As more and more businesses embrace lean practices, it becomes common to outsource parts of the same job to different contractors. In managing health and safety in the workplace, every facility and EHS manager recognizes that supervising contractors poses unique challenges. They need to ensure all workers meet their skill requirements, have valid insurances, follow best safety practices, and safely perform their jobs on time. Without proper orientation to the on-site hazards, contractors can find themselves in potentially life-threatening situations.
For safety professionals, in the past, contractor management involved performing such manual tasks as monitoring contractors’ compliance, issuing work orders, and conducting contractor safety orientation. These tasks could become very time-consuming for safety managers and take their focus away from more important tasks.
First, safety professionals must establish requirements for contractors, beginning with establishing the project’s goals and objectives, and then breaking down the work required into tasks. Then they must determine the necessary skills and the level of experience needed to safely perform each of the tasks. Finally, safety professionals will identify the risks that can result in injuries, cost overruns, and project setbacks. By following these steps, safety professionals can help ensure that contractors are pre-qualified to complete their tasks successfully and safely.
These challenges have become much easier to address by utilizing ProcessMAP’s Contractor Safety Management System (CMS), a cloud-based solution that can help safety professionals to manage all aspects of overseeing contractors across multiple locations. The solution enables organizations to enhance contractor safety performance and ensure regulatory compliance. With this application, organizations can gather insights into contractor safety performance through advanced reporting and analytics.
ProcessMAP’s CMS can help safety professionals to assess contractors’ qualifications and experience against the project’s requirements. The first step involves a thorough pre-qualification phase to help establish strong relationships with contractors and set forth standards, expectations, and guidelines for outsourced workers. Typically this starts with creating a pre-qualification form with a list of questions and details that contractors will need to complete in order to qualify for the project. Users can then attach files, notes, and photos to provide contractors with the information they need to complete their work. CMS users can also ensure that no contractor can receive a work order unless they have provided proof of current insurances and have completed an on-site orientation.
Safety professionals can customize contractor orientation based on the contractor’s anticipated risk level. To streamline the orientation process, CMS users can create a site-specific digital introduction handbook, which can be especially effective as users can include video materials and also can track the progress workers make when studying the materials. High-risk jobs might require a more in-depth orientation, higher insurance, and deeper compliance checklists.
Once the contractor has completed their questionnaire and orientation, it will be submitted for approval, where safety professionals can confirm that only qualified, reputable, and fully insured contractors will be considered for providing the needed services.
Companies that adopt the Contractor Management solution can leverage technology to improve workplace safety, reduce paperwork, and save time by automating repetitive tasks. To learn more about ProcessMAP’s Contractor Management System, sign up for a free demo!
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