13 of the 28 companies prosecuted in February 2019 *1 where prosecuted due to lead company failing to manage their contractors – their supply chain.
All businesses like you will have some form of health and safety in place have an employed H&S manager/team or engage the services of an external advisor. But how robust are these in managing your contractors?
This article looks at why the headline figure is so high and what can businesses can do to better protect from prosecution.
The wider array of companies need to appreciate clients have the resounding responsibility to manage their contractors inline with what legislation requires. Lets look at the opening statement of the Health and Safety at Work Etc. Act 1974…
An Act to make further provision for securing the health, safety and welfare of persons at work, for protecting others against risks to health or safety in connection with the activities of persons at work,
The act does not detail health and safety welfare for only your employees; it states ‘persons at work’
Where the act explains the legal requirement for employer’s employees and employer’s non-employees is under Section 2 and 3.
Section 2 explains the duties employers have to employees and Section 3 details the general duties employers have to self-employed and other persons other than their own employees. Extracts below:
Section 2 General duties of employers to their employees.
(1) It shall be the duty of every employer to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of all his employees.
Section 3 General duties of employers and self-employed to persons other than their employees.
(1) It shall be the duty of every employer to conduct his undertaking in such a way as to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that persons not in his employment who may be affected thereby are not thereby exposed to risks to their health or safety.
You may not even know?
Whether you agree with the above or not, it’s the law, and as the opening statement shows 46% of companies failed to understand this or even chose to ignore their responsibility.
I am a positive thinker and I truly believe many of the companies prosecuted didn’t have a clear understanding of the above legislation, they are indistinct on what their requirements are and more than often, many companies are too easily guided by the clients asking their contractors to undertake some affiliation with one of the many popular schemes they implement, schemes which in some way make the client feel they have complied with the health and safety regulations.
Did you know affiliating with any of the 27 different Safety Schemes In Procurement (SSIP) would not protect you from prosecution, also pre-qualifying questionnaires (PQQ) would generate little evidence of compliance.
The reason for this is that, these trusted ways simply check the contractor has some form of management in place and generic risk assessments, but they do not prove the contractor is working safe, is competent and are effectively part of the days safe system of work.
Not changing is not an option
I would also like to emphasise, nowhere under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 nor the guidance from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) does it state that companies legally need to have in place SSIP and or PQQ schemes to ensure they’re contractors are compliance, by definition these scheme are based on PROCUREMENT which is a complete detachment from the actual delivery of health and safety.
This is an unhealthy perception that a vast amount of companies are following and also being seriously caught out on and prosecuted for.
Furthermore in the period 2017/2018 83.3% *2 of the companies prosecuted had accreditations too and or affiliations with one or more of the popular and reviled schemes. The HSE stance is: “The law does not require accreditation, and it’s only one way of meeting prequalification standards when buying or supplying goods and services”
This costly failure to manage contractors has to be tackled from the delivery of good health and safety and not from prequalification, yearly requests, annual questionnaires and generic risk assessments.
To commence a transformation to full compliance, businesses have to start with senior management accepting the problem exists*3 and only then while holding all the card’s themselves, can they stand up to the organisations by evidencing as a company they are compliant with the law.
Your business reputation is important, as you must choose legal health and safety compliance over client’s requirements. The business risks are so much higher since the introduction of the Definitive Sentencing Guidelines 2016, and a breach today affects the entire tier of contracting.
Financial impact
The 13 companies prosecuted in February 2019 paid out over £1.6million collectively, so whether your motivation is moral or financial, you should all the information needed to start implementing change, to prove beyond reasonable doubt your compliance, and to be a smarter and more savy business.
The Smarter, Safer and Faster way
This is one of the more important requirements Safety PAL designers were challenged with when undertaking the development of Safety PAL.
We knew from first hand experiences that client’s inept requirements actually created a burden with SMEs. SMEs, which paid out thousands yearly to become affiliated with, only to find there were no more protected than they would be without them.
A further technological advancement Safety PAL achieved was to coordinate and streamline operations from a single source solution, to create live data metrics on their supply chain performance and to treat workers and contractors equally as workers as the HASWA requires.
The result is a package which companies choose to use, which when implemented can provide value, reduce inefficiencies and give businesses the evidence of compliance.
To see our advanced health and safety technology working, book a demonstration here https://yoursafetypal.com/request-a-demo/
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Keeps Employees Safe
By providing training, managing and feedback systems that can be evidenced in 27 languages.
Reduces Risk of Accidents
Provides proof, to reduce your exposure to prosecution.
Provides Real-Time Reporting 24/7
Showing what has been completed, and what important tasks need to be done next.