Many organisations still ‘contract out’ their higher risk activities often in the vain hope that this establishes a defence if anything goes wrong. This practice of giving the contractor complete control of the activity, even where the activity was carried out on-site, meant a state of play known as a ‘temporary factory’ was established. Generally, as the client, permission to enter the ‘temporary factory’ would need to be obtained from the contractor. However, a ruling in the courts against Associated Octel effectively ruled out this system of management.

In the ruling, the judge used responsibility under the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 relating to responsibility of an employer for others affected by their undertaking. Contracted operations, including activities such as building maintenance, are considered part of your undertaking. The logic is simple – if they are not part of what you do, why you are doing them? Effectively, the ruling established the client’s liability for the contractor’s employees and others involved or affected by the activity. The defence of a ‘temporary factory’ was now open to criticism.

The principle established in the Associated Octel ruling applies equally to all contractors working for an organisation. Contractors appear in many guises, from the obvious building maintenance contractor to the less obvious individual servicing machines such as computer systems or photocopiers.

It is necessary to manage these individuals but the degree of effort and resources devoted to the task will depend very much on the risks they face. The risks from construction work or working at height are well-documented significant risks and it is likely that you will have in place a system for managing the selection, control, supervision and monitoring of their work. Often overlooked, however, are those individuals who carry out higher risk activities as a matter of routine, e.g. lift engineers working in a dangerous plant room, often as lone workers in an isolated part of the building.

What Should You Do?

Before deciding on a contractor, consider the health and safety implications of the work to be undertaken. In particular, what competencies are required to undertake the work safely? You will need to take account of:

• Competence
• Co-ordination of the project I Risk assessment requirements I Consultation requirements
• Co-operation between parties I Information required
• Training requirements
• Supervision/management
• Any specific instructions

Selecting a Contractor

It will be necessary to satisfy yourself that the contractor is competent and has sufficient resources to manage the project safely. Any tender document or meetings with prospective contractors should identify the risks that their employees will be exposed to, caused by your operations. Equally, it will be necessary to obtain information regarding the risks they will introduce while completing the work. This is usually handled by the exchange of risk assessment documents. Consider their experience in this type of work and obtain references for work completed for other clients.

Ensure they have a safety management system proportionate to the risk and that they carry any accreditations necessary e.g. Corgi Registration or are they members of a trade body. Where a contractor intends to sub-contract the work, they should have a selection procedure for sub-contractors. Obtain a method statement before works are undertaken. This will give you the basis for your monitoring of the works from a safety angle as the works progress.

Before the Work Starts

Prior to the work starting, complete a joint risk assessment, this should examine the tasks and previous documentation carefully to ensure controls will remain effective. Accidents happen where the interactions between activities are not properly managed. Examples include persons knocked from ladders by fork- lift trucks or individuals electrocuted because a circuit they are working on is energised by the client.

Ensure relevant information has been passed to all parties, for example, the records of your asbestos surveys, emergency procedures or locations of utility routes.

Agree the procedures for co-ordination and co-operation, ensure there are good communication channels for project issues. Ensure you are clear about the management responsibilities and monitoring procedures to be adopted, by whom and how often.

Ensure the contractor is aware of the equipment that is to be used and/or worked on, where necessary make use of a formal handover procedure.

The contractor should be responsible for managing the specific works to be carried out. The selection procedures ensure they have specific expertise in this area and that should be utilised to the full. In addition, ensure there are clear instructions regarding the plans and diagrams, deviation from intended outcomes or contract problems. Plans and diagrams will be important when you come to work on any system in the future and managing them effectively can reduce the administrative burden later – but they must be accurate!

During the Project

It is important to monitor performance throughout the project. This may be done proactively by carrying out site inspections, as well as reactively, by monitoring reports on issues such as accidents or quality non-compliance. Ensure the contractor is keeping the risk assessment up-to-date, accounting for any significant changes in the plans or following an incident. You should examine any record of safety checks that were agreed or necessary, these may include specific conditions such as quality of safety equipment or methods of working.

The degree of monitoring must be in proportion to the risk. High-risk activities, such as work at height should be monitored on a more or less daily basis. Low-risk activities, such as servicing the IT equipment will require a lesser degree of control.

On completion of the project or service, review what went on. There may be lessons that can be learned from the experience. Make a record of any significant issues and consider whether you would utilise the same contractor on future projects.