Site Inductions - Why They Are Vital for Contractors
Hopefully, you are aware of your responsibility for the health and safety of your workers. It is important to note that the same responsibility extends to your contractors. Before they turn up on-site, you have a legal obligation to ensure that they have completed the necessary inductions.
A site induction is a comprehensive safety briefing that covers information, training and instructions to protect both contractors and those around them. By ensuring contractors have knowledge of workplace health and safety requirements, key risks and emergency procedures, you can have more confidence in their competence to safely complete the job. What’s more, by providing a thorough induction, you can make sure you have all the necessary documentation to prove the contractor is qualified and licensed. More than a one-off safety briefing, for a site induction, you’ll need to gather documentation, give information, deliver training and assess your contractors. It can sound like a lot of work, but it is vital to get it right if you are going to reduce the risk of using contractor services, avoid injuries and illness and ensure workplace health and safety compliance.
What Should be Included in a Site Induction?
To ensure your contractors are safe to arrive on-site and that your business remains compliant at all times, you may want to cover a few things in your contractor site inductions.
A site induction involves three steps: collecting information from contractors, delivering information to contractors and assessing their competence. As part of the process of a site induction, you may want to:
Gather documentation - making sure you have validated and stored a copy of your contractor’s insurances, license, certifications and training documentation.
Diarise renewal dates - ensuring you have noted when all the documentation is due to expire so you can keep on top of renewal dates.
Explain safety policies - giving information to cover site safety, contractor obligations, duty of care, the use of dangerous goods and more.
Detail site-specific hazards - defining site-specific rules, particular hazards and risks and required control measures.
Outline emergency procedures - explaining what to do in the event of an emergency along with evacuation procedures.
Clarify reporting lines - detailing the procedure to be followed if a hazard is encountered and who to contact.
Deliver tests - ensuring that contractors are competent; tests may be combined with pre-qualification, verifying documentation and requesting references.
Recording results - documenting everything from training completion to document receipt and acknowledgements from contractors that they’ve received information.
Review requirements - keeping on top of legislation and ensuring updates can be organised if there are any legislative changes.
With so much to do, it can seem an insurmountable task, especially if your business uses numerous contractor services, and certainly, one that can take a huge amount of time if done manually. Fortunately, this is where online solutions and applications come into their own, helping to ensure you’ve got everything covered.
How Can Online Inductions Help?
You may well think of inductions as face-to-face sessions taking place in a training room. However, by moving inductions online, the whole process will become more:
Flexible - contractors can complete inductions on demand, as they arrive on site.
Customised - you don’t have to make inductions fit a group, instead, inductions can reflect different tasks, and sites and be tailored for individual contractors.
Cost-effective - with no need for printed handouts, meeting rooms, or someone to oversee meetings, you can free up staff and resources.
Consistent - face-to-face training varies according to who delivers the session. Online inductions, on the other hand, ensure a consistent message and format.
Reliable - by using an online system, there is an automatic record of progress with documentation, test results and proof of induction fully detailed.
Ultimately, by making the process of contractor site inductions online, your business can save time and money. Meanwhile, you can gain confidence that all of your contractors will be compliant and competent before they set foot on-site.
Streamlining Contractor Inductions
Site inductions are vital if you are going to reduce the safety risk of engaging contractors. By moving your contractor site inductions online, you are able to streamline the entire process. You can ensure you have the necessary documentation, that you’ve given consistent and relevant information, and that all of your contractors have been given the green light to start work.
For over a decade, Conserve has helped organisations overcome contractor management challenges. We can help you develop a contractor management service that will be not only effective but will make your organisation safer, while minimising your overall risk. Request a demo now or visit the Conserve page for more great content.
For more information, call +61 2 8883 1501, visit www.conserve.com.au or email enquiries@conserve.com.au