Dave Remter
Lead Safety Advisor
A growing number of companies are recognizing the benefits of a safety prequalification program for outside contractors that perform work on their jobsites. In this series of articles, we’ll examine what prequalification can do, the factors companies should consider when selecting contractors, and potential hurdles in the process. This installment will look at the reasons for prequalification and what it can accomplish beyond your jobsite.
You’ve probably worked hard to establish and maintain high standards for most facets of your company’s operations, and safety is no exception. You monitor compliance with safety practices and are confident that your employees do not create or expose themselves to any unnecessary risks.
But what about all of the people who work on your jobsites but are employed by other companies? If there’s a large construction project underway at one of your sites, you may have workers from dozens of contractors performing potentially dangerous tasks every day. When one of those contractor employees is injured at your site, that injury may come back to haunt you through higher insurance rates or a liability action. Or, an action taken by a contractor’s employee might put one or more of your employees at risk.
That’s where a contractor prequalification program can protect your interests and the health of everyone on your jobsite.
Valuable verification
The purpose of a prequalification program is to verify that a contractor follows recognized safety standards. It’s easy enough for any contractor to tell you that they’re a safe company and a believer in protecting their workers from hazards. But when you actually examine the records and other aspects included in a prequalification program, you can develop a very clear picture of whether or not they belong on your jobsite.
Having a good written program is a good sign, but it’s only the beginning. How do they handle safety training? What is the company’s actual rate of recordable incidents? What types of injuries have workers suffered? How many required simple first aid compared to how many had to be taken to the emergency room? Is there a pattern that suggests an underlying problem such as inadequate personal protective equipment? Verifying those and many other facts provides valuable insight into how the contractor does business.
Some contractors wonder why a company would care about activities that take place on other jobsites. The simple answer is that it’s an indication of the contractor’s safety culture, and how important safety is to its employees. If the contractor isn’t following safety measures on other jobs, it’s not as if they can flip a switch and change when they arrive on your worksite. If their workers are not encouraged to use safe practices elsewhere, why should you believe they’ll change their behavior for you?
Guidance for contractors
Many contractors – particularly the “mom-and-pop” types of businesses – are too small to catch much attention from OSHA. Because the scope of their work and size of their staff may be very limited, they may not grasp the importance of meeting safety standards. The process opens their eyes to what they should already be doing to ensure the safety of their employees. Contractors will frequently note that they didn’t realize that there were things they could (or should) be doing. In addition, they may not be aware that having the right safety programs in place can lower their insurance costs.
Through a prequalification program, you can essentially “coach” contractors on the standards you would like to see them maintain when their employees are on your jobsites. You can point to issues such as the types of injuries they have experienced on other worksites and offer advice on how future injuries could be prevented.
Larger contractors with established safety programs sometimes view prequalification as a way to verify that their programs measure up to industry standards. It gives them an opportunity to have independent professionals perform a thorough assessment of their safety programs and identify areas where there may be deficiencies.
Changing communities
There’s another benefit of contractor prequalification programs that may not always be obvious, but that has far-reaching benefits for the communities in which you do business. A contractor prequalification program not only raises the standards for local contractors; it also increases awareness of the value of safety programs.
That’s particularly true for companies whose operations are located in small towns or rural areas, and who work with nearly every contractor within an hour’s drive. Until they were required to meet the prequalification program’s standards, those contractors may not have paid much attention to safety. However, as they begin to embrace the standards, good things start to happen, most notably a drop in the number of injuries suffered by their employees and the related downtime – on your site, and at the other locations where those employees work. In addition, your company strengthens its reputation as a valued corporate citizen and a good place to work.
Creating opportunities
Going through all the steps involved with prequalification pays another benefit to the contractors. As the marketplace learns that they’ve met your standards for safety, other companies may be more willing to work with them. They can also use their prequalification as a selling point when approaching other potential customers. If your company is known for having high standards, it becomes a significant credential for all involved.
Next month’s installment will examine the factors companies need to consider when prequalifying a contractor.