ceda are delighted to announce that the uptake of the new cedaSAFE Health and Safety Accreditation Scheme, launched last month, has been hugely impressive. Sixteen Members and Partners have already applied and successfully passed their assessments in June and have been issued with their accreditation certificates.
These include businesses of all sizes as the scheme is designed to offer a cost effective solution for all companies.
Companies receiving their accreditation since launch are:
- AGGORA – Bunzl UK Ltd
- Apeiron Catering Ltd
- Archer Catering Systems Ltd
- Barcare Supreme Ltd
- C&C Catering Equipment Ltd
- Catering Design Group Ltd
- CHR Food Service Equipment
- Crystaltech Services (UK) Ltd
- Gastronorth Ltd
- Hobart UK – ITW Ltd T/A Hobart UK
- KCM Catering Equipment Ltd
- Marren Microwave Ltd
- Rational UK Ltd
- Tailor Made Catering Equipment Services Ltd
- Whitco Catering and Bakery Equipment Ltd
- YCE Catering Equipment Ltd
Derek Maher, ceda Chairman and Managing Director of Crystaltech Services, one of the founder applicants, commented: “The formation of an industry safety accreditation in the form of cedaSAFE will raise the profile and credibility of the Catering Equipment profession and greatly reduce the volume of repetitive and unnecessary paperwork required to assess subcontractors.
“Manufacturers that subcontract their service repairs will have their contractors audited by a competent service provider and ceda members who offer their service to a number of industry members will greatly benefit from having just one accreditation.
“If an applicant already has an SSiP accreditation then they only have to complete a few simple questions in order to achieve the certificate at a very competitive £120 per annum. The accreditation has really started to gain momentum from both ceda members and Manufacturers that have signed up”.
Apeiron Catering Ltd’s Steve McEwen, explaining why he applied saying: “Myself and fellow Director Will Oryino have been looking at different Health & Safety accreditations and decided to apply for cedaSAFE based on the content, requirement and the fact that it was relevant to our industry. With every tender there appears to be a different requirement as to which H&S standard the particular client wishes you to be accredited with.
“As an industry body ceda has looked at the requirements for member companies and laid out the specification which made it relevant to us as we solely work in commercial kitchens. The advantage of having this going forward is that to prospective clients we can prove that we have been externally audited to meet the criteria, we also feel that ceda will continually monitor as legislation changes and update which will be passed onto members to keep their accreditation relevant.
“Overall we learned from the process, bolstered our knowledge and gained a worthy accreditation which we can see adds value to our business.”
cedaSAFE was devised after discussions with the Health and Safety Executive, who highlighted the need for a single assessment standard for the foodservice, catering and hospitality industry, in order to reduce the bureaucracy and costs associated with the various pre-qualification assessments on the market.
cedaSAFE is now both the most cost-effective and the most efficient accreditation to achieve, as it requires only the most essential information to be completed. However, it still achieves the same core criteria of other schemes currently available.
Companies can achieve accreditation to promote their business as operating to the highest levels of independently verified Health and Safety standards. They can also assess the suitability of any subcontractors used by insisting that they are cedaSAFE accredited.