The team at 4site Consulting provide a reminder of the importance of employing contractors who hold Health & Safety at the core of their values.

Poor safety management can lead to injuries, ill-health, additional costs and delays; in some cases, it can also lead to fatalities. That’s not just with your own employees, but for those contractors that you appoint to complete works at your managed properties, their employees and any residents/tenants who may be impacted by those works. This is why you have a legal obligation to ensure the safety of any contractors that you employ to carry out work at your site.

When you employ a contractor, both you and that contractor have a shared responsibility for ensuring that their work is carried out safely. Communication is key, and it works both ways. Not only should you be checking that they’ve mitigated the risk posed by their activities, but you should also be briefing them on any safety risks they may encounter from working within your managed building.

Indeed, with the added risk of COVID-19 transmission, there is even more to consider when employing contractors; in this article, we touch upon some of the key aspects to take into account.

Your Responsibilities

Whilst contractors have a responsibility to ensure that their working practices are safe and that they are competent to carry out a job, employers of contractors also have a responsibility to ensure that the contractor that they select can and will complete the task safely without creating risks. 

This can be achieved by completing an evaluation of each contractors Safety Management Systems to ensure they are adequate in controlling risk, particularly for the type of work you are appointing them for.

The communal areas will also be the contractor’s workplace, and one that you, the property professional, are in charge of. As a Landlord (or Property Manager), you must therefore communicate any site-specific health and safety risks with the contractor prior to them commencing works. 

Among other things, this includes the building’s Asbestos Register and any known significant risks highlighted on the latest Risk Assessment. Remember that contractors are likely to be strangers to your building and therefore unfamiliar with the emergency procedures, fire evacuation plans, or any established procedures to avoid known hazards and risks.

What Are The Legal Requirements?

The Health and Safety at Work Act (HSWA 1974) is the primary Legislation for occupational health and safety in Great Britain. It is enforced by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and requires that employers provide a safe working environment, adequate staff training, and adequate welfare provisions for staff. 

This extends to other people on the premises, including: 

• Temporary staff
• Casual workers
• Self-employed workers
• Visitors
• The general public

Therefore, those responsible for a property, such as a Landlord or Property Manager, are responsible for ensuring the health and safety of all those who visit and carry out works there.

Safe Contractor Management

Aside from complying with your legal duty, there are clear benefits to ensuring that your system for managing contractors encompasses the risks that they pose to the safety of your buildings and those living within – but how do you achieve this?

Once you know the scope of the work and what is to be involved, you should make enquiries about the competency of any potential contractors – do they have the right skills, experience and knowledge? 

Of course, the degree of competency is dependent on the extent of the work, therefore, you should make them aware of the nature (and complexity) of the work beforehand. Consider the qualifications and experiences the contractor has with the particular type of work you require.

Once you have chosen a competent contractor, it is important that both you and the contractor think about the risk of the work. You should already have a risk assessment for the activities of your own business; and this should cover risks to contractors (e.g. asbestos). Furthermore, you both need to consider any risks to other workers and members of the public.

Communication is highly important and you must work together and coordinate your activities to make sure the work can be done safely.

Safe4site

Safe4site Contractor Community is operated by 4site Consulting and is designed to evaluate and certify that contractors have relevant safe systems of work in place to ensure they are safe to be working on your property.

We welcome individual contractors or portfolios of contractors and each one pays a small fee for the evaluation process, but it attracts no cost to the property manager. Essentially it has been established to take the administrative burden of contractor safety vetting from the already busy property professional.

These contractors undergo rigorous checks and approved contractors are continually monitored to ensure time sensitive documents such as insurances and mandatory memberships are still valid.

So, perhaps one way to fulfil the majority of your duty would be to ask your contractors if they are Safe4site approved.

Contractor Safety and COVID 19

In these unprecedented times, there are some clear additional considerations to be made when appointing contractors. 

Specifically, it is now vital that you review your contractor’s procedures and safe working methods in respect of COVID-19 risk management.

Property Managers now need to know that the contractors working on their sites have taken every precaution to ensure they are operating safely to mitigate their potential to spread COVID-19.

Contractors should follow guidance issued by the government and should be considering things such as appropriate PPE, social distancing and enhanced hygiene when visiting a property to carry out works.

Of course, all of this should be in addition to the usual safety considerations and not in place of them.