In any one month many thousands of applications are made to Local Authorities, Housing Associations, Health Trusts, Fire Services (and many other public bodies) for what is known as the applicant, select or approved list (hereafter referred to as the select list). Many of the companies making these applications do so to more than one public sector organisation requiring duplication of effort for both them, and the assessing organisations. Underpinning CHAS is a logic that the assessment of a company applying in one area or region should be acceptable in another. This is not always the case leading to understandable frustration for the applicant.

Since its introduction the CHAS scheme has established that four out of five small and medium sized businesses applying to the scheme have failed an initial assessment designed to ensure the applicant demonstrates compliance with basic health and safety legislation and also show adequate management of health and safety in their company.

The purpose of the CHAS scheme is to provide assessment criteria that health and safety professionals (or other officers/consultants acting on behalf of an organisation) can apply to the health and safety element of a select list application. The scheme assess adequacy and compliance of the health and safety policy statement, organisation for health and safety and specific arrangements to a single, common standard acceptable to CHAS members and users. Selecting contractors who have demonstrated these standards goes some way to ensuring, so far is reasonably practicable, compliance with health and safety law.

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