Swindon-based Hills Waste Solutions’ commitment to achieving excellence in health and safety has been recognised by Safecontractor, the third party accreditation scheme.
The firm, which employs nearly 300 people, provides a range of specialist waste management and recycling services to blue-chip customers in the area such as Wiltshire Council, Honda of the UK Manufacturing, CenterParcs and Aspire Defence Services Limited.
To gain the Safecontractor accreditation, Hills Waste Solutions underwent a vetting process which examined its health and safety procedures and its track record for safe practice. 
Hills Waste Solutions commercial manager Gary McKinnon said: “Securing the Safecontractor accreditation further demonstrates our health and safety competence to both new and existing clients and will assist in growing and developing our business.”
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.
Safecontractor technical director John Kinge added: “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 Hills 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.”
Accredited companies are listed 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. These clients agree that, as users of the scheme, they will engage only those who have received accreditation.
More than 210 major nationwide 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.
