Your health and safety policy is one of the most important documents in any accreditation application. It is typically the first thing assessors read, and it shapes their impression of how seriously your business takes health and safety management. A well-written policy will not guarantee you pass — but a poor one will very likely cause your application to stall or be referred back.

This guide explains the legal requirements, breaks down what assessors are actually looking for, identifies the most common mistakes that cause rejections, and gives you practical guidance for writing a policy that reflects your business and your work.

Disclaimer: This article provides guidance based on publicly available information and established industry practice. TenderReady is not affiliated with CHAS, Constructionline, SafeContractor, or any other accreditation body. Requirements may vary between schemes and over time — always check directly with the relevant body.

The Legal Requirement: Health and Safety at Work Act 1974

Under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, every employer with five or more employees is legally required to have a written health and safety policy. This is a statutory obligation, not a best-practice recommendation.

Even if you have fewer than five employees, accreditation schemes will still expect a written policy. The Act places a general duty on all employers to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety, and welfare of their employees and anyone else affected by their undertaking. The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 further require risk assessments and arrangements for planning, organisation, control, monitoring, and review of preventive measures. Your policy should reference and support these requirements.

The Three Parts of a Health and Safety Policy

A properly structured health and safety policy has three distinct sections. Assessors will check that all three are present and properly developed.

Part 1: Statement of Intent

This is the senior leadership commitment to health and safety. It should:

Be signed and dated by the most senior person in the business (owner, managing director, or equivalent)
State the company's commitment to providing a safe and healthy working environment
Reference the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and other relevant legislation
Commit to providing adequate resources, training, and competent advice
Set out the intention to review the policy at regular intervals

The statement of intent should be concise — typically one page. It should not be a generic pledge copied from a template. Assessors want to see that the person who signed it understands what they are committing to.

Common mistake: Using a statement of intent that names legislation incorrectly, omits a signature, or has no date. A surprising number of applications are returned simply because the statement is unsigned or carries a date from several years ago.

Part 2: Organisation

This section sets out who is responsible for what. It is the organisational structure for health and safety within your business. It should clearly identify:

The person with overall responsibility for health and safety (usually the managing director or owner)
Managers and supervisors with specific responsibilities
The competent person or persons providing health and safety advice (whether in-house or an external consultant, as required by Regulation 7 of the Management Regulations 1999)
Employee responsibilities — everyone has a duty to cooperate, report hazards, and use equipment correctly
Any specialist roles (first aiders, fire marshals, asbestos duty holders, temporary works coordinators)

For SMEs, this section does not need to be lengthy. What matters is that named individuals are assigned to specific responsibilities, and that the structure is realistic and reflects how your business actually operates.

Common mistake: Listing responsibilities but not assigning them to named people. Assessors will reject a policy that says "a manager will be responsible for..." without identifying who that manager is. Similarly, listing people who have left the business is a clear sign the policy has not been reviewed.

Part 3: Arrangements

This is the longest and most detailed section. It describes how you manage health and safety in practice — the systems, procedures, and processes that turn your statement of intent into reality. It should cover every significant aspect of your work. Typical topics include:

Risk assessment, method statements, and safe systems of work
Training, competence, and supervision arrangements
PPE selection, provision, and enforcement
Working at height, manual handling, and COSHH
Asbestos awareness and procedures
Fire safety, electrical safety, and plant/equipment management
Noise and vibration assessment
Accident and incident reporting (including RIDDOR)
Employee consultation on health and safety matters
Monitoring, review, and emergency procedures
Welfare provision on site

The arrangements section must be specific to your activities. A groundworks contractor will have different risk priorities from a mechanical and electrical subcontractor. Assessors look for evidence that you have thought about your own work, not simply listed every possible topic.

Common mistake: Copying a generic template that includes arrangements for hazards you never encounter while omitting those central to your work. If you are a roofing contractor with no section on working at height, that is a serious red flag.

What Accreditation Assessors Look For

Across SSIP member schemes such as CHAS, SafeContractor, and Constructionline, assessors check against the SSIP core criteria. Key areas of focus include:

Specificity. Does the policy reflect this business and its activities, or is it generic boilerplate?

Named responsibilities. Are real people identified against specific roles? Is the competent person named?

Currency. Has the policy been reviewed within the last 12 months? Is the review date stated?

Legislative awareness. Does the policy reference correct, current legislation? Outdated references (for example, citing superseded regulations rather than CDM 2015) suggest poor maintenance.

Integration. Does the policy connect to risk assessments, method statements, and training records? A policy that exists in isolation looks like a paper exercise.

Proportionality. Is the policy proportionate to business size? An SME with 12 employees does not need a 100-page document.

Common Mistakes That Cause Rejection

Based on common feedback from assessors and industry peers, the most frequent causes of rejection are:

No named individuals in the organisation section. Responsibilities assigned to job titles only, with no names.
No review date or an expired review date. If the last review was 18 months ago, that is a problem.
Generic content that does not match the business. A shopfitting company with a section on excavation work but nothing on dust or working at height.
Missing statement of intent signature. An unsigned policy does not meet the legal requirement.
No reference to competent advice. Regulation 7 requires access to competent health and safety advice — if your policy does not identify who provides this, assessors will query it.
Outdated legislation references. Citing repealed or superseded regulations suggests the policy has not been reviewed.
No arrangements for core activities. Omitting the hazards most relevant to your day-to-day work.
Copy-pasted content. Assessors recognise recycled text, and it risks including information that does not apply to your business.

Practical Tips for Writing a Policy That Passes

Start from your actual work. List the activities you carry out, the main hazards your workers face, and the controls already in place. Your policy should document reality, not describe an ideal world.

Use your own words. Plain, clear language that your site managers would actually read is far more credible to an assessor than corporate legalese.

Name people, not just roles. "Joe Smith, Site Manager, is responsible for..." is always better than "The site manager is responsible for..."

Set a realistic review schedule. Annually is the standard expectation. Put the date in the policy and a reminder in your calendar.

Keep arrangements proportionate. Cover everything relevant to your work, but do not pad the policy with irrelevant topics. Quality over quantity.

Cross-reference supporting documents. Where your policy mentions risk assessments or training records, reference where these are held and who maintains them.

Keeping Your Policy Current

A health and safety policy is a living document. Keep it current by:

Reviewing annually at minimum, updating the review date each time
Updating after significant changes — new activities, new sites, changes in personnel, or incidents that reveal gaps
Re-signing after major revisions — the statement of intent should carry a current signature
Communicating changes — brief your teams on any material updates

Use our free H&S Documentation Checklist to review whether your policy and supporting documents are ready for assessment.

Summary

Your health and safety policy is the foundation of your accreditation application. It must meet the legal requirements, be specific to your business and activities, properly signed and dated, and regularly reviewed. The most common reasons for rejection are avoidable — generic content, missing signatures, unnamed responsibilities, and outdated information.

Take the time to get this document right. It will not only improve your chances of passing accreditation first time, but it will also give your business a genuinely useful tool for managing health and safety on every project you deliver.