Guide
CHAS vs SafeContractor vs Constructionline
Three names, two kinds of thing. Two are health and safety schemes; one is a procurement database with a health and safety element inside it. Here is how to choose.
CHAS
The Contractors Health and Safety Assessment Scheme, operated by Veriforce CHAS, is the most recognised SSIP scheme in UK construction. Strongest where your buyers are main contractors, councils and housing associations. Tiered packages run from core health and safety up to the full Common Assessment Standard.
SafeContractor
Alcumus SafeContractor is also an SSIP member scheme, historically strong with facilities management, retail and corporate clients: the buyers who maintain approved contractor lists for maintenance work. If your work leans FM and service contracts rather than construction sites, SafeContractor may be the name your clients know.
Constructionline (and Acclaim)
Constructionline is different in kind: a pre-qualification database that buyers search, with membership tiers (Bronze upward). The health and safety verification inside it, Acclaim, is the SSIP member scheme. Silver and Gold tiers include Acclaim and add verification of financial and other procurement information. Some large buyers require Constructionline membership specifically because they use it as their supplier search tool.
The decision in three questions
- Has a buyer named a scheme? Get that one. The point of accreditation is satisfying the buyer in front of you.
- Do they accept any SSIP? Pick by sector: construction trades lean CHAS, FM and maintenance lean SafeContractor. Then use deem-to-satisfy to cover the others cheaply; our SSIP guide explains how.
- Are they procurement-led? If buyers search Constructionline for suppliers, membership at the tier they specify is the ticket, with Acclaim covering the safety element.
The part that stays the same
Whichever badge you pursue, the assessment reads the same underlying documents: a signed trade-specific policy, RAMS for your real activities, training records, accident records, insurance. Build that set once, properly, and every scheme becomes an admin exercise. That set, for electrical contractors, is the electrician pack.
For electrical contractors
Electrician CHAS pack · £95
Policy, five electrical RAMS, COSHH assessments, training matrix and registers, each mapped to what the assessor checks.
Common questions
Are CHAS, SafeContractor and Constructionline the same thing?
They overlap but differ. CHAS and SafeContractor are health and safety assessment schemes under the SSIP umbrella. Constructionline is a pre-qualification database whose health and safety element, Acclaim, is the SSIP part; its membership tiers cover wider procurement information.
Which is best for a small contractor?
Whichever your key buyer names. Given a free choice, CHAS is the most widely recognised among UK main contractors and public bodies, and deem-to-satisfy lets you convert it for buyers who use a different scheme.