No matter what industry you operate in, public sector buyers will be looking to establish that you are compliant in all legal requirements surrounding Health & Safety (H&S) as appropriate to your scale of business.
H&S Management is about safe working practices for your staff and all surrounding stakeholders (customers, neighbours, suppliers, contractors on site etc) that may be in the vicinity of work your business is undertaking or may enter your premises .
H&S Management Questions:
When responding to a SQ or ITT you are more than likely to be asked if you are certified to an internationally recognised standard in Health & Safety such as ISO 45001 (which is superseding the OHSAS 18001 standard) and if not you will be asked to provide a copy of your H&S Management policy and any relevant procedures. Don’t be surprised if public sector buyers ask for proof of certification AND copies of policies and procedures, you should have all immediately to hand, signed and in date.
ISO9001,is also an internationally recognised standard and whilst in the main it is a quality management standard it does also encompass H&S elements and you can choose to focus more on these in the way you implement this certificate within your organisation.
We recommend you read up more about ISO 45001 and ISO 9001 here and decide what standard is best for you if you are not already certified.
If, as part of the contract, you are to provide a service on a client’s premises you may be asked to evidence an example Risk Assessment and Method Statement (RAMS) or actually produce one specific to this contract.We understand this can be hard at ITT stage when you don’t always know the intricacies of the project, however we recommend playing devil’s advocate and making it as detailed as possible but state any caveats or artistic license you have taken.You can also request a site visit, to inform your completion of a contract specific RAMS. A detailed Method Statement will really show your commitment to this contract and that you can think outside the box when challenged.
Our experienced and talented bid writers excel at getting to the crux of the matter and can add value by making recommendations as to how best evidence what you are telling the buyer whether that be a Method Statement, a case study demonstrating how you successfully mitigated an incident by following protocols and procedures laid out in your policies, or how to record and benchmark your companies H&S statistics as a way to show good working practices are in place.
In addition to using the considerable experience of our writers, we also engage experienced H&S practitioners who can assist you in producing supporting documentation including policies, procedures and RAMS. Where needed we will always call upon these to contribute to the best possible bid response.
Whether you are working on a tender now or trying to get ready for upcoming tenders get in touch if you need assistance or advice surrounding H&S topics – we would be happy to discuss how we can help you be bid ready!
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