Managing contractors

They will usually be unfamiliar with your premises and any specific hazards there. Because of this, they may be more at risk of injury. They may also carry out work that could potentially damage your premises or injure others who may be using it.

Sometimes, you may have more than one contractor doing the work at a time. This can potentially increase the risk. In other cases, the contractor may further subcontract the work to others. All of this may affect the precautions you have taken to ensure the safety of others.

A contractor is anyone you get to work for you who is not an employee or volunteer. They work under a contract providing materials or labour to perform a service or complete a job.

You must make sure that your employees (and others who may be using your premises) remain safe whilst any contractor completes their work. You must also make sure that your employees are not injured by any of your activities whilst working at your premises.

Similarly, the contractor must make sure their employees and others (for example, your employees, volunteers, etc.) who may be affected by their work remain safe too. Depending on the nature of the work undertaken, this may require close cooperation to ensure that the necessary precautions are taken.

Irrespective of whether you are an employer or not, you may need to meet certain legal duties where construction work is being completed. This is under the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations.

Depending on the contractors you engage and the type of work they do for you, you may need to:

• Plan the work that contractors do for you
• Provide training for staff involved in managing contractors
• Implement arrangements to select only contractors experienced in the work
• Provide appropriate health and safety information to the contractors before work starts
• Determine how best to cooperate with the contractor and coordinate work to reduce any risk
• Monitor contractors' activities as the work progresses
• Document your arrangements and responsibilities for managing contractors
• Review these as necessary to make sure they remain effective.

For more information about managing contractors, why not download our guide.