Tigerpaul, no need to request excuses because there are so many schemes out there it is difficult to keep up with them all. CHAS is a third party Health and Safety accreditation scheme. It is as llywelyn 111 says a basic requirement for local authority work, is used by Housing Associations, Local Councils and some private sector clients as a way to ensure whether a contractor has the necessary H&S systems to undertake the work. The means by which you get accreditation is a paper based, form filling application and of course the payment of a fee. There are other schemes that do a similar thing. Hope this helps.