Contractor competence and accreditation: what to check before appointing someone
A contractor may hold a recognised accreditation and still be unsuitable for a particular job; another may lack the certificate yet have the skills, experience and supervision for a low-risk task. The point is not to ignore third-party assessment. It is to understand what that assessment covers and then make a job-specific appointment decision.
HSE says third-party assessment is one way to demonstrate competence, and tells buyers to check a supplier’s skills and track record before work begins. For construction under CDM 2015, contractors need the skills, knowledge, experience and, where relevant, organisational capability to do the work safely. HSE: conformity assessment schemes; HSE: CDM contractor roles.
What accreditation can usefully tell you
A third-party scheme reviews an organisation’s arrangements against its standard. This is useful organisational evidence that a system exists for policies, risk assessment, training and monitoring. Ask what the scheme assessed, the scope of the certificate, its current status, the legal entity and validity. A certificate issued to a parent company may not cover a specialist subcontractor; a current certificate may not tell you whether the appointed supervisor has experience with this equipment or environment. “CHAS approved”, “SSIP recognised” and “ISO certified” describe different things and are not interchangeable with a job-specific licence, registration or statutory appointment.
Define the job before checking competence
Competence is always competence for something. Begin with a scope, location, environment, hazards, other affected people, timing, interfaces and expected output. A poor scope produces poor evidence requests. You end up collecting generic certificates because you have not decided what needs proving. Organise the review into three layers. Baseline organisational evidence covers safety arrangements, insurance and scheme assessment. Technical evidence covers qualifications, registrations, relevant projects, equipment and supervision. Site evidence shows that the method fits this location, the people and any concurrent activities. This prevents both under-checking and over-checking.
Assess the organisation and the actual team
Ask about comparable work. The useful question is not “Have you worked in healthcare?” but “Have you completed this kind of shutdown while clinical services remained open?” The named supervisor matters: who directs the work, how often they are present and what authority they have to stop or change the task. At pre-start, compare the named roles with the people who arrive. Competence is not a binary “has card / has no card”: a developing worker may safely perform a task under suitable supervision while being unsuitable to lead it alone.
Construction: apply CDM 2015 roles correctly
Under CDM 2015 a construction contractor must plan, manage and monitor its work; check workers’ skills, knowledge, training and experience; provide appropriate supervision, information and instruction; and coordinate with others. Identify the CDM role the candidate would undertake. A trade subcontractor’s evidence is not automatically enough to make it a principal contractor. HSE: CDM L153.
Treat subcontracting as a new competence decision
Ask early whether the contractor intends to subcontract design, lifting, electrical work, waste handling or specialist inspection. Usually you need separate evidence for the actual supplier and a clear coordination arrangement. Prevent “silent substitution” after approval: require notice and review before a material change in subcontractor, supervisor or method. Track approval by scope and location, not just supplier name. A contractor might be approved to maintain a plant room but not to undertake structural alteration or specialist asbestos work.
A compact review matrix
| Question | Evidence that helps | What it cannot prove alone |
|---|---|---|
| Is the business organised for safe work? | Relevant third-party assessment, policies, track record | Competence of every worker for this task |
| Can it perform this technical activity? | Relevant projects, qualifications, specialist registration, equipment | Suitability of the method for this site |
| Can it manage this scale? | Named managers, resources, supervision plan, subcontractor arrangements | That the promised people will attend |
| Will the method protect people here? | Site survey, task-specific plan, interface controls | That conditions will remain unchanged |
| Can it respond if things change? | Change and stop-work process, reporting lines | That no incident will occur |
Use the matrix to ask better questions, not to calculate a fake universal score. A low-risk job may need a short documented review; higher-risk work needs deeper evidence and competent specialist input. Do not leave “conditional approval” open-ended. Name who must supply the missing evidence and the point before which work cannot start.
FAQs
Is a health and safety accreditation legally required for every contractor?
No universal rule says every contractor must hold the same scheme certificate. HSE recognises third-party assessment as one way to demonstrate capability and notes proportionate alternatives for low-risk suppliers. Particular contracts or sectors may impose scheme requirements, so check the actual procurement and legal requirements that apply.
Does accreditation prove the contractor is competent?
It is evidence about what the scheme assessed, within its scope and validity. It does not by itself establish that the actual organisation, people and method are suitable for every job. HSE advises checking skills and track record too; for construction, CDM 2015 focuses on skills, knowledge, experience and organisational capability.
Can a contractor without a scheme certificate ever be selected?
Depending on the work and procurement rules, a client may assess capability through other relevant evidence; HSE notes alternatives to third-party schemes for low-risk work. The decision still needs to be proportionate and reasoned. A missing certificate is not automatically a safe or unsafe finding.
When should the assessment be repeated?
Revisit it when scope, site, team, subcontractors, equipment or key evidence changes, or when delivery reveals a concern. Set proportionate scheduled reviews for longer relationships, but do not wait for a calendar date after a serious change or incident.
Where Complys fits
Complys can put scheme evidence, named-worker records, task scope and expiry dates in one place and make a status change visible. It does not make a legally conclusive competence judgement, check every specialist register or approve a contractor for a job automatically. That decision belongs to competent people who know the work and site.
Sources
- HSE: health and safety conformity assessment schemes
- HSE: CDM 2015 contractor roles
- HSE: CDM L153 guidance
- HSE: using contractors, INDG368
- HSE: managing contractors, HSG159
Related: managing contractors in shared workplaces, contractor onboarding, and RAMS explained.
In this series: managing contractors in a shared workplace, contractor scope changes, contractor completion evidence.