Disclosure Barring Service
The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) has collaborated with the Better Hiring Institute on the launch of its new Better Hiring Toolkit provided for the construction industry. The toolkit works as an essential guide for construction sector employers to make better informed, safer recruitment decisions.
The toolkit represents collaborative working between safeguarding and industry experts at theBetter Hiring Institute, theDisclosure and Barring Service,Reed Screening,Gangmasters & Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA) and the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) to set out accessible guidance, supporting employers by providing tailored guidance in safer and more effective recruitment.
Theconstruction industry represents one of the most high-risk industries for employment, so the toolkit will set the benchmarks for organisations to assess their current policies and procedures against, ensuring that recruiting staff make their pre-employment checks fair and robust.
Effective pre-employment vetting is a crucial component of safer recruitment practices. DBS helps employers make safer recruitment decisions each year by processing and issuingDBSchecks.
Conducting a Basic DBS check on an individual before hiring them can help to inform employers around job role suitability, strengthen recruitment decisions and protect an organisations reputation. Implementing Basic checks in the construction industry in line with the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act ensures that individuals with minor, unrelated convictions are not unfairly excluded from employment. Basic checks focus on relevant offences whilst promoting fair opportunities for those who have been rehabilitated.
Helen Chandler, Acting Associate Director of Business Developmentfor the Disclosure and Barring Service, said: The Disclosure and Barring Service helps employers make safer recruitment decisions, and our collaboration with Better Hiring Institute represents important steps forward in supporting the construction industry in safeguarding best practice. Were pleased to be supporting the development of the free toolkit to ensure that recruitment across the sector is more effective and better informed.
Download and share the BHI Toolkit
Those responsible for recruitment within construction sector organisations are being urged todownload and share the toolkit within