Local Kent office design company Rap Interiors has been awarded an accreditation from Safecontractor for its commitment to achieving excellence in health and safety. Safecontractor is a leading third party accreditation scheme which recognises very high standards in health and safety management amongst UK contractors.
Employing 20 people, Rap Interiors is principally involved in the construction sector, specialising in design, refurbishment, fit out, relocation and furniture solutions to the office, school, care home and healthcare industries and with a £5 million turnover.
Rap’s most recent clients have included major players such as BOSE, Diversified Communications, Liberty Property Trust, AEG Live, Transglobal, Family Mosaic and East Kent College. Rap have also carried out works for CXK and were recent winners of the Refurbishment of the Year award at the NFB awards for this design and build project.
This 6-month project in Ashford, Kent consisted of a complete commercial design and re-build of the local Magistrates Court, to provide our client, CXK, with funky offices and sub-let office areas. Our client Family Mosaic was also highly commended for Client of the Year 2015 at these awards. The company’s application for Safecontractor accreditation was driven by the need for a uniform standard across the business.
Amanda Carter, the Health and Safety Manager of Rap commented: “Rap are proud to have successfully achieved Safe Contractor certification for the 7th consecutive year. Being a company that has been approved by Safe Contractor means we can demonstrate to our clients our commitment to high standards of Health & Safety. The accreditation gives us as a company the reassurance that our working practices are up to date and have been approved by Safe Contractor’s rigorous assessment and auditing procedures.”
Design Director, Julie Anderson added “Rap consider Safecontractor to be an extremely important part of our collection of accreditation’s and processes by which we operate. It demonstrates we are a reliable and responsible contractor to our clients and to them, this should remain always a top priority for their project. The new CDM regs 2015 require complete responsibility for your actions on site and for clients who are not prepared to run their own projects (this we would highly discourage) then Safecontractor proves we can deliver any project safely and with an ethical approach.”
Safecontractor accreditation will enhance the company’s ability to attract new contracts and its commitment to safety will be viewed positively by its insurers when the company liability policy is up for renewal. Safecontractor is applicable to most sectors although it is particularly relevant to food manufacture, property, facilities management, retail and leisure sectors, all of which are big users of contracted services.
John Kinge, technical director of Safecontractor said, “Major organisations simply cannot afford to run the risk of employing contractors who are not able to prove that they have sound health and safety policies in place. More companies need to understand the importance of adopting good risk management in the way that Rap has done. The firm’s high standard has set an example which hopefully will be followed by other companies within the sector. Safecontractor plays a vital role in supporting our clients in meeting their compliance needs, whilst working with their contractors as they progress through the accreditation process.”
Under the Safecontractor scheme, businesses undergo a vetting process which examines health and safety procedures and their track record for safe practice. Those companies meeting the high standard are included on a database, which is accessible to registered users only via a website.
Client-organisations who sign up to the scheme can access the database, enabling them to vet potential contractors before they even set foot on site. These clients agree that, as users of the scheme, they will engage only those who have received accreditation. Over 210 major, nation-wide businesses, from several key sectors, have signed up to use the scheme when selecting contractors for services such as building, cleaning, maintenance, refurbishment or electrical and mechanical work.
Notes:
Safecontractor is a third party accreditation scheme that assesses health and safety arrangements. Many major clients recognise the scheme and accept the Safecontractor certificate as confirmation of competency.
For further information about the Safecontractor scheme, contact:
Sinead Parsons
Safecontractor
Email: marketing@safecontractor.com
Tel: 029 2026 6750
