Falling from a height can have devastating results leaving serious injury and in some cases fatality. When working around fragile roofs the risk of falling can become very real. However with competent contractors and working in conjunction with onsite staff the risk can be reduced significantly. There are a number of different measures for managing contractors and subcontractors.
First all all make sure you have checked all the credentials of those you are going to employ to carry out your work. It is essential the staff your are sending to site are qualified and competent to carry out the work required. Alongside this you must verify what checks your contractors will carry out on any companies they plan to do subcontract work for to ensure there are also qualified.
Secondly for any job that is going to be undertaken there must be an up to date risk assessment. The contents of this then must be agreed by all those taking part in the onsite activity and the necessary measure listed within the document have been followed correctly
Within the work plan clear responsibilities must be written down. A member of the work force will be stated as responsible for particular safety measures, including how to follow out the action, when it is deemed necessary to use it alongside maintaining and inspecting any required equipment.
More often than not accidents happen through poor communications wether this is between onsite staff, contract workers or between the two. It is key to make sure lines of communication are made between each party right from the start. Main contractors must organises inductions for all of the workers before they begin work onsite, they must also hold meeting regularly to discuss matters of health and safety.
Lastly training the staff that will be dealing with contractors, this will ensure they will ask the correct questions about the work to find out if it will be carried out safely. It will also mean they are in a position to be able to check the competence level of those coming to work onsite.