Keeping contractors up to date with your safety policies is a must. While contractor safety is a shared responsibility, as a business it is imperative that you state what you need of your contractors. This may be permits to work, insurance, qualifications, safety training and much more.
Having an online safety system where these kinds of important documents can be uploaded is very helpful. With easy access on mobile, you can easily keep contractors up to date with your safety policies, and remind them when something is overdue or missing.
In this article we’re unpacking how to keep contractors up to date with your safety policies and their safety obligations.
- Start off on the right foot
Before a contractor starts working for you, it’s important to state what you will need from them and the safety requirements for that role. This might include a permit to work if they’re working in a high risk environment.
Offer a checklist with the requirements for the role, and your safety policies too. This way you will always have something to go back and reference, and the contractors know what to expect.
- Keep them up to date
Things change, and safety policies might be updated from time to time. It is essential that these changes are communicated to everyone working within your organisation – including contractors.
With an online system, you can send out automated updates so that no one ever misses out. Plus, you’ll create a paper trail that could help you cover your business in the event of something going wrong.
- Give them a good overview of your site
Policies are helpful signposts, but understanding the specifics of the site is often a prerequisite to those policies making sense.
Every site is different, and contractors will need to know the safety procedures relating to each area of a site. It’s a great idea to offer contractors a tour and a site map showing where hazards are on site.
You should also communicate what to wear on site, any equipment they might use or need and what to do in an emergency.
- Use technology to send, update and manage safety policies
Technology can help businesses create a paper trail of their safety procedures, and ensure that all the documents are in the right place. No contractor wants to be left in the dark, and using a cloud based safety management system will mean they never have to be.
With onboarding, licenses, insurance and training all in one place, your technology can do the heavy lifting whenever you work with contractors.
Case Study: Beakon Technology Powers A Major Oil And Gas Company
We work with clients across an array of industries, one of which being oil and gas. One of our clients is the world’s largest independent E&P company based on production and proved reserves.
Across 17 countries of operations they have 10,800 people working in an integrated way to find and produce oil and natural gas. They work with plenty of contractors to achieve this result, and their challenge has been finding a ‘real time’ agile solution that can support a high risk and multifaceted business both on/offshore. That’s where Beakon comes in.
We provided a single cloud-based software system to manage High Risk Work Management, Work Permitting, and Safety Management. The job of our technology was to sign workers in/out with full traceability, across multiple shifts and days.
We assisted with onboarding, licenses, and insurances for 3PL contractors via an easy-to-access and easy-to-use portal/interface for end users, including full mobile functionality.
The strong preference was for a system that could be implemented ‘Out-of-the-Box’ (OOTB), and then be configured to the specific requirements of a high risk, large multifaceted business and scaled when required. They needed a solution that could be implemented quickly and easily, whilst also being highly configurable which is an important aspect of our continuous improvement program.
Managing a high-risk work environment with a variety of specialty trades, operations, and environments our client now has peace of mind that third party contractors are coming on site, licensed, trained, qualified and insurance each time, every time.
Interested in Safety Management Software? Set up a call with Beakon now.
