Why is it so important?
Contractors must have their own procedures for managing the health and safety aspects of their work. They should be able to demonstrate that they have knowledge of relevant health and safety law and have taken this into account in the pricing, planning and execution of work on any premises. When this happens, all parties can work safely together.
What is a contractor?
A contractor is anyone you get in to work for you who is not an employee. Using contractors - for maintenance, repairs, IT, installation, construction, demolition and many other jobs - may be routine in your company. But many accidents involve contractors working on your premises. Sometimes, you may have more than one contractor, you need to think about how their work may affect each other’s and how they interact with your activities. Clearly, in these circumstances there is more chance of something being overlooked.
Legislation
The legislation relating to contractors is plentiful but the principal ones are:
- Health and Safety at Work Act (HSWA) 1974;
- Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations (MHSW) 1999;
- Construction (Design and Management) (CDM) Regulations 2015; and
- Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) Regulations 2002 (as amended).
These regulations have been made to prevent deaths and injuries caused each year in the workplace.
There are a lot of other regulations that will be specific to the tasks and services carried out by the contractor. These regulations provide the requirement to manage and control hazards like asbestos, hazardous substances, noise, manual handling, vibration.
What do I need to do?
Simple checks you can do yourself are to request the following documents from contractors:
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Competency statements
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Accident records
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Risk assessments
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Association memberships
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Health and safety offences records
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Previous and similar service examples of their work
- Method Statements (you can do this when you request their relevant insurance certificate)
It is important once you have selected contractors to communicate throughout the process and share information on your procedures. Once work has started you should check they are working safely to the agreed scope and safety controls.
Higher risk activities such as working at height, confined spaces, excavations, electrical work, hot works using flames, diving, working on gas and in dangerous environments can be managed with a permit to work system.
You can get more information from the HSE, Using Contractors - a brief guide (INDG368).
Assurity Consulting is the UK's leading independent compliance consultancy specialising in workplace health, safety and environmental solutions. We have over 35 years' experience of helping customers of all sizes, from across all sectors, manage their compliance responsibilities, making sure that their organisation is compliant, their employees are safe, their processes are cost effective and their management team is in control.
This guide is of a general nature; specific advice can be obtained from Assurity Consulting by calling tel. 01403 269375 or by email [email protected]