Contractor management

A contractor is a person, other than, an employee, who is engaged to perform work at a workplace e.g. a plumber, a builder or a gardener. The contractor may be employed on a once only basis, intermittently or regularly.

Under Work Health and Safety Legislation a contractor is regarded as a worker and must be treated as such in terms of consultation and other needs. It is the organisation’s responsibility to ensure that the contractors are not put at risk by activities of any person in the organisation and that your staff and clients etc are not put at risk by the contractor or their employees. Appropriate consultation practices should be implemented based on the type and frequency of work undertaken. The WorkCover Subby Pack provides information and templates which can be used with contractors or by contractors.

This means managers need to:

Outline how the organisation will consult with contractors and their employees
Clearly define the tasks a contractor is being engaged to undertake
Determine if the contractor's work is expert work over which the principal has little knowledge or control
Identify how the contractor's expertise will be confirmed e.g. evidence of licencing, accreditation
Clearly assign responsibilities for expert work and risk management in contracts
Identify and assess possible risks that the contractor may be exposed to and how you can eliminate or control those risks
Ensure that the contractor identifies and assesses the risks that may be caused by their work to any person and provides you with information as to how those risks will be eliminated or controlled
Identify whether any training needs to be provided to the contractor or anyone else to ensure the health and safety of everyone at the workplace

The contract specification documents are an important first stage in specifying health and safety requirements to contractors. Smaller contractors typically have less formalised WHS management systems, in comparison to larger contracting organisations. The contractor management system should be sufficiently flexible to accommodate the different levels of WHS system development.

Classification of contract work

Contracts should be classified as major or minor depending on a range of factors including:

level of risk associated with the contract e.g. work in confined spaces, at height or involing demonsition or use of hazardous goods or materials should be regarding as major
duration of the contract
compexity of the contract e.g. use of subcontractors
alue of the contract.

Determining WHS Requirements for contract specifications

Different approaches should be considered in relation to WHS requirements for major and minor contracts:

model WHS requirements - clauses covering compliance, management systems, risk assessment, reporting, incident notification and non-compliance;
tenderer WHS management system questionnaire - incorporated into tender documents to allow evaluation of health and safety competency
Risk assessment - form including in specificaiton documents so tenderers know requirements if they are awarded the contract and completed prior to work commencing.
Health and Safety plans - also reviewed prior to commence of contract.

In general terms the contract specifications should include the following requirements:

comply with health and safety legislative requirements
demonstrate evidence of an OHS management system
complete WHS management system questionnaire with tender
undertake and document a risk assessment
develop a health and safety plan
WHS performance reporting
WHS incident reporting
establish a recording and action system for non-compliance.
consutlation to be followed (after model legislation comes into force)

Contractor induction/orientation

Even though contractors are considered to be workers under the WHS Act organisations should have a procedure whereby contractors sign in at the office and wear a badge identifying that they are visitors. Registering visitors to your workplace is important for emergency procedures.

On the reverse side of the badge, essential WHS advice can be placed, for example, emergency procedures and first aid arrangements.

Organisations should conduct a briefing for all contractors outlining the policies and procedures, advice about reporting hazards and incidents and specific training in safe work procedures.

You may wish to prepare a booklet – see sample for contractors that reinforces the information discussed at the briefing or use instead of a briefing.

Contractor Management Basic Procedures

Basic requirements of contractor management procedures are:

Sign in/out
ID tag
Provide info basic to workplace e.g. emergency procedures, first aid, incident/hazard reporting requirements, specific hazards and controls required, location of specific equipment e.g. electrical switchboard, gas main
Obtain details of insurance and qualifications and keep on file
Obtain details of any hazards likely to be created by contractor’s work and how contractor plans to control
System to supervise work of contractor

Sample forms

Following are a number of forms you may wish to use with your contractors depending on the type of system you implement and the size of the contract being managed.

REFERENCES:

WorkCover NSW “Workplace Safety Kit, A Step by Step Guide to Safety for Business” Guide 2001

WorkCover NSW "Subby Pack - OHS Management systems"