Before you hire a contractor, you'll probably check whether they're CHAS registered, SafeContractor approved, or ISO 45001 certified.
That's a reasonable starting point. It's not an endpoint.
Certification tells you a contractor passed a process at a point in time. These five questions tell you whether they actually manage risk.
The Five Questions
1. How do you verify the competency of your workforce — not just their qualifications?
A CSCS card or a course certificate tells you someone completed training. It doesn't tell you they can do the job safely. Ask what ongoing checks look like: observations, refreshers, sign-off on specific tasks.
You're looking for evidence that competency is actively managed — not just documented at induction and never revisited. A contractor who can describe how they check a worker is actually competent on a specific task is running a live system. One who points to a training matrix and leaves it there may not be.
2. Show me a risk assessment that was changed after feedback from site.
A contractor who revises RAMS based on what workers actually find on the job is running a live system. A contractor who hands you the same template every time is running a filing exercise.
You're looking for evidence that someone is reading the documents, questioning them, and improving them based on real experience. Generic, unchanged RAMS are a flag.
3. Show me a closed-out near miss from the last three months.
Near misses happen on every site. If there are none to show, they're not being reported. If the actions aren't closed out, they're not being learned from.
A healthy near-miss log with closed actions is one of the clearest signs of a functioning safety culture. The absence of reported near misses doesn't mean safe working — it means under-reporting.
4. Who can stop work — and when did it last happen?
The first part is easy. The answer should be "any worker who identifies an unsafe condition." The second part is the one that matters.
If they can't recall a recent example, the stop-work authority exists on paper and nowhere else.
5. How do you check that subcontractors actually follow your RAMS on site?
This is where a lot of systems fall apart. A main contractor may have strong documentation and a well-run management system. Their subcontractors may have none of that culture.
You're looking for actual supervision, monitoring, and accountability — not a signed RAMS receipt.
What You're Looking For
You're not looking for perfect answers. You're looking for evidence that these conversations are actually happening — that someone is thinking about risk rather than managing documents.
A contractor who struggles to answer these questions isn't necessarily unsafe. But they may be operating a system that looks good on paper and hasn't been seriously tested.
The certificate tells you they passed a process. These questions tell you what the process is built on.
Visit www.safecompli.co.uk for help with contractor management, risk assessment, and safety documentation.