For Hire Association Europe & Event Hire Association (HAE EHA) members, safety isn’t optional – it’s a non-negotiable foundation of your business. That’s where The SafeHire Certification Scheme comes in.

As the hire industry’s leading certification scheme, developed with the British Standards Institution and supported by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), SafeHire helps hire businesses prove their commitment to safety, professionalism, and best practice.

It is a recognised role of trade associations and federations to look ahead on behalf of the membership and to help them identify and mitigate any potential threats or challenges or risk to trust. Part of this role can be to enable standards of good practice and transparency which benefit the conduct of the sector and members. Trade bodies are uniquely placed to lead on such work without impacting on competition between businesses.

Aligned with International Standards SafeHire Certification involves a full on-site and desktop audit every three years, with annual site surveillance audits to ensure the standards demonstrated by members are being maintained. More importantly, we pay careful attention to product inspection – both process wise and physically, something entirely unique to SafeHire.

Multi depot operations are subject to random assessments of depots based on the square root of the number of operational depots, and this is a calculation that ensures consistency across the board. This is risk based and tailored specifically for HAE members, addressing the unique risks and challenges of the hire industry.

At its core are the ‘7 Pillars of SafeHire’ – a framework designed to protect your team, your customers, and your reputation.

In this blog, we explore how each pillar of SafeHire is built to protect and elevate businesses in the hire industry.

Health, safety and wellbeing are at the heart of SafeHire, as the core principles which drive the importance of becoming certified. Members must demonstrate rigorous safety protocols that protect staff, customers, and the public – on-site, in depots, and during transportation of equipment.

The SafeHire audits, which are entirely supported by our team of expert auditors during the process, are designed to ensure strong safety performance minimising accidents, reduced downtime, achieving a safer working culture and a more confident workforce. Our auditors are there to help you become a safer business and will support you throughout the certification process.

Safe businesses are run by competent, well-trained people.

The SafeHire Standard requires member organisations to have undertaken a training need analysis developing and implementing training strategies or plans. In keeping with legislative requirements to provide information, training and supervision which assists in checking qualifications and experience of the workforce to ensure safe working, achieve and maintain competency.

By committing to SafeHire Certification your business can reduce human error, improve safety culture and practices, and retain skilled employees who feel valued, supported and most importantly, safe.

Sustainable practices are not only beneficial for the planet – they’re also a key aspect of a safe and compliant business. From correct waste handling to emissions reduction, this pillar of SafeHire ensures that arrangements have been implemented to continually improve the environmental efficiency of the business operations.

With SafeHire, you’ll stay ahead of environmental regulations while reducing on-site hazards and liabilities, meaning your business will have a reduced effect on the environment and therefore giving you a competitive advantage.

SafeHire sets out to determine whether hire businesses have implemented quality arrangements that are appropriate to the organisation, that they adopt a system by which they can consistently provide a product or service designed to meet customer requirements. By doing so members will be in apposition to provide adequate resources to enable the system to function effectively, monitor their performance and customer perceptions to continually improve the effectiveness of their product and service. SafeHire assists members putting processes in place to identify remedial, corrective and preventative actions required to deal with nonconforming products or services, necessary to maintain certification.

As a hire company, it is vital that you can reliably provide safe, compliant services for your customers every single time.

Understanding business threats and other issues that might have a negative impact on an organisation and having processes to deal with them effectively reduces the likelihood of such an event and the consequential costs.

SafeHire determines that a risk management approach to identifying foreseeable business risk and opportunities has been considered ensuring that an effective assessment has been carried out supporting economic control and financing of risks to assists in developing systems of control and business continuity. SafeHire establishes that members are properly insured, in keeping with legislative requirements and all interested parties. Achieving SafeHire Certification can help to reduce insurance premiums and make insurers and clients perceive you a lower risk, boosting your competitiveness in the industry.

This applies to both small and large-scale businesses, as SafeHire demonstrates your commitment to safe, complaint working practices which aim to protect staff and the end-user.

From site hazards to supply chain disruption, SafeHire assesses how well you identify, mitigate, and manage risk across your business. As a SafeHire certified member, you can gain peace of mind with documented systems that prepare your business for the unexpected – while helping you stay compliant.

A safe business starts with strong leadership and clear accountability. This pillar ensures that your organisation is managed ethically and transparently, with safety policies embedded in your day-to-day operations having a business model to demonstrate that the business has made a concerted effort to operate in ways that enhance rather than degrade society and the environment.

Highlighting your commitment to CSR as a SafeHire certified business helps both society and the brand image of your business. Corporate responsibility programmes are a great way to raise morale in the workplace, build trust with clients and contractors while demonstrating that such policies are embedded and driven from the top down.

SafeHire certification gives end-users the assurance that they’re hiring from a professionally audited, safety-focused business. It means the equipment they receive is well-maintained, regularly inspected, and ready to perform safely and reliably. Customers benefit from knowledgeable, trained staff who offer expert guidance, to assist customers in hiring the most appropriate, efficient and safe equipment for the task at hand.

For commercial clients, SafeHire provides peace of mind that their supplier meets strict safety and quality standards – supporting compliance, minimising downtime, and ensuring a smooth, trustworthy hire experience from start to finish.

Members having achieved ISO Certifications including ISO9001, ISO45001, ISO14001 and iso 27001 will experience a significantly reduced desktop audit experience by qualifying aligned clauses of the SafeHire Private Industry Standard.

With SafeHire and the 7 Pillars framework, the hire industry can lead the way in creating safer, smarter, and more sustainable hire businesses. Whether you’re running a single depot or a national operation, SafeHire helps you prove your safety credentials and continuously improve your standards.

Visit our website to find out more about SafeHire.

If you’re interested in becoming a member and undertaking SafeHire Certification…