How can you ensure that your contractors are competent in process safety?

Critical to use well qualified and experienced contractors. Do not believe anything at face value. Check and verify all contractor submissions before allowing them to start work. A comprehensive "Authority to commence work" management system for contractors is essential.

Two aspects are important as per me. 1) organisation to have a good contractor selection procedure so as to ensure the right contractor is selected. Contractor selection process must focus on contractor internal system adequacy, verification of past performance w.r.t HSE 2) Once selection is done, the next important thing is to align the contractor team with the organisation's PSM process. Focus should be on the relevant element of PSM applicable for the job for which contractor is selected

Ensure that the selected ( or verified) persons are available. They are not suppose to delegate their duties to juniors with out effective monitoring.

A better way to assess competency is to evaluate the ground floor where rubber meets the road workers. Don't conduct formal audits and intensify the phobias that normally exist when a clean white hard hat and fresh clothes arrive bring about. Show up in your stained or dirty frcs and your dinged up hard hat that isn't pristine. Put on your work gloves and find out what they know and what makes them tick find out why they are there and in the process of doing all that I guarantee that you will find out competencies and a whole lot more about who might he going to work for you as well as who is.

A meeting should be conducted monthly with the contractor supervisor and workers to ensure proper SOP & safety procedure is being updated and followed. Loopholes to be identified and awards to be given for best safety practises, if any. Contractor should maintain record of each and every person working under them and safety negligence from their side. They should follow SOP, code of conduct, work permit and provide safety training to the workers from time to time, share safety incidents with them. They should participate in daily tool box talk before proceeding to routine job & ensure work permit having necessary approval for maintenance work. Their equipment should be well maintained and all safety devices must be in working condition.

Clear communication of the scope and expectations for contractors is essential for maintaining process safety. Define hazards, risks, and controls pertinent to their tasks. Clarify roles and responsibilities of both parties regarding safety. Document these details in a contract, work permit, or safety plan to ensure alignment and accountability. This proactive approach fosters a safe working environment and minimizes potential incidents.

A mí me ayudó mucho el definir y acordar tanto, alcance, como responsabilidades al momento de cerrar un acuerdo con un subcontrato. Eso permitió minimizar el doble control que es agotador y no contribuye al relacionamiento con los colaboradores que se sienten observados todo el tiempo. De todas formas, fue muy importante la definición previa de la calificación de los colaboradores y la forma de demostrarla.

-Evaluate tue current level of competency amongst the contact work force. -Set the desired level of competency to execute the job. -involve the top management of contractor to minimize the gap between expected and current level. -Give regular training and check the improvement.

Process safety training must be designed & delivered in manner it relates to contractor ( partners) work. Example: How a proper tightening of flange keeps product in pipe ( Prevents LOPC - Loss of Primary Containment)

Share incident alerts with the contractors. Past accidents, near misses and investigation in to root cause can educate them effectively.

All the Contractor employees shall undergone the procedures/policies implemented by the client. Site specific trainings shall be carried out by the Qualified trainer, also the frequency of the trainings shall be maintained. If required, can go for some third party certifications/trainings for better clarity

Keep an open door policy and communicate concerns, past incident data, common history, and related events. Ensure that safety knowledge is provided and test for competence.

The objective of feedback is to contribute to the employee's growth as a professional, helping them to identify where their strengths and weaknesses are, as well as helping to indicate how to improve their flaws.

Every detailed inspection and internal audit shall with feedback form contractors. Inspections are not to punish them but to share knowledge and information of both parties.

Ask your contractors to audit your contributions and then provide them with your feedback. Ensure that concerns are addressed on both sides to ensure proper buy in and reward reporting while encouraging hazard hunts, hazard recognition/identification.

supervision of contractor ( partners) work is important to recognize & appreciate their application of knowledge in right way or to redirect & coach correct way of job.

My main advice here - PLEASE don't be a PSM COP! You're not there to "Catch Them" - rather you're there to help assure they have all the resources and knowledge/understanding to manage the work safely. We want to help them build their "SKILLSET" vs point out what they're not doing right or may have missed. Our next generation is screaming for others to help them build their knowledge, skills, and abilities. So please help them learn

The heart and core of a true competency management program is to "Build Capacity to Fail Safe!" We're human - which means we will fail, make mistakes, maybe even violate a rule. A quote I love and talk about is: "Competency in and of itself won't guarantee safety, BUT it will improve the predictability of good performance." Our next generation deserves to be invested in beyond just training - move from your investment in their training to performance assessments by qualified assessor against approved competency standard. If you get this right, you'll find your future PSM leaders you need desperately right now with all your "boomer" PSM leaders retiring.

According to my experience, during the contract's lifetime, we should be able to "measure" the sense of belonging. In spite of the operation leadership's efforts, the contractor side will allocate and develop it. In the larger scheme of things, everyone needs to feel like they are connected to the operation.

A common practice for evaluating a contractor after completing work is a point system. Each criterion, depending on its safety criticality, is assigned its own score. Criteria may include the competence of the contractor’s employees, their trainings quality, the commitment of line management to safety (conducting toolboxes before performing work, risk assessments, etc.), the condition of the equipment/PPE, the correct completion of PtW, and others. Serious violations of safety rules and accidents may reduce the points awarded, up to the complete exclusion of the contractor from the tender list in the future.

Consistent, honest, concise feedback provided regularly will allow the workforce to improve their skillset tenfold and improve on a continual basis rather than quarterly annually or after or before projects.

Contractor (partners) perform work at site but risk remains the same. It’s important to do periodic evaluation of staff and support personnel to develop in competent workforce. Remember risk is the routine.

When any contractor is given the responsibility to work for a particular company or organization, it should be first ascertained the safety record in similar contracts previously. Main thing is to ensure the contractor and the staff being hired understand the organization's particular rules and regulations for safety, the staff is competent and follows the guidelines. Continued monitoring and spot checks, updates on safety regulations should be done mutually and results shared with them. Any improvement plan follow up should be closely monitored. Tool box talks are very important on daily basis before commencing any job. Adhering to the same will keep the contractors updated and will help them to perform all the tasks in a safe environment.

Job hazard analysis and work permits must be implemented to include hazards and safety precautions based on activities to be performed. Verbal discussion prior to start any work is key to avoid accidents.

Acredito que seja de suma importancia valorizar e reconhecer os esfor?os dos colaboradores, isso fará com que se sintam motivados e dispostos a contribuir com eficiência e qualidade. Referente a seguran?a do trabalho é primordial fazer-se entender que todas normas internas e procedimentos s?o para seguran?a e bem pessoal de cada um, fazendo com que o colaborador as siga, n?o por temor a puni??es, e sim pelo cuidado consigo e com o próximo.

Is adequate resources are available with the contractor? Men, materials, time, knowledge about the process. Please verify. Ensure that different departments have equal and sufficient role in poly making. If contract department is highly successful, shall not be at the cost of other depts.

The main barrier to comply to standards & performance from the contractors side is the "Vendor Employee Nexus" This is the main factor to be investigated by the Iternal Auditor when there is a persistent failure to comply with Quality Standards! As a Technical Auditor, I have made the vendor to confess that he has paid "Kickbacks" to the contracts manager or the Operations manager! This is very common in today's world.