WHAT IS SAFEHIRE?

SafeHire is a BSI private standard created by and written for the hire industry with the help and guidance of British Standards Institute. It was originally written following a disastrous ‘Which’ report in 2010 that outlined everything negative about the industry. The association took a positive stance and determined that it needed to reverse the perception created by ‘Which’. Members fully supported this proactive action to mitigate the impact of the report but also to enhance confidence in the hire sector for the longer term.

SafeHire is a continual Business Improvement Programme that both sets and helps maintain the standards of operation for HAE EHA members, and the standard itself is the guarantee of consistency of approach during assessment. It also provides a greater degree of transparency and reassurance to clients and customers, and to trading standards.

THE BENEFITS OF SAFEHIRE CERTIFICATION

One of the principal benefits of achievement of the standard is that it provides the differentiation between members and non-members and is designed for companies of all sizes. Originally written by HAE, its members, HSE and other corporate bodies, it endeavours to level the playing field between members large and small and enables them all to compete locally on an even ground. Additionally, we have negotiated with several other PQQ assessors, such as CHAS, and they have recognised the benefits of our program to the extent that we can add our SafeHire members to their register without further assessment; a cost benefit to HAE EHA members. Members have the choice about inclusion on the CHAS register, a register that is 80% populated by SME companies.  

Operated along UKAS (United Kingdom Accreditation Services) the system is designed to produce fairness for all. The certificate lasts for 3 years but is subject to an annual review visit to ensure compliance is maintained. Multi depot operations are subject to random assessments of depots based on the square root of the number of operational depots, and this is a calculation that ensures consistency across the board.

 

Another objective of SafeHire is to reduce the duplication experienced by many members who are constantly bombarded by a cacophony of PQQ forms. We have already had success with CHAS, we are in discussion with Constructionline and more recently with Build UK to ensure that SafeHire provides the answer to the time consuming and expensive myriad of requests from clients of our industry. SafeHire addresses a multitude of standards such as ISO 9001, 14001, 18001 (45001), 27001, PAS 91 plus, much more importantly, we pay careful attention to product inspection - both process wise and physically - something entirely unique to SafeHire.