Contractor Safety: Who’s responsible?

16 May

Many organisations will engage contractors to help perform essential business activities and skill-specific tasks. In fact, with around 986,000 people working as independent contractors in Australia, most businesses will involve a contractor at some point.

Contractors can provide substantial business benefits, offering a practical and profitable way of managing varying workloads. But, who is responsible for their safety? You’ve probably got a good handle on your health and safety responsibilities regarding your own employees, but where do your contractors fit in?

Engaging contractors who don’t understand your organisation’s safety procedures can be a significant risk, and so can a failure to adhere to your responsibilities as a business owner, officer or person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU).

You simply can’t afford to ignore your duty to your contractors, and it’s vital to understand who is responsible for contractor safety when they’re at your workplace.

The Risks of Engaging Contractors

Engaging contractors may seem like an obvious choice: you bring in the right skills, get everything done on time and budget, and bam! Job done. However, there are things that you need to be aware of before they turn up on site to start work.

Contractors may have business benefits, but they also have a reduced knowledge of your safety management systems and aren’t trained and supervised in the same manner as your employees. The result is that they can pose a considerable risk to safety on site. Not only will your contractors be exposed to existing hazards on your premises, but it’s possible they will introduce new ones, exposing your current workers.

With legal obligations to provide a safe working environment without danger to worker health, how do you manage the risk introduced by your contractors?

Are You Accountable for Contractor Safety?

Short answer? Yes. As a PCBU or Officer under the WHS Act, you are responsible for the health and safety of a contractor’s workers when they’re on your worksite. It’s not acceptable to rely solely on the contractor to identify onsite hazards, even when they’ve been hired for specialist knowledge. It’s also unacceptable to delegate your responsibilities.

To fulfil your duty of care under Australian health & safety law, you must provide the necessary information, training and supervision to enable everyone on-site to work safely. This includes your contractor’s workers as they are no different from your own employees under H&S law. Once engaged, your contractors become your responsibility. If they are going to be exposed to hazards and risks, you must put appropriate safe systems of work in place.

How to Exercise Your Duty of Care Towards Contractors

Utilising a comprehensive contractor management system is vital if you’re going to adequately meet your health and safety obligations.

To exercise your duty of care towards contractors, you should address:

Selection criteria – selection shouldn’t be solely based on expertise but also on competence and knowledge of WHS matters relevant to the task.
Documentation – you should review all documentation such as trade qualifications, licences, insurances and safe work method statements.
Safety induction – contractors should be familiar with your WHS policies and procedures before they start work.
Monitoring activities – you should monitor your contractors to ensure they are working by your contractor management process and WHS legislation.

Surely Contractors Have Responsibilities Too?

Yes, they absolutely do. While you have responsibilities to your contractors, their safety doesn’t sit entirely on your shoulders. Contractors also have their own duty of care while they’re on site. The duty of care isn’t only to their employees but to everyone at the workplace, and contractors must ensure that no one’s health or safety is put at risk by their work.

Contractors can meet their duty of care by:

Demonstrating an effective OHS management system
Consulting with the business about WHS risks
Complying with contract-specific WHS requirements
Implementing processes to deal with safety issues

Contractors also have specific duties of care under WHS legislation when providing high-risk goods and services.

A Joint Responsibility For Safety

When it comes to contractor safety, it’s about concurrent liability: both your business and the contractor can be held responsible under WHS legislation. In the same way that you can’t blindly rely on the contractor to identify and manage hazards, the contractor can’t rely on you to ensure the safety of its workers.

You both have responsibility for onsite safety, and as your responsibilities overlap, there should be an effective consultation and communication process to prevent assumptions concerning safety.

Be Hands-On With Contractor Safety

As a business owner, you should always intervene if you see or are made aware of unsafe work practices at your workplace, no matter who’s at fault. Worker ignorance is a liability for both parties and should never be overlooked.

Of course, the extent of either party’s responsibility depends on their degree of control over the matter at hand, so demonstrating solid contractor management, sound risk management practices, and safe systems of work is critical.

When it comes to contractors, now you know who’s responsible. So, don’t put your business and your employees at risk. Look after all workers, and reap the many benefits of engaging contractors.

Want to learn more about contractor safety and management? Get in touch with Conserve today, and subscribe to our newsletter for regular updates and insights!