Control of Contractors

In many businesses – especially offices and process industries - work was the same yesterday, is the same today, and will be largely the same tomorrow.  In theory then, it should be planned to occur with maximum efficiency, zero defects, and zero harm. What happens though, when something out of the ordinary happens, such as a contractor turning up to perform a specialised task?  Many contractors of course will be seasoned professionals with whom you have a long-standing relationship, take no risks, and show pride in performing work to a high standard. Sometimes though, and perhaps against your better judgement, the contract is awarded to the lowest bidder and if you receive a suspiciously low tender, it may mean that the contractor will end up cutting corners on quality, on safety – or both. Europe-wide it is estimated that around 15-20% of all accidents and 10-15% of all fatal accidents are related to maintenance operations.  Often maintenance is contracted out to specialists, making contracting work potentially high risk. Why Worry ? - Surely it’s not our problem what contractors get up to on our premises? I have met a number of managers who have cordoned off working areas and allowed contractors to get stuck in unsupervised, in the belief that health & safety is entirely up to the contractor - who will take the blame entirely if anything goes wrong.  Sometimes the first I’ve known about short cuts being taken is when members of our workforce flagged up concerns about contractors following unsafe practices which they, our employees, knew to be forbidden. There has been a great deal of case law over the years showing that the “occupier” (your company) is just as responsible for the health & safety of contractors as for its own employees.  Contractors are there, after all, to help you make a profit in the same way as your own staff. One seminal case occurred in 1976 at the Swan Hunter Shipyard during fit-out of destroyer HMS Glasgow.  A firm of welders – who were not even contracted directly by Swan Hunter, but were sub-contracted – were involved in a horrific oxygen-enriched fire in the cramped confines of the ship’s hold, in which eight men subsequently died.  The courts held that Swan Hunter, as occupier, should have made sure that not only their own staff, but their contractors, sub-contractors etc. be properly trained (in this case in how to recognise signs of oxygen-enrichment). The work method statement (which should arise out of the contractor’s risk assessment) is a vital tool for spelling out in detail how the contractor intends carrying out the job safely, what equipment they will use, what precautions they will take, and so forth.

• Keep checking throughout the duration of the job that what the contractor has said they will do is, in fact, being done.
• Remember that the tradesmen who turns up with a bag of tools may not necessarily have seen the method statement sent by his/her head office.
• Crucially, deliver your own pep-talk at a pre-work briefing, making sure contractors understand that H&S is important to your organisation, and that deviations will not be tolerated.
• I like to use the word “invisible” – in other words contractors perform their allotted task invisibly, clear up afterwards, then leave without anyone noticing they have been there.
• Complex jobs will be covered by Construction Design and Management Regulations (CDM) but for smaller tasks, the Health & Safety Executive also offer a brief guide called Using Contractors.

Contact us Arinite clients appreciate we provide practical, no-nonsense advice about what you need to do to establish and maintain a safe and healthy working environment. Our team of health and safety consultants take pride in keeping health and safety simple. If you need to call upon our expert assistance, or just for an informal chat, please call our office 0207 947 9581, or type an enquiry to: https://www.arinite.com/contact-us/. Jan Mirkowski