Question
Does your office have a list of authorised Contractors operating under Contractor Critical Safety Rules?
Importance
This task is more time consuming but absolutely necessary.
It simply means, in layman’s terms, that you are putting the responsibility for safety squarely back onto your contractors…in legal terms it means you are ‘Cutting the chain of responsibility!”
Solutions:
How do you do this? Simple.
Attached are two documents that you can put your office name and logo on.
a. Contractor letter attached (Explains what you are doing as an office and why.)
b. Contractor OHS WHS Acknowledgement Form attached (Explains the information you require back from your contractors.)
c. Send both documents to ALL your contractors.
d. Upon return, create a list of contractors for your office who are now authorised and publish it, so all required persons can view it!
This will take a little time, some will return it quickly, some will not! At an appropriate time and as a business decision, your office will decide if you do not wish to engage contractors who are not appropriately insured.
Remember, if they are not, it is the office’s public liability policy that is called upon and accidents generally attract a thirty percent premium increase for three years, a huge price to pay for the sake of an administration function.