Acclaim has now become a member of Safety Schemes in Procurement (SSIP) which acts as an umbrella organisation to remove the need for suppliers to join multiple health and safety accreditation schemes.

By recognising accreditations from any of the 35 SSIP scheme members, buyers can be reassured that suppliers have met stage one health and safety standards and suppliers can choose any one of the 35 schemes that suits them best.

SSIP estimates it is already saving contractors £6.5m per year in administration.

Philip Prince, sales and marketing director at Constructionline, said: “As a founder member, Constructionline has always been an advocate of SSIP’s principles of mutual recognition.

“This is recognised in our pre-qualification questionnaire, which allows suppliers to bypass the health and safety appendix if they hold an accreditation from an SSIP scheme.

“So far, nearly 11,000 Constructionline members have claimed this exemption. The launch of Acclaim allows those suppliers without an SSIP approved accreditation to gain one as part of their Constructionline membership for the first time.

“The decision to introduce Acclaim was based on independent research among our members which highlighted a clear need for a simpler and transparent health and safety assessment.

“We have addressed those needs by developing a simple question set containing just 12 questions and by making assessor’s comments available to suppliers.

“Furthermore, Acclaim offers a simple fee structure commensurate with suppliers’ annual turnover, with no hidden extras.”

For more information on the scheme click here