FEATURE
CONTRACTOR CONTROL
E. Andrew Kapp, Research Manager, Workplace Health & Safety at UL explores how companies can manage contractors and outsourced contracts under the new ISO 45001 safety standard, due to be published this month.
More than 313m global work- related accidents occur each year, according to the International Labour Organisation, with a high percentage resulting in significant lost time away from work. Yet, many companies have a corrective outlook on employee health and safety, dealing with accidents after they happen, rather than focusing on preventive measures.
To address the problem, the International Organisation for Standardization (ISO) is developing the ISO 45001 standard, “Occupational health and safety management systems – Requirements with guidance for use”.
This will provide a framework for organisations to establish a comprehensive occupational health and safety management system (SMS) for managing risks to prevent work-related injury and/or ill
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health, and to improve health and safety performance.
CONTRACTOR V.
OUTSOURCING ISO hopes to ensure a higher level of health and safety among a wider group of effected workers. This means that the activities of external organisations such as contractors and outsourced firms, that are influenced by an organisation’s health and safety objectives, and the processes established to achieve them, are included within the scope of an ISO 45001-conforming SMS.
The ISO 45001 draft standard provides examples of such contractor services including maintenance, construction, operations, security, cleaning. However, consultants, accountants, and specialists in other administrative functions should also be included this list.
The presence of a contractor’s employees working on site presents the possibility for health and safety impacts to the organisation’s employees and overall health and safety performance. One example of the actions of contractor employees potentially impacting the safety and health of organisation employees is the introduction of equipment or materials into the organisation’s workplace by the contractor.
In
this case, there is the possibility of exposure to harmful particulate, gasses or vapors emanating from the material or equipment to the organisational employees, such as carbon monoxide and exposure to the vapors of halogenated solvents.
Outsourcing also involves a contractual arrangement with an external firm to perform a function or process on behalf: activities carried out in an organisation’s supply chain fall within this definition of
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