Construction health and safety software for small builders and subcontractors
The principal contractor wants your cards, tickets and RAMS before you start. SafetyPro360 keeps them in one place with their expiry dates, on the phone in your pocket.
14 days free, then from £9.99 a month, with no card needed to start.
“Can you send your training records and RAMS before you start on site?”
A principal contractor, or the client's pre-qualification questionnaire
It comes with the order, a week before the start date. Under CDM 2015 whoever appoints a contractor has to take reasonable steps to check they have the skills, knowledge and experience for the job, so the question is not going away.
Health and safety for builders: who asks, and what for
The principal contractor asks for a CSCS card for each person you send, plant tickets (CPCS or NPORS), asbestos awareness and working at height. CSCS says a card is not a legal requirement: it is up to the principal contractor or client whether to insist on one. Most do.
The law asks for something plainer. Under the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 a contractor must plan, manage and monitor their own work so that, so far as is reasonably practicable, it is done without risk. You must not put anyone on site who lacks the skills, knowledge, training and experience for the task, unless they are in the process of getting them. Each worker must get supervision, instructions and information, including a site induction where the principal contractor has not given one. If you are the only contractor, you also draw up the construction phase plan.
The pre-qualification schemes (CHAS, SafeContractor, Constructionline) ask for the paperwork behind all that. The Core Criteria used by Safety Schemes in Procurement (SSIP) members look for a signed policy dated within the last 12 months, risk assessments and method statements from a job in the last 12 months, training that is in date and what you did after your last two accidents.
Cards and tickets, person by person, with their expiry dates
Add each card and ticket as a course: CSCS card, CPCS or NPORS ticket by plant category, asbestos awareness, working at height, SSSTS or SMSTS for whoever runs the job, first aid. Say how many months each lasts and which roles need it. When someone passes, enter the date, the certificate number and the provider.
The matrix shows every person against every course a role requires: in date, running out within 30 days, expired, or needed and never done. Labour-only subcontractors go on it too, marked as contractors.
- Expiry worked out from how long each card lasts
- Certificate number and provider on every record
- Filter by role
Toolbox talks and inductions with the names on them
Record the talk on your phone when it finishes: the title, the topic, the date, how long it took, the key points and who was there. Tick who should have heard it, by role if you like, and anyone who missed it stays on an outstanding list until they have.
Your own site induction can be kept the same way, so there is a dated list of who had it.
The documents the questionnaire asks for, and whether each is in date
List the documents your firm should hold: health and safety policy, employers' liability and public liability certificates, your CHAS or SafeContractor certificate, risk assessments and method statements, the construction phase plan for the job in hand. Give each a review period and upload the file with its expiry date.
The document matrix shows which are current, which are expiring, which have expired or are overdue a review, and which were never uploaded. SafetyPro360 does not write risk assessments or method statements. It holds the ones you have and shows when each is due.
- Review periods of 6 months, 12 months, 2 years or 3 years
- Missing documents listed alongside the ones you hold
- Files open only for someone logged in to your account
How a small builder uses each part
- Training matrixCSCS cards, CPCS and NPORS tickets, asbestos awareness, working at height and first aid for every operative, with anything that runs out in the next 30 days marked.
- Toolbox talksThe Monday talk on the excavation, the scaffold or the dust, with who was there and who was on another job that day.
- Inspections and checksYour own checklists for the weekly site walk-round, the ladders and the mixer. Each completed check is kept with its date, who did it and what failed.
- Incident reportingA near miss with the telehandler or a cut hand, written up on a phone before you leave site. Reporting under RIDDOR is still done on HSE's website.
- Document registerInsurance certificates, RAMS, the construction phase plan and the inspection reports your scaffolder hands you, each with a review or expiry date.
- PPE stockHard hats, hi-vis, gloves, glasses and dust masks counted by item, with a reorder level so the box is not empty on a Monday morning.
Questions people ask
What health and safety records does a small construction firm need?
There is no single legal list. In practice you are asked for proof that your people are trained, inducted and briefed, your risk assessments and method statements, your insurance and a record of accidents. The only contractor on a job must also draw up a construction phase plan under CDM 2015.
Is a CSCS card a legal requirement?
No. CSCS says holding a card is not a legislative requirement, and that it is up to the principal contractor or client whether workers need one to get on site. Most principal contractors and major house builders require it. What CDM 2015 requires is the skills, knowledge, training and experience for the task.
Does CDM 2015 apply to small builders and domestic jobs?
Yes. The contractor duties apply on every construction project, whatever its size. On a domestic job with one contractor, HSE's guidance is that the contractor takes on the client's duties as well as their own, which in practice should involve little more than managing the work safely as you normally would.
Does asbestos awareness training have to be redone every year?
HSE says there is no legal requirement to repeat a whole formal awareness course every 12 months, but some form of refresher should be given as necessary. A principal contractor may still ask for it yearly. You set how many months the course lasts and the matrix follows that.
Will it get us through CHAS or SafeContractor?
No software can promise that. The assessment is of how you manage safety. SafetyPro360 keeps the records and documents an assessor asks to see and shows which are missing or out of date. It is not connected to any scheme and does not submit anything for you.
Have the answer ready before anyone asks.
Add your people, the training each role needs and the documents you hold. From then on, what is overdue or missing is on one screen.
14 days free, then from £9.99 a month, with no card needed to start.