Health and safety for electricians, plumbers, roofers and landscapers
Before a client lets you start they want your insurance, your qualifications and your RAMS. SafetyPro360 keeps them on your phone with their expiry dates, for small firms that work in other people's buildings.
14 days free, then from £9.99 a month, with no card needed to start.
“Can you send your insurance, your qualifications and your RAMS before you start?”
A facilities manager, a main contractor, or a letting agent's approved-contractor form
It arrives by email the week before the job, and the work does not start until the reply does. Most of what it asks for has an expiry date.
What a small trade firm gets asked before work starts
Insurance. Employers' liability insurance is a legal requirement as soon as you employ anyone, with cover of at least £5 million. Clients ask for the certificate, and for public liability alongside it.
Proof you are qualified. For an electrician that is usually an ECS card and registration with a competent person scheme such as NICEIC or NAPIT. A gas business must by law be on the Gas Safe Register, and each engineer's card carries an expiry date, with the categories of work on the back. Roofers are asked for tower and powered access tickets. A landscaper spraying professional pesticides must hold a recognised certificate, or be supervised by someone who does while training. Anyone who drills into a building is expected to have asbestos awareness.
RAMS. Risk assessments are a legal duty, and the significant findings must be written down once you employ five or more. HSE's construction guidance says method statements are not required by law for most activities, but are an effective way to plan the work. Clients ask for both regardless.
Insurance, registrations and RAMS with their expiry dates
Upload each document a client asks for: the insurance certificates, your NICEIC, NAPIT or Gas Safe registration, your health and safety policy, the risk assessments and method statements for the job. Each gets a title, a category, a review date and an expiry date, and shows as current, due a review or expired.
SafetyPro360 does not write risk assessments or method statements. You write them, or your consultant does, and upload the finished file. Files open only for someone logged in to your account, on a phone as well as a computer.
- A review date and an expiry date on every document
- Expired and overdue documents listed on the dashboard
- Your consultant can be given access to keep them up to date
Cards and tickets with their expiry dates, for everyone on the vans
Add each card or qualification as a course with the months it lasts: ECS card, Gas Safe registration, asbestos awareness, PASMA Towers for Users, powered access, chainsaw certificates, first aid. Record the date, the card number and the provider for each person.
The matrix shows who is in date, who runs out within 30 days and who has lapsed. Apprentices and regular subcontractors go on it too. HSE says the expiry date on a powered access operator's card should be checked. Check the other cards the same way.
Van and ladder checks kept with their dates and scores
Build a short checklist for the van (tyres, lights, fluid levels, load secured, first aid kit on board) and one for ladders and steps (stiles straight, feet in place, rungs sound, locking bars engage). Run it on a phone and each completed check is kept with every answer, any comments, the date and who did it.
HSE says a ladder user's daily pre-use check does not need to be recorded, but the detailed visual inspection an employer arranges at fixed intervals should be. That is the one to keep here.
How a small trade firm uses each part
- Document registerEmployers' and public liability certificates, scheme registrations, the policy and the RAMS for each job, with the dates a client will look for first.
- Training matrixECS cards, Gas Safe registration, asbestos awareness, PASMA, powered access and first aid for each person, with what runs out in the next 30 days marked.
- Staff and rolesElectrician, mate, apprentice: each role lists the cards it needs, so a new apprentice shows as missing asbestos awareness from the first day.
- Inspections and checksVan walk-rounds, ladder and tower inspections and a tidy-up check at the end of a job, on your own checklists.
- Incident reportingA shock, a fall from a step, a near miss in a customer's loft, reported from the van with the address in the box for exactly where.
- Toolbox talksThe five-minute briefing before work in an occupied building: where the asbestos is, who the lone worker rings and when. Recorded with who was there.
Questions people ask
What health and safety documents do clients ask a tradesperson for?
Usually insurance certificates, proof of qualifications or scheme registration, and risk assessments and method statements for the job. Some also ask for a health and safety policy and training records. Only some of this is law: employers' liability insurance is compulsory once you employ someone, and risk assessment findings must be written down if you employ five or more people.
Is employers' liability insurance a legal requirement?
Yes, as soon as you become an employer. GOV.UK says the policy must cover you for at least £5 million and that you can be fined £2,500 for every day you are not properly insured. There are a few exemptions, which GOV.UK lists. Upload the certificate with its expiry date and it shows as expired if the renewal is missed.
Do electricians, plumbers and roofers need asbestos awareness training?
HSE says workers and supervisors whose work could disturb asbestos must be able to recognise asbestos-containing materials and know what to do, and its list of trades includes electricians, plumbers and roofers. There is no legal requirement to repeat a full formal course every 12 months, but some form of refresher should be given as necessary.
What does the law say about working alone?
HSE's guidance is that an employer must manage the risks before people work alone, and must train, supervise and monitor lone workers and keep in touch with them. SafetyPro360 holds your lone working risk assessment and procedure as documents and the record of who was briefed. It does not track where people are or check them in.
Does SafetyPro360 write risk assessments and method statements?
No. It stores the ones you upload, with a review date and an expiry date on each, and lists which of the documents you should hold are missing or out of date. Writing them stays with you or your safety consultant, who can be given access to your account.
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.