Seven Step approach of Contractor Safety Management System

Contractor Safety Management System

All manufacturing, construction industries, and services provider organizations largely rely on external partners called contractors. Contractors are to give a competitive edge on production targets, quality, and productivity to meet their business goals to reduce overall costs, in the process many times it increases risk with the potential to harm contracted employees mainly shopfloor workers, property, and the business. Organizations get exposed to higher levels of risk in terms of financial fraud, regulatory breaches, workplace mishaps, reputational damage, and sometimes loss of life. Many organizations pay high indirect costs on worker's compensation. A contractor safety management system is very much effective for contractors to assist in Health and Safety programs to match the employer’s expectations. An accident/incident-free execution is the result of an effective Contractor Safety Management System.

The objective of the Contractor Safety Management System is to ensure that all jobs/services undertaken by contractors, including sub‐contractors, are conducted systematically in a manner that ensures the safety of all employees, Contractors including sub-contractors, consultants, experts, auditors, visitors, to establish a uniform standard for contractor safety management across the organization.

The contractor Safety Management System helps to develop a safety culture and educate everyone regarding the importance of rules and regulations, safety performance monitoring, and continuous improvement in the safety management system at the workplace. The establishment of the contractor safety management system minimizes incidents, limits liability, and creates an overall safer work environment. The CSM system includes safe practices, procedures, and responsibilities to be followed at the project site/manufacturing/operation unit by all contract personnel including manpower of sub-contractors.

The Contractor Safety Management System establishes policies and procedures for all contractors and sub-contractors. The CSM system will also address individual safety responsibilities. The purpose of the CSM system is to ensure that the work performed by contractors is carried out in a safe manner to protect all personnel, plant equipment, and other assets from any potential risk of injury, accident, production loss, or environmental pollution. The organization should award contract work to capable and competent contractors having good safety culture, a strong commitment to safety at work, and demonstrated good safety performance.

Contractors providing supplies and services that can impact operations, employees or reputation must perform work in a manner consistent with the organization’s policies. Contractors shall have effective systems in place to ensure that Health and Safety policies, principles, values, and internal standards are applied to their work.

Organization to ensure that systems are in place for pre-qualification, selection, and tender assessments; Assessments shall be appropriate to the nature and scope of work requirements; pre-qualification and selection of contractors will not be based on cost alone; contractors will be screened through criteria mentioned in CSM system document. Only those contractors who meet the Organisation’s expectations/criteria based on safety competency assessment will be qualified to consider working at Organisation.

Organization to ensure the following:

1.    Organisation to ensure that systems are in place for pre-qualification, selection, and tender assessments; Assessments shall be appropriate to the nature and scope of work requirements; pre-qualification and selection of contractors will not be based on cost alone; contractors will be screened through criteria mentioned in CSM document. Only those who meet the organization’s expectations/criteria based on the safety competency assessment will be qualified to consider working at the organization.

2.    Organisation to ensure to have written procedure in the CSM document which clearly defines the scope and requirements of the contractor selection process.

3.    Organisation to ensure that contractors selected to conduct work shall have Safety Management systems in place that aligns with the organization’s Health and Safety policy, principles, and expectations.

4.    Contractors and organization shall conduct Safety Audit and shall supervise the contracted work to ensure that the organization’s Safety systems, processes, and Safety standards expectations are met. 

5.    Organisation to ensure that the Contract department representative and Contract Execution Engineer in charge are identified and are in place. These roles have overall responsibility for contractor/supplier activities; the organization shall also ensure that the appropriate numbers of Contract Execution Engineers in charge and their team are available to monitor various contract work activities.

6.    Organisation and contractors to ensure that safe work control requirements and expectations are clearly set out in written procedures, plans, etc. that include supervisory requirements as appropriate.

7.    Organisations and contractors to ensure that systems are in place to effectively manage the interfaces between contracted services and organization operations.

8.    Organisations and contractors will define structures for two-way communication of internal information.

9.    Organisation to ensure a system in place to enable CSM operations teams to provide feedback on the contractor’s Safety performance and share information with the head of the organization and CSM committee head. 

10. Organisation will periodically evaluate contractors’ and suppliers’ performance to ensure Safety expectations are continually met and the identified deficiencies are corrected promptly and communicated.

Seven Step approach of Contractor Safety Management System:

The CSM System specifies a systematic process for effectively managing safety related to contractors’ activities. Contractor Safety Management (CSM) will be guided by a “Seven Step process of Contractors Safety Management System”. All the employees of the organization shall follow this system as defined.   

1.     Contractor selection

This includes Pre-qualification and registration of the eligible contractor. To identify contractors who comply with organization Safety principles and standards. The potential contractors will be critically evaluated for their safety management system and past safety performance based on pre-defined criteria through a process of safety competency assessment before registration. The contractors, who clear the safety competency assessment, will be eligible for registration.

 2.     Contract preparation

It includes the scope of work and specific safety clauses based on safety hazards and risks involved. To develop contract orders using specific safety clauses in the documents to clarify health and safety expectations. Help contractors to understand prior to bidding how to plan and deliver Contract Safety requirements.

 3.     Contract evaluation and award

It includes awarding the contract to qualified competent contractors/vendors. To evaluate contract safety specifications at pre-bid/pre-award meetings (wherever applicable) effectively to help the bidders to estimate total contract expenses. If the bidder clears safety evaluation, then only, there will be further techno-commercial evaluation. 

 4.     Workmen Assessment and Screening (trade validation)

It includes competency assessment and screening of all workmen based on their skill levels. To evaluate all the workmen through a competency assessment process for their skill-based knowledge and screening before sending them for orientation and training. Successful personnel shall be allowed to work after attending safety induction and on-the-job training. Personnel, who do not clear the competency assessment, will be given the opportunity to upskill their level of competency at the organization’s capability & competency centre.  

 5.     Orientation and training

It includes contractor safety training, generic and job-specific, or skill-based safety training. To assure the contractor’s workers embrace the organization’s health and safety culture and follow the organization’s safety standards and CSM system. All Personnel shall undergo a training session and post-training validation process. They will be sent for re-training if they do not clear the validation/ assessment. Maximum 2 attempts are allowed to participate in the assessment at Organisation’s capability and competency building centre.

 6.     Work management

It includes safety supervision ensuring implementation of organization safety standards, SOP, HIRA & High Hazards process safety norms. Organizing pe-work meetings for reviewing/ assessing field safety execution plan against contract requirements before contractors mobilize their resources; Ensuring that periodic safety audits are directed for incident prevention; as a standard practice, follow-up process needs to be enforced that drives continuous improvement and avoids reoccurrence of errors and repeated safety violations.

 7.     Periodic safety evaluation

It includes post-work contractor safety performance evaluation. To establish a process and procedure for safety performance evaluation and feedback to Contractors / Vendors and Contract Department. Rewards/recognition and consequence management to ensure that a contractor is either allowed to continue working for an organization or is required to be removed based on safety performance.

 The Contractor Safety Management system establishes good safety culture, a strong commitment to safety at work, and demonstrates good safety performance and it addresses individual safety roles and responsibilities. The contractor safety performance assessment system is a mandatory and essential requirement for all High-risk job contractors /service providers to assess their Safety management system and status of implementation at shopfloor safety performance.