Managing contractors A guide for employers

This is a free-to-download, web-friendly version of HSG159 (Second edition, published 2011). This version has been adapted for online use from HSE’s current printed version.

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ISBN 978 0 7176 6436 8 Price Code CA

Managing contractors has been written as a guide for small to medium-sized companies in the chemical industry, but it will also be of use to other industries and larger companies.

Safe working with contractors presents a challenge, but being a smaller company has its advantages. You can be more flexible in your approach and decisions can be made more quickly. Lines of communication are shorter, usually there are not too many people involved and it is easier to know who is around.

In this guidance we aim to help you understand what you need to do and give sound practical advice for action. Working together helps everyone to work safely.

This second edition brings guidance and references up to date.

HSE Books Page 1 of 44

© Crown copyright 2011

First published 1997 Second edition 2011

ISBN 978 0 7176 6436 8

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Some images and illustrations may not be owned by the Crown so cannot be reproduced without permission of the copyright owner. Enquiries should be sent to copyright@hse.gsi.gov.uk.

This guidance is issued by the Health and Safety Executive. Following the guidance is not compulsory and you are free to take other action. But if you do follow the guidance you will normally be doing enough to comply with the law. Health and safety inspectors seek to secure compliance with the law and may refer to this guidance as illustrating good practice.

This guidance was written and developed by HSE with the help of Cambridge Training and Development (CTAD) Ltd and in consultation with small to medium- sized chemical businesses.

Contents

Foreword 4

Introduction 5

Section 1 Why manage contractors? 6

Section 2 The law and you 11

Section 3 Your action plan 17

Section 4 Five practical steps for safe working 22 Step 1 Planning 23 Step 2 Choosing a contractor 31 Step 3 Contractors working on site 35 Step 4 Keeping a check 38 Step 5 Reviewing the work 40

References 43

Further information 44

Foreword The use of contractors in the chemical industry is commonplace. Many companies turn to contractors to supplement their engineering staff. They are also used for specialist tasks, often involving hazardous activities. This could involve working on critical process plant and equipment or carrying out non-routine activities where there is a greater potential for harm if their work is not properly managed.

It is important to ensure that contractors are properly briefed on and understand the chemical and major hazard risks associated with your activities in order for them to be able to work safely and to safeguard the integrity of your plant and processes.

This guide should help you understand what you need to do. It gives sound practical advice for action.

Working together helps everyone to work safely.

Peter Baker Head of the Chemical Industries Division (CID) Health and Safety Executive

Introduction This publication explains your responsibilities for health and safety when using contractors and describes good practice.

Who should read this book?

It is aimed at owners, directors and managers of small to medium-sized (SME) chemical companies but will be of use to other industries and larger companies. It focuses on companies with 50 staff or less and has been produced in consultation with chemical companies.

It aims to help you to:

■■ assess your current practice; ■■ understand and comply with the law; ■■ apply good practice.

It does not claim to be comprehensive but offers guidance and practical ways of managing jobs involving contractors (whether it is one individual or several contractors), building health and safety into every stage.

What is in the book?

Sections 1–3 offer guidance on:

■■ understanding some of the problems; ■■ understanding the law; and ■■ assessing current arrangements and drawing up an action plan.

There are four key exercises to carry out. They are designed to help you assess your knowledge of the law and your company’s position in terms of managing contractors. They lead to an action plan for making improvements.

Section 4 is divided into five steps, offering practical guidance on safe working. You may find the information in this section particularly helpful if you:

■■ plan jobs involving contractors; ■■ want guidelines for tendering and selecting contractors; ■■ arrange agreements with them on behalf of the company; ■■ work with them at any stage when they are on site; ■■ want help with monitoring or reviewing contractors’ jobs.

How to use this book

This publication may be used as:

■■ an aid for planning; ■■ learning material for self-study; ■■ a reference to dip into; ■■ a staff training aid about managing contractors.

At the end of each section there is a summary of the key points.

Section 1 Why manage contractors? ‘We haven’t had a major problem but I know we need to tighten up. We’ve got safe systems for staff, but they don’t always get passed on to contractors. The contractor coming in to repair a leak doesn’t know anything about the chemical industry!’ Operations manager

This section is about the need for managing contractors, whether it is one individual or several different contractors, as accidents and ill health can be costly. After working through it you can start to look at your own procedures and see if there is room for improvement.

Who counts as a contractor?

A contractor is anyone you get in to work for you who is not an employee. Using contractors – for maintenance, repairs, installation, construction, demolition and many other jobs – may be routine in your company. But many accidents involve contractors working on site.

Sometimes you may have more than one contractor on site. You need to think about how their work may affect each other and how they interact with your activities. Clearly, in these circumstances there is more chance of something being overlooked.

‘The cost of a major fire – which could easily happen – would be horrendous. Cutting corners on health and safety is not an option.’ Operations supervisor

The costs of getting it wrong

No one plans to have an accident. No one wants to become ill as a result of their work. Yet there is no shortage of examples – some major, or fatal – all serious and costly.

You may have heard the saying: ‘If you think safety is expensive, try an accident!’ Among the losses, sometimes uninsured, are:

■■ production time; ■■ key workers; ■■ products; ■■ equipment.

There may be compensation to pay and other legal penalties.

Recovery can take many years and sometimes involves civil law claims. Insurance premiums may increase, or cover might be refused because of a poor claims record. Weigh up the costs. Saying ‘It can’t happen to us’ or ‘Why should we think about all this – we’ve never had an accident with a contractor!’ is asking for trouble. You’re in danger of not doing anything until after the problem. Then it could be too late.

It has been found that employers who put real effort into making health and safety practices effective gained many benefits from doing so. For example, they save money from tighter control over using and storing materials. Better understanding of health and safety leads to improved staff morale and industrial relations.

Communicate with contractors

Accidents happen more easily when the contractor’s job is excluded from your usual methods of safe working if:

■■ the hazards of their job haven’t been identified and steps have not been taken to minimise risks; ■■ no one is around to make sure the contractor follows health and safety rules on site.

Accidents with contractors can be caused by poor communication – when staff don’t know there is a contractor working nearby and when contractors don’t know the dangers on site.

Include contractors

Bring contractors into your health and safety procedures. They may be strangers to your site and won’t know:

■■ about the hazards on your site; ■■ your site rules and safety procedures; ■■ what to wear; ■■ about special equipment they need to use; ■■ what to do in an emergency; ■■ the sound of the alarm, and how and when to raise it.

You may take good practice for granted in-house, but don’t assume the same applies to contractors. Even regular contractors may need reminding.

Do you need to improve your procedures for work with contractors? Are you sure they cover all contractors, every time? Maybe you’ve never had an accident involving a contractor – yet!

Delegation

If you delegate the task of managing contractors, decide who will take responsibility for the details. Use Section 4 of this guide to help make contractor arrangements a practical reality for you.

Contractor injured in fall

Contractors had been called in to replace some damaged pipework lagging. They needed to work high up and access was difficult. They ended up working from a ladder which was leaning against a tank. During the middle of the morning one of the contractors fell from the ladder.

Injury He landed on some nearby plant and suffered serious internal injuries, but eventually recovered.

The company said: ‘We expected them to come in and finish the job yesterday but they didn’t turn up. We didn’t even know they were on site this morning.’

The contractor said: ‘Our men couldn’t finish the job yesterday as the weather was too bad.’

The company said: ‘We didn’t know they were working from a ladder – we would have expected them to put up some scaffolding or use a mobile elevating work platform. It was difficult to get to the pipe.’

The contractor said: ‘The company didn’t include this section of pipework in their original request – it was an add-on when they realised the problem was more widespread.’

What went wrong? Communication with the contractors was poor. They were left to get on with it and the company didn’t even know when they were on site. The job changed and no one considered the risks. The contractors’ method of working was unsafe.

Key points

Accidents are expensive! You can lose staff, productive days, products, equipment and money.

Contractors are subject to even greater hazards and risks than staff because they are new to your business. Don’t leave them out of your in-house health and safety procedures.

Questions: Managing contractors in your organisation

Think about your current practice when working with contractors. Choose the response that most closely matches what you do now. Put down what actually happens, not what you think should happen.

1 We always know who’s on site

(a) yes (b) most of the time (c) occasionally

2 There has never been a major incident or accident involving contractors on site

(a) true (b) don’t know (c) false

3 We assess contractors’ competence in health and safety and check for evidence before they get the job

(a) always (b) usually (c) sort of

4 We look into contractors’ procedures for health and safety to make sure they can fit in with ours

(a) always (b) usually (c) sometimes

5 We plan for the contractor’s job and assess the hazards at each stage

(a) always (b) some of the time (c) it’s been known to happen

6 We inform them of the hazards on site and of our emergency procedures before they start

(a) without fail (b) usually (c) rarely

7 We keep track of their progress until the job finishes

(a) always (b) sometimes (c) rarely

8 After the job, we talk to the contractor about the work, including health and safety. If necessary, we keep records

(a) always (b) when possible (c) no, hardly ever

Scoring

Add your scores (a) = 8 (b) = 5 (c) = 1

If you scored between:

56–64 Very effective You are doing well. Identify what you might improve and do it!

35–55 Need to improve In theory, you are halfway there. You still need to develop procedures in some areas. Make sure your procedures are followed by all employees. List the urgent and important matters to work on. Use the action plan in Section 3.

8–34 Need to start Top marks for honesty. Perhaps the questions have helped you to identify some shortcomings. If there are urgent developments needed, plan them using the action plan in Section 3.

Your goal is to be able to answer (a) every time. No one says it is easy. But your goal is good practice. And you will find much of it is plain common sense.

Section 2 The law and you ‘We know we have responsibilities towards our contractors as they have to us. The view that ‘what contractors get up to is their business’ is asking for trouble.’ Engineering manager

All work activities are covered by health and safety law. Not all of it will apply to everything you do, but you need to know the main points. Knowing the key Acts and Regulations and how they apply to your work activities is your responsibility.

If you need help, get:

■■ the Regulations and Acts themselves; ■■ HSE’s Approved Codes of Practice (ACOPs) or guidance books.

There are a number of specific regulations. Only the basics of those most relevant to working with contractors are included here. If you manage contractors you need to be familiar with the requirements of the:

■■ Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 (the HSW Act); ■■ Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 (the Management Regulations); ■■ Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 (CDM); ■■ Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 (COSHH).

Other construction regulations you may need to know about deal with a wide range of health and safety problems, such as:

■■ the structure of working platforms; ■■ provision of guard rails to prevent falls; ■■ use of lifting tackle and lifting equipment, including cranes and hoists; ■■ welfare arrangements.

Further guidance is in References – read these publications if you want help in understanding the law.

The HSW Act

The Act applies to all work activities. It requires employers to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of:

■■ their employees; ■■ other people at work on their site, including contractors; ■■ members of the public who may be affected by their work.

Employers with more than five employees must have a written, up-to-date health and safety policy.

Employees and contractors have to take care not to endanger themselves, their colleagues or others affected by their work.

Contractors also have to comply with the HSW Act and other health and safety legislation. Clearly, when you engage contractors, the activities of different employers do interact. So co-operation and communication are needed to make sure all parties can meet their obligations. Health and safety inspectors can visit your workplace to carry out inspections. They may want to check that you have effective arrangements for managing contractors working on your site. Inspectors can:

■■ give advice; ■■ require improvements to be made (including serving improvement notices); ■■ stop the job (by serving prohibition notices); ■■ prosecute.

Ultimately the courts can impose sanctions for breaches of health and safety law. Usually this involves levying fines.

The Management Regulations

These Regulations apply to everyone at work and encourage employers to take a more systematic approach to dealing with health and safety by:

■■ assessing the risks which affect employees and anyone who might be affected by your work, including contractors. Companies who employ five or more people must record the significant findings of the assessment. A risk assessment is nothing more than a careful examination of how people could be harmed by your work – you decide whether you have already taken enough precautions or should do more to prevent the risks. ■■ setting up emergency procedures; ■■ providing training; ■■ co-operating with others on health and safety matters, eg contractors who share your site; ■■ providing temporary workers, such as contractors, with health and safety information. Some of these may already be covered in your safety policy.

The Management Regulations specifically state that where two or more employers share a workplace – whether on a temporary or a permanent basis – each employer shall:

■■ co-operate with other employers; ■■ take reasonable steps to co-ordinate between other employers to comply with legal requirements; ■■ take reasonable steps to inform other employers where there are risks to health and safety.

The same principles of co-operation, co-ordination and communication between organisations underpin the CDM Regulations, explained next.

For more information on the Management Regulations, read the Approved Code of Practice.1

A useful guide to risk assessment is provided on HSE’s website at www.hse.gov.uk/risk/index.htm.

CDM

Chemical businesses often engage contractors at one time or another to build plant, convert or extend premises and demolish buildings.

The construction industry has traditionally had high rates of serious accidents and a poor health record. Many construction accidents happen because of poor management. Other accidents arise because designers have not adequately considered the health and safety aspects during the design and planning process.

What is CDM about? The CDM Regulations 2007 came into force on the 6 April 2007.

The key aim is to integrate health and safety into the management of the project and to encourage everyone involved to work together to:

■■ improve the planning and management of projects from the very start; ■■ identify hazards early on, so they can be eliminated or reduced at the design or planning stage and the remaining risks can be properly managed; ■■ target