HAE EHA certification a prerequisite for membership from 2018
Hire Association Europe and Event Hire Association (HSE EHA) has launched its own industry safety standard, SafeHire Certification, which will become a prerequisite for membership from January 2018. Following its successful introduction, the association is looking to broaden awareness of the certification. Several companies, including Hirebase and Speedy Hire, have already completed the certification process.

HAE EHA launch SafeHire Certification | In In News | By By Caroline Clift

Hire Association Europe and Event Hire Association (HAE EHA) has launched its own SafeHire Certification, an industry safety standard.

SafeHire is currently an option for existing members as part of HAE EHA membership but will become a prerequisite of membership as of January 1, 2018, meaning all members must successfully complete the certification process by that time.

The aim of SafeHire is to raise the standards across the events and hire industry and improve all areas of company operations from CSR policy, quality management, health and safety, environmental management and customer service standards. Several companies in the hire sector, including Hire Station, Hirebase, Travis Perkins and Speedy Hire, have already gone through the audit process and are reaping the rewards of certification.

In order to meet the target, the association is seeking to broaden the awareness of SafeHire Certification and its many benefits across the construction, hire and events industries to encourage take up of an initiative that has already had a significant impact on some UK hire companies.

Graham Arundell, HAE EHA’s managing director, commented: “SafeHire has already had a hugely positive impact on businesses that have gone through certification voluntarily. Making SafeHire a requirement of membership is 100 per cent the right step for the industry to create the level playing field that is much needed and to help improve practices and processes of hire businesses.

“To date, awareness of SafeHire has largely been limited to our own membership, many of whom have been undertaking the requisite audit process to become certified. The next step for SafeHire is to widen awareness of certification to the end user, so that people start recognising who we are and what certification means for the industry.

“There’s been a steady recognition, from the wider industry, of the need to work with partners who have the appropriate certifications; but there’s more that needs to be done to push the message. SafeHire has the potential to become the leading certification in the industry, and we hope that it will become the trusted mark of quality for the hire sector.”