"Temporary Measures" - Working With Maintenance Contractors

It is a very common option for businesses now to use contractors or employees on a temporary basis. This could be for minimal tasks or to do specific duties to keep the company ticking over. This is becoming a significant trend for a lot of companies now, but it’s also important that, regardless of the size of your business, you need to be making sure you are operating as safely as possible and managing the safety of your contractors in the workplace. Here are some things to bear in mind.

Removing Hazards

Before having any contractors undertake work that is about fixing certain aesthetic qualities, for example, cleaning asphalt or undertaking renovation work on the outside of the building, you need to carry out a risk assessment so you can understand the potential hazards you have and therefore remove them. Working with your maintenance contractor, you should be able to work together to itemize any particular risks for the work which will affect the health and safety of you and your workforce as well as the contractor. If you have a company that works with industrial pressure washers or use an item of cleaning equipment which can be dangerous in the wrong hands, so it’s important to make sure that they are used by professionals and that the appropriate equipment is needed for the job. Health and safety aren’t just buzzwords, but they are, in effect, laws which you need to follow especially for the safety of any contractors.

Making Sure Your Contractors Have The Equipment

In addition to having the right equipment, it’s important that your maintenance contractors have the appropriate qualifications so they can carry out these tasks as best as possible and as safely as they can. Depending on where you are operating in the world, the appropriate documents could include a CSCS pass in the United Kingdom or an OSHA card in the United States and are undertaking work on a construction site. For those workers that are general laborers such as window cleaners or people that use industrial pressure washers and cleaning equipment, they may require certain permits, but this is the responsibility of the business owner to check that they are in possession of the right documentation.

Offer Training

You need to know that your maintenance contractors have the required knowledge with regards to your own specific procedures and hazard protection processes in your company. And while it can be a long-winded approach for the sake of a couple of days work on their part, it’s still something you need to be aware of, but you don’t necessarily need it to be a long process. You could make it a blended approach and mix it with on the job training as well as E-Learning modules which are beneficial if you are having someone come in for a couple of days as you can send the documentation to them before starting the job.

Using independent contractors for the purposes of maintenance requires a lot more work and effort put into it than you realize. You still need to treat them as they are a fully fledged member of your team, especially as far as their safety is concerned.