Managing contractor safety

Hiring a contractor does not hand off your safety responsibilities. Owners and employers who bring contractors onto their sites keep duties to make sure the work is planned, coordinated and done safely. A contractor safety process covers selecting capable contractors, telling them about site hazards, coordinating work between employers, monitoring the work and reviewing performance afterwards.

Who is responsible for what

On a site with more than one employer, provincial laws assign coordinating duties to one party:

• Alberta uses the prime contractor. Where two or more employers are at a work site, there must be a prime contractor, who coordinates health and safety and ensures compliance. If none is designated, the owner is usually the prime contractor by default.
• British Columbia also uses the prime contractor concept for multiple-employer workplaces, with the owner responsible where no prime contractor is named in writing.
• Ontario uses the constructor for construction projects, with duties under the OHSA and the construction regulation.

Each contractor remains an employer with full duties to its own workers. Owners have their own duties, for example to share information about hazards they know of on their property. Check the exact rules for your province and type of work, and put the arrangement in writing.

Step 1: Prequalification

Before awarding work, check that the contractor can do it safely:

• Written health and safety program appropriate to the work
• Workers' compensation account in good standing
• Injury and incident history, and how they responded to past incidents
• Certificate of Recognition or equivalent, where your clients or policy require it
• Training and qualifications for the specific tasks, including trade certifications and licences
• Insurance appropriate to the work
• Equipment inspection and maintenance practices

Match the depth of checking to the risk. A contractor painting an office does not need the same scrutiny as one doing hot work in a plant or entering confined spaces. Our guide to the Certificate of Recognition explains one common prequalification requirement.

Step 2: Pre-job planning and orientation

Before work starts, meet the contractor's supervisor to review:

• The scope of work and the contractor's hazard assessment for it.
• Site hazards the contractor may not know about: asbestos, energized systems, process hazards, traffic, other work nearby.
• Site rules: permits, lockout, PPE, access, smoking, reporting.
• Emergency procedures, alarm signals, assembly points and first aid.
• Who the contact is on each side, and how to stop work if something is wrong.

Give every contractor worker a site orientation before they start, and record it.

Step 3: Coordination during the work

When several contractors share a site, the coordinating party must manage how their work interacts: one trade's hot work near another's solvents, overhead work above another crew, shared scaffolds and lifts, shutdowns of systems others depend on. Regular coordination meetings, a shared schedule and a permit system help.

Step 4: Monitoring

Monitoring does not mean supervising another employer's workers directly, but it does mean checking that the agreed controls are in place. Walk the site, review permits and hazard assessments, and act on what you find. Make clear in the contract that you can stop unsafe work.

Step 5: Close-out and evaluation

When the work is done, confirm the area is safe, permits are closed and systems are restored correctly. Record how the contractor performed on safety, including incidents, near misses and how they responded to concerns. Use that record next time you prequalify.

Scaling the process to the risk

Running the full process for every window cleaner and photocopier technician wastes effort and makes people cut corners on the jobs that matter. Many owners sort contracted work into tiers:

The tier should follow the hazard of the task, not the size of the contract. A small job with a confined space entry belongs in the higher tier.

A typical case: replacing a rooftop unit

A property manager hires a mechanical contractor to replace a rooftop HVAC unit on an occupied office building. The job involves a crane lift over a street, electrical and gas isolation, work near the roof edge and hot work on the curb. The property manager confirms who will be prime contractor and writes it into the contract. At prequalification, they ask for the contractor's lift plan, fall protection procedure and the crane company's qualifications. The pre-job meeting covers the building's own hazards: the roof hatch is the only access, there is a fragile skylight near the unit, and the fire alarm zone covering the roof needs to be managed during hot work. The building operator isolates and locks the gas and electrical feeds alongside the contractor's own locks, and the two sign a handover sheet. During the work, the property manager's representative checks permits and edge protection. At the end, the operator and the contractor walk the roof together before the unit is started, the permits are closed, and a short evaluation goes into the contractor file. See lift plans and rigging safety for the crane side.

Contracts and documentation

Put safety expectations in the contract: compliance with site rules, prime contractor arrangements, reporting of incidents, right to stop work, and the documents the contractor must provide. Keep records of prequalification, orientation, permits, inspections and evaluations. They are part of showing due diligence.

How ehZee can help

ehZee helps owners and employers set up contractor safety processes, from prequalification criteria to orientation and site monitoring. We start by asking why you need the process and what work your contractors actually do. See safety program development and review.

Common questions