Companies are turning to contractors now more than ever. This especially holds true in the U.S. construction sector, where contractors fill a staggering one in every five jobs. Projections indicate that they’ll constitute nearly half of the U.S. workforce in the unfolding 2020s.
Yet, even with strides in safety equipment and training, contractor safety is far from perfect. The construction industry, for instance, grapples with elevated rates of both nonfatal and fatal injuries compared to other sectors. In fact, a harrowing one in every five on-the-job deaths in the U.S. is attributed to construction workers.
To properly manage the risks associated and involved with maintaining safe contractor processes, organizations should ensure they have a well-defined and robust contractor management program. In this article, we’ll discuss how EHS teams should approach contractor management.
While firms expect contractors to possess varying levels of experience, training and competence, they often don’t anticipate the additional challenges that accompany a contractor’s position. These four steps will put you on the right track.
Initiating and sustaining contractor safety begins with ensuring your company recruits contractors with commendable safety records and a commitment to following organizational safety standards. Prequalification processes offer an added layer of assurance, ensuring the employment of safety-conscious contractors.
However, thorough management should not stop with contractor approval. In addition to determining the required qualifications, firms should assess the particular hazards associated with the jobs they’re outsourcing and ensure that safety management systems are in place to manage those hazards. By performing a thorough assessment of the skills, training, qualifications and hazards connected to the job, companies can ensure they’ve done everything in their power to mitigate the additional risks involved in hiring a contractor.
Before hiring a contractor, make an agreement detailing the duties and responsibilities of the position being outsourced. This agreement should clearly establish expectations of the contractor throughout their time in the role.
This stops contract workers from being asked to perform duties outside of their scope of work, which could introduce new risk to the workplace.
Even if they have received relevant training prior to securing the job, you can’t be sure that training will be specifically applicable to your jobsite and the contractor’s exact role.
Therefore, it is imperative to provide contractors with all necessary additional training to make sure they can do the job as effectively as possible. This can include organization specific procedures regarding safety, personal protective equipment, hazard identification and emergency response.
Contractors need to also understand the safety risks associated with their duties and how the company expects hazards, near misses and incidents to be effectively reported. Make sure contractors have access to all reporting workflows and can access all necessary information about equipment, SDSs and LOTO procedures.
Employers should regularly monitor their contractors’ performance and ensure that safety requirements are met. They should also engage in regular dialogue with contractors to ensure that they’re engaged in their work, and provide any necessary feedback that could help them improve their performance. If there are any areas in which contractors are not meeting these requirements, your company can then provide additional safety training.
Audits, inspections and incident investigations can help contribute to continuous verification and insights for refining contractor safety management programs.
Companies encounter numerous challenges when instituting contractor safety management programs, including:
Different safety cultures: Contractors often bring their own safety cultures, leading to potential clashes with an organization’s established safety policies.
Communication barriers: Language or cultural barriers may hinder effective communication, resulting in difficulties in enforcing safety policies.
Minimal or absent onboarding process: Absence of a robust onboarding process contributes to communication gaps, undermining the importance of safety procedures for new contractors.
Lack of resources: Insufficient resources or personnel disrupts effective monitoring and enforcement of safety policies for contractors.
Resistance to change: Some contractors resist adopting workplace-specific safety practices, posing challenges in implementing updated policies and procedures.
Companies employing contractors can elevate contractor safety management by embracing these best practices and adopting technology solutions that align with their operational needs. Contractor safety management software helps streamline and automate various contractor safety processes, including prequalification and onboarding to on-site monitoring and proactive management of contracting companies.
Learn more about our contractor management solution below.
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