Health and Safety Requirements in Tenders: What Evaluators Check

In construction, facilities management, and engineering tenders, health and safety is rarely worth less than 10% of the quality score. In some public sector frameworks, that figure climbs to 20 or even 30%. Get this section wrong and your price becomes irrelevant. Evaluators will not shortlist a contractor they consider a safety risk, regardless of how competitive the bid is on cost.

This post breaks down what tender evaluators actually look for in your health and safety submission, the documentation you need to have ready before the ITT lands, and how to write method statements that score highly rather than scrape through.

What Evaluators Actually Score

The most common mistake bidders make is attaching their health and safety policy and assuming the job is done. Evaluators are not looking for a policy document. They are looking for evidence that the policy is being followed on site, every day, across every project.

Specifically, scoring panels focus on:

Accident Frequency Rate (AFR)

Your AFR over the last three years, calculated per 100,000 hours worked. A downward trend matters more than the absolute number.

RIDDOR Reportable Incidents

The number and nature of incidents reported under RIDDOR. Zero is ideal, but if incidents have occurred, evaluators want to see what corrective action was taken.

Near-Miss Reporting Culture

A high volume of near-miss reports is a positive signal. It shows your workforce is actively identifying hazards before they cause harm.

Toolbox Talk Records

Regular, documented toolbox talks demonstrate ongoing engagement with safety at the operative level.

Site Audit Results

Both internal and third-party audit results, including actions taken to close out findings. Evaluators want to see a cycle of inspection, action, and verification.

The thread running through all of these is evidence. Claims without documentation score poorly. Documented systems with measurable outcomes score well. For a broader view of what evaluators check across all compliance areas, see our compliance matrix guide.

The Documentation You Need Ready

When a tender drops with a three-week return, you do not have time to build your safety documentation from scratch. The following should be maintained as live documents, updated regularly, and ready to submit at short notice.

Document	Requirements
H&S Policy	Signed by a director, dated within the last 12 months. A policy older than a year signals neglect.
Risk Assessment Methodology	Your standard approach to identifying, assessing, and controlling risks. Include the matrix or scoring system you use.
RAMS Examples	Two or three completed Risk Assessments and Method Statements from recent projects. Redact client names if needed, but keep the detail.
Accident Statistics (3 Years)	AFR, lost time incidents, and total recordable incident rate. Present in a table or chart showing the trend over time.
RIDDOR Report Summary	Number of reportable incidents per year. Include corrective actions and outcomes for each.
Training Matrix	List key personnel with their qualifications, certifications, and renewal dates. Highlight any gaps and your plan to close them.
Competence Card Copies	CSCS, CPCS, SMSTS, and SSSTS cards for named personnel. Ensure all are in date at the time of submission.
CDM Roles and Responsibilities	A clear statement of how you fulfil your duties under CDM 2015, naming specific roles and the people who hold them.
Supply Chain H&S Management	How you vet, monitor, and manage the safety performance of your subcontractors and suppliers.

If any of these documents are missing or out of date when the tender arrives, you are already at a disadvantage. Treat safety documentation with the same discipline you apply to financial accounts: keep it current, keep it accurate, and review it on a fixed schedule.

Writing the H&S Method Statement

The method statement is where tenders are won and lost on safety. Evaluators read dozens of these per procurement round, and they can immediately tell the difference between a generic template and a statement written specifically for the project at hand.

Generic statements about PPE requirements and standard operating procedures receive minimum marks. What scores highly is site-specific detail: risks identified from the tender documents, control measures tailored to those risks, and named competent persons responsible for implementation.

Good vs. Bad: A Comparison

Weak Method Statement

"All operatives will wear appropriate PPE at all times. Risk assessments will be carried out prior to work commencing. A site induction will be provided to all personnel."

No reference to the specific site, its hazards, or who is responsible. Could apply to any project. Evaluators have seen this paragraph a thousand times.

Strong Method Statement

"The tender documents identify asbestos-containing materials in the east wing ceiling tiles (ref: Pre-Construction Information, Section 4.2). Prior to any invasive work in this area, our licensed asbestos contractor, ABC Environmental Ltd, will carry out a refurbishment and demolition survey under the supervision of our Site Manager, John Davies (SMSTS, CSCS Black Card). All operatives working within the exclusion zone will hold asbestos awareness certification as a minimum. Air monitoring will be conducted by an independent UKAS-accredited laboratory throughout the removal phase."

References the tender documents directly. Names the hazard, the control measure, the responsible person with their qualifications, and the verification method. Site-specific and verifiable.

The pattern is straightforward: identify the specific hazard from the tender information, state your control measure, name the person responsible, and explain how you will verify the control is working. Repeat this for every significant risk the project presents.

CDM 2015 Compliance

The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 apply to all construction work in Great Britain. Many bidders reference CDM in their submissions but fail to demonstrate that they actually understand the duties it places on them.

The key roles and their duties:

Principal Designer

Responsible for planning, managing, monitoring, and coordinating health and safety during the pre-construction phase. Must ensure that designers comply with their duties under Regulation 9 and that pre-construction information is prepared and provided to every contractor.

Principal Contractor

Responsible for planning, managing, monitoring, and coordinating health and safety during the construction phase. Must prepare the construction phase plan before work begins, organise cooperation between contractors, ensure suitable site inductions are provided, and take reasonable steps to prevent unauthorised access.

Pre-Construction Information

The client must provide information about the project that is relevant to health and safety. This includes existing drawings, asbestos surveys, previous uses of the site, and known hazards. As a bidder, you should reference this information directly in your method statement to show you have read and understood it.

Common CDM mistake in tenders

Many bidders write "We will comply with CDM 2015" without specifying which duty holder role they are fulfilling or what that compliance looks like in practice. Evaluators treat this as a boilerplate statement, not evidence of competence. Instead, state the role you will hold on the project, name the person fulfilling it, and describe the specific actions you will take under each relevant regulation.

Common H&S Scoring Pitfalls

These are the mistakes that consistently cost bidders marks on health and safety questions. Each one is avoidable with preparation.

Outdated H&S policy

A policy not signed or reviewed in the last 12 months signals that safety is not a management priority. Some frameworks will automatically fail bids with an expired policy.

High accident rates with no improvement narrative

Accidents happen. What matters is the response. If your AFR is above the industry benchmark, include a clear explanation of the steps you have taken to bring it down and the results so far.

No evidence of supply chain safety management

Evaluators know that subcontractors carry significant risk. If your submission does not explain how you vet, monitor, and manage the safety performance of your supply chain, you will lose marks.

Generic RAMS

Submitting RAMS that could apply to any project tells evaluators you have not engaged with the specific requirements of this tender. Tailor every RAMS to the site, scope, and hazards described in the tender documents.

Failing to address site-specific hazards

If the tender documents mention asbestos, confined spaces, working at height, or any other specific hazard, your response must address it directly. Ignoring flagged hazards raises serious concerns about your competence.

Missing or expired competence cards

If named personnel have CSCS, CPCS, or SMSTS cards that expire before the project start date, flag this and confirm renewal is in progress. Submitting expired cards without explanation will cost you marks.

Safety as a Differentiator

Health and safety is not a box to tick on a form. It is a genuine differentiator in competitive tenders. Firms with strong safety records, documented management systems, and clear evidence of a reporting culture win contracts because evaluators trust them to deliver without incidents. That trust translates directly into higher quality scores.

The bidders who treat safety as an afterthought, those who attach a dusty policy and write vague method statements, consistently lose marks to competitors who invest in getting this right. In a tender decided by fine margins, those lost marks are the difference between winning and placing second.

If you are preparing for construction or facilities management tenders, start by auditing the nine documents listed above. Confirm they are current, complete, and ready to submit. Then invest time in writing method statements that reference the actual project, name real people, and describe verifiable controls. Our Construction Tender Compliance guide covers the full range of compliance requirements you will encounter in these bids.

Extract tender requirements faster

RFP Matrix pulls every requirement from tender documents automatically, including health and safety questions, so you can identify what evaluators are asking before you start writing. Get started and spend your time on answers, not admin.