Before the holidays, we were discussing the risks that arise when workers employed by an outside contractor perform work at your workplace. In Part 1 of the story, we explained how this situation can create unforeseen hazards not just to the outside workers but to your own personnel. We also saw that the host company can be liable for resulting injuries by dint of its control over the workplace.

Let's now look at how to manage these risks. There's also a model form in the Tools section of SafetyXChange that you can download and adapt to monitor the comings-and-goings of contractor workers.

Monitoring Contractor Workers

One of the keys to managing contractor risks is to know at any given time which contractors are at your site and what kind of work they're doing. This might sound obvious but it's often overlooked. This is particularly true at companies that have a large workforce and a workplace spread out over a large physical area.

SafetyXChange has learned of an innovative and effective measure used by leading companies to monitor the whereabouts of contractors' workers. It involves creating a special form called an outside contractor notification form. The best example of such a form that we've seen comes from Bowater Canadian Forest Products Inc., a leading manufacturer of newsprint located in Thunder Bay, Ontario.

"We've been using some variation of this form for more than 10 years and perfecting it as we go," notes Pat Miller, head of health and safety at Bowater. "So our most recent version is the product of a lot of experience," he adds.

How to Create Form

The Bowater contractor notification form is simple and straightforward. It's a one-page checklist of key information about each contractor the company is working with. Although you don't need to use the exact same model as the one in Tools, you should make sure that your version lists all the information necessary to track the contractor, like:

• The contractor's name;
• The name of a designated supervisor or other person from your site who's responsible for the contractor while it's on site (and for filling out the form);
• The supervisor from the contractor's staff in charge of the contractor's workers on site (and who serves as your contact person at the site);
• Whether the contractor has met the requirements of your safety program;
• How many workers are on site;
• Whether those workers have been oriented to your safety program;
• The names of any subcontractors to be used;
• A brief description of the work to be done; and
• The start and finish date of the work.

How To Use Form

Miller recommends designating one person, like your safety manager, to make sure all contractors meet the company's safety requirements before beginning work at the site. Then the supervisor responsible for a particular contractor should fill out the form before work begins verifying that all requirements have been met. That supervisor should send a copy of the completed form to senior managers, purchasing and the departments where work is to be done, advises Miller. Keep the form in a central location where key personnel at your site can get access to it. Bowater started out using a paper form but is currently converting it to an electronic version that can be accessed from a PC.

Conclusion

To manage contractor risks, companies must take measures ranging from contractor selection to orientation and oversight of contract work. (SafetyXChange will discuss each aspect of this process in future stories.) Monitoring the comings-and-goings of contractor personnel is just one part of the process. But while it won't solve all of your problems, monitoring contractor whereabouts is integral to the success of a company's risk management efforts.

The Canadian Perspective

The advice in this story applies equally to Canadian companies. In fact, the Model Form in Tools is based on a model created by a Canadian company.

YOU MAKE THE CALL

Who's Liable for the Negligence of a 'Borrowed' Employee?

Here's a look at a recent case from the Northwest Territories in Canada. See if you can figure out who won:

What Happened: A contractor and a subcontractor agree that a supervisor employed by the latter should oversee safety at a construction site. The subcontractor continues to pay the supervisor's salary and invoices the contractor for his services. The supervisor is negligent and a third party, a motorcyclist riding by the site, gets injured as a result. The motorcyclist sues both companies. Each company blames the other.

Question: Which company is liable for the supervisor's negligence?

Answer: The subcontractor. The court bases its ruling on who employed the supervisor. A "borrowed employee" is still the employee of the company that hired him and pays his salary - in this case, the subcontractor, the court rules [Hardisty v. 851791 N.W.T. Ltd., [2004] NTSC 70, Oct. 6, 2004].

Story Tools:  E-mail this to a friend  Print This Post Top