Along with some minor rewording the main difference is in the changing of two of the Code headings with 鈥楽afe鈥� becoming 鈥楽afety鈥� and 鈥楥leanliness鈥� becoming 鈥楢ppearance鈥�.
These changes reflect a clarification of the Scheme鈥檚 expectations and hopefully present a clearer understanding of what is required from registration. The move from聽'Cleanliness'聽to聽'Appearance'聽is toemphasisethe Scheme鈥檚 broader expectations of not just how clean a site聽is聽but more importantly how聽it presents itself, and the industry it represents.
The change from 'Safe' to聽'Safety' is to clarify that聽the Scheme is looking at聽what safety systems a site has in place and how safety is promoted to the operatives, visitors and public. The Scheme is also looking as to whether a site has a proactive approach to driving up standards in safety.
All聽registered聽sites are monitored against this 鈥楽ite聽Code of Considerate Practice鈥� by experienced Scheme Monitors through the use of the 鈥楽ite Registration Monitors鈥� Checklist鈥� that expands the聽eight point code into a selection of questions developed to ascertain the level of performance reached by the site.
Every year the Checklist is updated to take into consideration the ever improving standards of performance of sites. This is done through reviewing the current levels of performance of sites and through consultation with the Scheme鈥檚 Monitors, Directors, Associate members and Client Partners. Through this consultation process, each year the Checklist questions are revised聽and reworded with questions added or removed.
Within the Checklist, some questions are in bold type.聽 These relate to activities and working practices that the Scheme expects all registered sites to have addressed and, in most cases, to have in place. To achieve compliance with the Code, a site must be able to say it has at least addressed all of these bolded questions. In this case, the site should achieve a score of at least 24, depending on the extent to which these questions have been addressed. The questions which are not in bold relate to activities that the Scheme would like to see implemented to improve a site鈥檚 performance and will in most cases warrant the site achieving a higher score.
The Checklist is not a 鈥榯ick鈥� list and is designed to encourage open conversation between the Scheme鈥檚 Monitors and those running the sites they visit.
To achieve higher scores, Monitors are looking for initiatives and activities that will go far beyond the basic expectations of the Code and, for the very highest scoring sites, initiatives that may not have been seen by Monitors before, and can be considered exceptional and unique.
Edward Hardy, Scheme Chief Executive, commented:聽鈥淭he aim of the Scheme is to instill a culture of continuous improvement on all registered sites and it is therefore vital that we are always looking at how we can raise the bar.聽 The聽standards on聽sites today are barelyrecognisablefrom those聽witnessed聽when the Scheme started 13 years ago聽so聽it is essential that we聽continually review the Scheme's expectations to ensure聽they reflect these ever improving standards.鈥澛�
The new code and checklist come into effect on 1st February and will be applied to all new sites visited from that point forwards.聽 Those sites who are already registered,聽and have already had a visit using the previous checklist, will have any subsequent visits conducted using the聽2010 checklist to provide consistency.
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