Contractor Control

Many very safe and very well controlled places of work have experienced the potentially very serious health and safety consequences of poorly selected and poorly controlled contractors working on their sites.

I remember one particular incident which made the headlines in the local papers near to where I live in the East Midlands when some contractors, working out of sight, in the back yard of a very professional company caused an explosion which could have had much more serious consequences than it did have on that particular occasion. These contractors were performing gas steel cutting activities and decided to roll over a couple of ‘thankfully’ empty barrels of a highly flammable substance on which to support the steelwork they were about to start work on. They did not know, appreciate or understand the implications of what they were doing because they had not asked and because they had not been told.

If such an incident was to happen at your site then you would probably be at least 50% to blame unless you had made some formal attempts to take more control of such a situation. So lets look at how big business now controls such a situation in the hope that you could all extract from this a scaled down and more manageable process (but one which is still within a similar framework) to ensure that you are better protected from such an occurrence.

The first step should be the evaluation and pre-selection of the contractor you wish to engage. So what kind of questions should you be asking ? Well, have they adequate and up to date insurances for a start ? How long have they been trading ? What is their current accident record ? What experience do they have of working in an environment such as yours ? Have they prepared a risk assessment and a method statement (i.e. a safe working procedure) for this particular task that you want them to carry out ? What equipment will they use ? Is this equipment properly serviced and maintained ? Who will operate the equipment on their behalf and are training records available for this person – to ensure their competency to use it ?

So, once you have completed this phase and you are hopefully satisfied that you are dealing with someone fairly professional (for they will not get to the next stage unless they have proved they are by responding positively to all of the previous questions) then the next step is to induct them to your site. This will involve them becoming familiar with the hazards on your site (i.e. where they could be injured themselves) as well as them understanding how they could jeopardise the safety of your own workforce whilst carrying out their own work. Although the term ‘induction’ sounds a little formal – we could be talking about nothing more than a 20 or 30 minute exercise here depending on what work is to be carried out.

The next step will then be some form of limited supervision from yourselves whilst they are working on your site. One of the reasons for this is that some organisations are very good at producing ‘paperwork’ which looks very impressive and helps to get them selected for the task but which however bears no resemblance to how they will actually work – that is, if you allow this to happen. So, check the documentation they provided you with to make sure that they are actually following this and if they are not then bring things to a halt until you are satisfied that everything is back on course - the way you want and need it to be.

If the work they are to carry out involves very high risk activity (e.g. ‘hot works’, entry into a confined space such as a tank or vessel, etc.) then something known as a ‘permit to work’ would be advisable. This takes things a step further and does not allow the work to start until you are satisfied that all the necessary controls for safe working are in place and will also typically carry a time limit as well so that if the task is not complete within the originally estimated timescale (and therefore usually meaning that something has gone wrong or an unforeseen complication has arisen) then a permit extension has to be requested. The permit should also have considered how you will deal with an emergency situation arising (e.g. how you will get this person out of a ‘confined space’ should they have an accident or take ill whilst within it).

Many companies who operate in construction related industries now openly express their approved membership of and listing within nationally certified schemes - such as ‘CHAS’, ‘Construction Line’ or ‘Exor’. What this means is that they have had to satisfy a third party organisation that they are resourced and organised to work safely before being allowed to quote and display such a symbol on their company paperwork or company vehicles. However, again be careful, do not take ‘their word’ for membership of an organisation such as this for granted – ask for up to date and current certification in case their membership has recently lapsed or their renewal has recently been refused.

Remember, as well, that all companies who are prosecuted by the HSE will be openly ‘named and shamed’ on the HSE website – so also do a quick search and just make sure you are dealing with someone who is truly reputable.

A professional and reliable contractor will not object to being vetted or to being sensibly controlled when at work – if they do get ‘difficult’ during the process that I have outlined above then it is probably a bad sign anyway and perhaps you should be talking to someone else.

So, be careful and make sure that you do not destroy your good health and safety record by introducing someone to your site who does not understand, appreciate or care about the cocktail of hazards that you are carefully and effectively controlling on a day to day basis.

Written by Phil Wass