How to Prepare for a CHAS Audit: A Step-by-Step Guide

Your Renewal Is Due — Now What?

You've decided to go for CHAS accreditation, or your annual renewal is coming up, and you're staring at a folder of documents wondering if any of it is actually ready to submit. You know you need your insurance and risk assessments, but beyond that it's a bit vague.

Most people don't realise this until their first application: CHAS isn't an on-site audit. Nobody turns up in a hard hat to inspect your van. It's a desktop review — an assessor sits at a screen and works through the documents you've uploaded against a checklist of requirements. If your documents are in order, you pass. If they're not, you get sent back to fix them.

That distinction matters because it shifts the entire preparation focus from "how do we run our sites" to "can we prove how we run our sites on paper."

What CHAS Assessors Actually Look For

The assessment covers your documented health and safety management system. Here's what they'll review:

• Health & Safety Policy: a signed, dated statement of intent plus your organisational arrangements for managing H&S. Must be reviewed within the last 12 months.
• Risk Assessments: specific to your trade and the activities you carry out. Generic templates downloaded from the internet will be flagged.
• Method Statements: for high-risk activities relevant to your scope of work (working at height, hot works, confined spaces, etc.)
• Training Records: CSCS cards, SMSTS/SSSTS certificates, trade qualifications, asbestos awareness, manual handling, and any other role-specific training
• Insurance Certificates: current Employer's Liability (minimum £10 million) and Public Liability (minimum £5 million for most commercial work)
• Competency Evidence: demonstration that the people doing the work are qualified to do it
• Accident and Incident Records: RIDDOR reports and evidence of incident investigation
• Environmental Policy: required for CHAS Premium and Elite, not for Standard

For a detailed document-by-document breakdown, see our CHAS compliance checklist.

Step-by-Step Preparation

1. Gather Everything Into One Place

Before you look at content, get every document into a single location. That means insurance certificates, training records, policies, risk assessments, method statements — all of it. If documents are scattered across email attachments, filing cabinets, and someone's phone, this is where most of the time goes.

2. Check Every Expiry Date

Go through each document and verify it hasn't expired. Pay particular attention to:

• Insurance certificates — these renew annually and are the most commonly expired documents in CHAS submissions
• Training certificates — SMSTS is valid for 5 years, first aid for 3 years, CSCS cards vary by type
• Your H&S policy review date — if it was last signed more than 12 months ago, it needs updating

3. Verify Signatures and Dates

Every policy document needs a clear signature from a director or responsible person, plus the date it was signed or reviewed. Unsigned documents will be sent back regardless of how good the content is.

4. Make Risk Assessments Specific

This is the second biggest reason applications get returned. Your risk assessments must reference your actual activities, tools, and work environments — not generic construction hazards. If you're an electrician, your risk assessments should cover electrical isolation procedures, cable routing, testing, and the specific environments you work in.

5. Build a Training Matrix

Create a simple table listing every worker, their role, the training they hold, certificate numbers, and expiry dates. This gives the assessor a clear view of competency across your organisation and demonstrates that you actively manage training.

6. Review Your Accident Records

Even if you've had no accidents, document that. A statement confirming zero RIDDOR-reportable incidents in the past 12 months, along with your procedure for reporting and investigating incidents, shows the assessor you have a system in place.

CHAS Standard vs Premium vs Elite

The documentation requirements increase with each tier:

CHAS Standard

Covers core health and safety management. This is the entry-level SSIP accreditation and is sufficient for most subcontractors. You'll need everything listed above.

CHAS Premium

Everything in Standard, plus:

• Environmental management policy: how you manage waste, emissions, and environmental impact
• Quality management evidence: procedures for ensuring work quality and handling defects
• Additional CDM 2015 compliance evidence: particularly around duty-holder responsibilities

CHAS Elite

Everything in Premium, plus enhanced requirements around:

• Financial information: demonstrating business stability
• Corporate social responsibility: modern slavery statements, equality policies
• Detailed management system documentation: approaching ISO-level requirements

Most businesses start with Standard and move up as client requirements demand it.

Common Reasons Applications Get Sent Back

These are the issues that trip people up repeatedly:

• Unsigned or undated policies: the content might be perfect, but without a signature and date, it's rejected
• Expired insurance certificates: even by a single day
• Generic risk assessments: assessors can spot a downloaded template immediately
• Missing training evidence: claiming competence without certificates to back it up
• H&S policy not reviewed within 12 months: a policy dated 14 months ago will be flagged
• Inconsistent company names: insurance in one trading name, application in another

Timeline: What to Expect

The CHAS assessment process typically follows this timeline:

• Application submission: upload all documents through the CHAS portal
• Assessment: 5-10 working days for Standard, longer for Premium and Elite
• Outcome notification: you'll receive either accreditation confirmation or a list of non-conformities
• Non-conformity response window: typically 10-20 working days to submit corrected documents
• Re-assessment: usually 3-5 working days after you resubmit

If you receive non-conformities, don't treat it as a failure. It's a request for more detail or corrected documents. The assessor will tell you exactly what's needed. Respond promptly and specifically — address each point individually rather than resubmitting everything and hoping for the best.

If you do receive a full rejection, we've covered the next steps in detail: what happens when you fail a CHAS audit.

The Real Preparation Happens Year-Round

The businesses that breeze through CHAS assessments aren't the ones that prepare intensely for two weeks before submission. They're the ones that keep documents current throughout the year — updating risk assessments when work practices change, renewing training before it expires, and filing insurance certificates the day they arrive.

Having a central document repository where everything lives in one place, with expiry tracking and automated reminders, turns CHAS preparation from a stressful scramble into a 30-minute upload session. ComplianceVault is built for exactly this — every document tracked, every expiry date monitored, and compliance packs ready to generate whenever you need them.

Summary

• CHAS is a desktop review, not a site visit: your documentation is what gets assessed, so it needs to be complete, current, and specific to your trade
• Start by gathering everything into one place and checking every expiry date, signature, and review date before you submit
• Generic risk assessments are the second biggest rejection reason after expired documents, so make yours specific to your actual activities and work environments
• Non-conformities are normal, not terminal: respond to each point individually within the deadline and you'll usually pass on resubmission
• Year-round document management beats last-minute preparation: keep everything current and your next CHAS renewal becomes a formality