Policies for Construction Companies

Policy Pros writes bespoke policies and site documentation for construction companies, contractors, sub-contractors and trades across the UK. Our construction policies and procedures service covers everything from the written health and safety policy the law requires to the accreditation packs that CHAS, Constructionline, SMAS and SafeContractor assessors check.

Bespoke, audit-ready policies from £65 + VAT per document. Get a quote or call 020 3951 2875 for a free scoping conversation.

Policies Construction Companies Need

Some documents are required by statute. The rest are demanded by the clients, principal contractors and accreditation schemes that control access to work, and a missing document can stop a tender just as quickly as it can fail an inspection.

Legally Required

• Health and Safety Policy - a written policy is required once you have 5 or more employees (Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, section 2(3))
• Risk Assessments - required by the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, with significant findings recorded at 5 or more employees
• Construction Phase Plan - required before the site is set up on every construction project (CDM Regulations 2015, regulation 12)
• COSHH Assessments - required wherever work involves hazardous substances such as cement, silica dust or solvents (COSHH Regulations 2002)
• Working at Height Arrangements - work at height must be planned, supervised and carried out by competent people (Work at Height Regulations 2005)
• Written Statement of Employment Particulars - required from day one for every employee and worker (Employment Rights Act 1996)

Expected by Regulators, Clients and Accreditation Schemes

• Risk Assessments and Method Statements (RAMS) - principal contractors ask for task-specific RAMS before they let you on site
• Training Matrix and Competence Records - checked against the SSIP Core Criteria by every assessment scheme
• Environmental and Waste Management Policy - verified at Constructionline Gold and asked for on most tenders
• Quality Policy - part of the Common Assessment Standard question set used at Constructionline Gold and CHAS Elite
• Equality and Diversity Policy - a standing question on public sector selection questionnaires
• Drug and Alcohol Policy - required by most principal contractors' site rules and inductions
• Sub-contractor Vetting Procedure - SSIP assessors expect documented arrangements for checking the firms you bring onto site
• Modern Slavery and Anti-Bribery Policies - requested by Tier 1 contractors and verified at Constructionline Gold

What the Law Requires on Site

The Health and Safety Executive confirms that every business must have a policy for managing health and safety, and that it must be written down once you have five or more employees. Construction carries further documentation duties, because the CDM Regulations 2015 apply to every construction project, commercial or domestic.

If you are the only contractor or the principal contractor on a job, you must draw up a construction phase plan before the site is set up. HSE inspectors ask to see it alongside your risk assessments, COSHH assessments and working at height arrangements, and construction remains a priority enforcement sector. Our guide to health and safety policies for the construction industry explains the legal framework in more detail.

Why Accreditation Drives Most Document Requests

In practice, most document requests do not come from the HSE. They come from pre-qualification schemes, because main contractors and public buyers will not appoint a firm without a current certificate from CHAS, SafeContractor, SMAS Worksafe or the scheme bundled with Constructionline membership.

Every one of these schemes assesses against the same SSIP Core Criteria, so the document pack is broadly identical: a signed health and safety policy, trade-specific RAMS, training records and evidence of competent advice. Our SSIP accreditation guide explains the criteria, and we publish separate document checklists for CHAS, SafeContractor and SMAS Worksafe.

These are desktop assessments, so the quality of the documents you upload decides whether you pass first time. Generic templates are the most common reason applications are referred or failed.

Tenders and the Common Assessment Standard

Larger contracts step the requirements up again. Constructionline Gold and CHAS Elite verify against the Common Assessment Standard, which adds environmental, quality, equality, anti-bribery and modern slavery policies on top of the health and safety core.

Since PPN 03/24, public buyers reference the Common Assessment Standard for major construction works, and Tier 1 contractors increasingly push the same requirements down their supply chains. Our Constructionline Gold requirements guide lists the full policy set assessors verify.

What Policy Pros Delivers

We write bespoke documents around your actual operation: your trades, your sites, your people and your CDM role. Nothing is adapted from a generic template.

• A fixed-price quote before any work starts, from £65 + VAT per document
• Policies, RAMS, COSHH assessments and CDM documents written for your specific trades
• Review rounds included, so you can check every document reflects how you actually work
• Final documents delivered on professionally branded templates, ready to sign and submit

Extremely professional and thorough. The policies were tailored perfectly to our sector and delivered ahead of schedule.

You can read more reviews of Policy Pros on Trustpilot.

How to Get Started

Tell us what has prompted the request, whether that is a CHAS renewal, a Constructionline upgrade, a principal contractor's document list or an HSE visit. We will tell you exactly which documents you need and give you a fixed price for the full pack. Get a quote or call 020 3951 2875.