and time—not just as a permanently “approved company.” A useful process identifies the job's hazards, checks whether the contractor and named people are suitable, exchanges site and method information, records any conditions before work begins, and monitors whether those conditions remain true. A firm may be suitable to inspect an asset but not to repair it; its insurance may be current today and expire next month; the supervisor who was assessed may be replaced.

For construction work in Great Britain, HSE's CDM guidance describes contractors' skills, knowledge, experience and organisational capability and their planning, supervision and coordination duties. HSE's guidance on competence emphasises the ability to apply training, skill, experience and knowledge to perform a task safely. Prequalification documents help, but a document checklist alone cannot make the work safe. The process below is usable beyond construction, provided the organisation substitutes the sector's actual legal and technical requirements.

1. Define the work before collecting documents

Write down the task, premises, expected duration, people affected, interfaces with your own operations and the likely high-risk steps. State whether the appointment is for inspection, design, installation, maintenance, removal, emergency response or ongoing service. This avoids a common error: asking every supplier for the same pack regardless of whether they will paint an empty office, excavate near utilities or work on an occupied school roof.

Record who commissions the work, who controls the premises, who will supervise and who has authority to stop or vary it. For a construction project, identify the actual CDM client, principal designer and principal contractor arrangements where applicable; do not assume that an approved-supplier flag appoints a dutyholder. A commercial client may need to provide pre-construction information. The HSE commercial-client guidance should guide that handover.

2. Set risk-based approval criteria

Separate the criteria into four groups:

Do not turn every commercial condition into a legal rule. A client can require a certain insurance limit or scheme badge by contract; that is different from a statutory licence. Conversely, where law requires a licensed specialist, a general accreditation or insurance certificate is not a substitute. HSE's CDM L153 guidance recommends proportionate enquiries addressing the anticipated risks and capability, rather than duplicated paperwork that distracts from practical risk management.

3. Request and verify the relevant evidence

Ask for documents that answer the criteria you set. Typical items may include legal-entity details, insurance, occupation-specific competence, specialist registration/licence, relevant accreditations, safety policy, training records, proposed supervisor, task RAMS, equipment inspection and references for comparable work. The exact list depends on the scope. Check the holder, dates, activity and exclusions—not just the file name. Confirm information with the issuing body's current checker where appropriate. If an insurance certificate is missing a relevant activity or a card belongs to a different person, mark the issue for resolution instead of calling the supplier approved.

An SSIP assessment is one way to evidence organisational capability at prequalification, not the only way. It does not prove a worker can perform every task, validate a site-specific method or replace the commissioning organisation's decision. The separate Complys contractor competence versus accreditation guide owns the detailed distinction; this page focuses on the approval workflow.

Practical review order: check scope and legal entity first; then specialist permissions and insurance; then company capability; then named people and method; then the site interface. This sequence avoids spending time reviewing RAMS for a contractor that lacks a mandatory permission for the work. If a question cannot be resolved from a document, discuss the method and evidence with the contractor. A request for clarification is a valid intermediate state, not approval.

4. Exchange information both ways

Contractor approval is not a one-way upload. The client/site controller must share relevant premises hazards, access rules, emergency arrangements, asbestos and utility information, programme constraints and other work that may interact. The contractor should explain its sequence, plant, exclusions, subcontractors, temporary works and any information it needs before starting. Record questions and decisions. A contractor cannot prepare a meaningful method for a site it knows only by postcode.

For construction, HSE says commercial clients provide pre-construction information to designers and contractors, while contractors plan and manage their work and coordinate with others. If the site has a specific work control—such as a permit to work, isolation, possession, hot-work authorisation or occupancy restriction—agree which party issues it and when. A supplier can be on an approved list yet still need a separate job-start permit or final RAMS review.

5. Make a recorded decision with limits

Use four possible outcomes: approved for the defined work, approved with conditions, deferred pending evidence/action, or not approved for this work. State who decided, on what evidence, when, for which entity and scope, and what triggers re-review. Avoid a single green badge with no expiry or limits. A “conditional approval” must name the condition and who checks it before work starts; it is not permission to ignore a missing licence or unsafe method.

Copyable contractor approval record

Store the evidence and decision together. If an auditor later asks why the contractor was selected, the record should show the real scope and review, not just a certificate folder. Apply appropriate access limits and retention to personal information in worker records; do not scatter passports, ID documents and training records indiscriminately by email.

6. Check the work-start gate

Before the first shift, confirm the named people, method and conditions still match the approval. Have the workers received a suitable site-specific induction? Is the agreed supervisor present? Are the right permits, isolations, access equipment and welfare arrangements in place? Has the principal contractor coordinated other work? An approval decision made during tendering can be months old. It should not silently replace the current job-start check.

Do not add a generic “every contractor must sign RAMS” rule. Risk assessment and safe-work information must be understood and applied; the form and sign-off depend on the work and site process. HSE's contractor guidance specifies supervision, information, instruction and induction. Record briefing evidence where it helps, but observe whether the job follows the method.

7. Monitor, change and close out

During the contract, monitor work proportionately to risk. Track critical evidence renewal, new workers/subcontractors, changes in plant or method and incidents or defects. If an insurance certificate or accreditation expires, investigate the actual contractual/legal consequence and put the relevant work decision on hold pending replacement; do not assume every expiry has the same effect. If site conditions change, the contractor and site controller should revisit the method and communicate the new controls.

At completion, obtain the records the work produces: test results, inspection certificates, as-built information, waste evidence, handover instructions and outstanding defects as applicable. Review performance, close corrective actions and decide whether the supplier remains suitable for similar future work. “Approved supplier” should mean a maintained record, not a permanent promise.

Two examples of proportionate approval

Low-risk office decoration in an empty area. The commissioner checks the legal entity, insurance required by contract, relevant experience, work method for access/chemicals, isolation from employees and a named supervisor. A high-volume 60-question prequalification pack may add little. The site information and start-time access restrictions may matter more than another generic policy.

Occupied block roof repair. The managing agent needs the work scope, competence for the roof system and access method, fall and falling-object controls, resident protection, appropriate insurance and project-specific method. If intrusive work may disturb unknown material, that information gap is a start-work hold. A broad property-manager onboarding article covers that sector's workflow; this guide owns the general approval decision applicable across work types.

Common mistakes

• One fixed document list for all contractors, irrespective of task risk.
• Treating insurance, SSIP or a site card as proof of task competence.
• Checking only the company, not the individuals and supervisor who will attend.
• Sending a contractor a form but withholding site hazards needed for the method.
• Granting open-ended approval with no work scope, conditions or recheck trigger.
• Assuming a prequalification approval also issues a permit or CDM appointment.
• Trusting an automated “valid” status without checking scope or exceptions.
• Failing to update the record after a changed method, new subcontractor or expired document.

Complys product boundary and next step

The Complys contractor prequalification and contractor compliance pages are natural commercial destinations, subject to exact route, domain and current implementation checks. The product may help organise evidence, reminders and recorded decisions, but the approving organisation remains responsible for its suitability decision. Do not say Complys issues accreditations, certifies competence, verifies every regulator register, automatically grants CDM permission or guarantees a contractor is safe to deploy. Any specific automated document-review, access-control or job-blocking claim needs a live feature/plan check before CTA copy is published.

Source, owner, links, product and writer-side QA

Terminal writer-side disposition: READY.