People working as contractors are at a great risk and it is about time businesses, which hire them at building sites, understand that, a leading law firm has warned.
Jeremy Bradshaw, the Personal Injury Specialist at Mace & Jones commented on this prevalent practice. He said that employers are responsible for the health and safety of the contractors. Businesses often ignore this fact and employ people who lack training, skills and proper supervision to take on work, which involves dealing with heavy machinery and other perils.
He pointed out that an arrangement of this sort makes the site prone to accidents and payouts tend to increase. Briefing workers about health and safety and carrying out appropriate risk assessments before the work gets underway is crucial. Unless these measures are adopted, the number of claims for personal injuries goes up, he said.
He noted that often employers are not aware of the training and experience of the independent contractor, which increases the risk factor even more. The skills that a worker brings on board should be used to decide what work he is best fit for. He warned that though a business may employ an independent contractor, the fact remains that if the business controls the work the contractor does, it still has to bear the brunt if the contractor is negligent and hence accidents are caused.
If the contractor hired is not accustomed to the business’ way of working then the risks involved increase. The best way, but not a foolproof one, to ensure that a good contractor is being employed is to see his most recent records and the number of accidents reported. It is however possible that the low numbers may be because of under-reporting, and this should be kept in mind.
If sub-contractors are employed, they should be kept in the communication loop and relevant information should be conveyed to ensure a safe working environment.
To avoid the repercussions of a visit from HSE officials companies should bring themselves and their employees fully up-to-date with the latest H&S regulations. The iosh managing safely certificate is a highly reputable course run by Workplace Law Training and is a good first step to improving your companies H&S culture.
