We Have a Serious Contractor Safety Problem: How to Stop the Insanity

I was triggered today by a request to help on research by completing a survey on Hiring Client HS&E Qualification Effectiveness with Contractors. The survey is well developed by a former Director, Head of QHSE Design Risk and Supply Chain Management who has worked in the field for some time with real-world experience. He put together a short survey that get you thinking about specifics rather than a mere realization that it is not working. I believe results should help inform what a solution must entail.

I was involved in a research project sponsored by #Shell in 2005 where examination of contractor safety performance was a key element of the study. It was identified that contractor management assessments were providing an extraordinarily high number of false positives as well as false negatives.

The last two-years the issue of contractor performance has come to the forefront. We have conducted several Culture & Risk Evaluations of Hiring Clients that showed that between 80% to 90% of serious incidents were Contractor related. All of them had verifying degrees of sophistication and robustness with contractor management strategies. None, of them proved to be any more effective. This has real-world consequences. Two significant examples are Suncor where Mark Little was forced to resign as CEO given the number of contractor incidents. Additionally, Trans Mountain early in construction experienced two significant contractor incidents over a period of six-weeks blindsiding the executive suite.

I had the opportunity to speak with Ian Anderson and Rob Van Walleghem, K.C.,CIC.C . Both were obviously distraught and genuinely cared about ensuring workers go home. What was interesting were the questions they asked:

1.???How could this happen (we do all this stuff)?

2.???What don’t we know?

3.???What more can we be doing?

4.???How do we get alignment with all the various stakeholders on a complex project

These are questions that I have heard far too often in my career.

Further I was interviewed by Amanda Stephenson from The Canadian Press on “Contract worker safety in spotlight again after latest oil and gas deaths in Alta.” Given all the contractor related incidents she was curious if contractor workers are at greater risk? And, where is the data?

Given the above, I understand why Hiring Clients are exasperated. Beyond the human tragedy these incidents have significant business impact with:

• Project approvals and delays,
• Scheduling and cost issues,
• Increased regulatory scrutiny,
• Higher costs of capital (ESG controversies), and
• ?Negative brand impact (social license to operate)

What more can we be doing?

Both Suncor and Trans Mountain are at the far end of the contractor evolutionary scale. They care, they do more than most and yet again are all too often blindsided.?

Doing more of the same is the definition of insanity where it has not achieved the desired results. If anything, it has created a burden that is unsustainable for Hiring Clients and Contractors. The Contractors are suffering the most, as they go through the above process for each of their customers. Imagine, having to be on multiple registries and go through multiple verification audits.

Contractors have described the experience as being like a puppet being controlled by multiple puppet masters some pulling in opposite directions.

There should be no surprise here. Back in 2013 the Construction Owners Association of Alberta (COAA) spoke to their members and concluded that”

“It seems that the biggest challenge is the inconsistency within the industry resulting in Contractors’ HSE professionals spending a considerable amount of time behind the keyboard in an effort to comply with Hiring Clients’ safety requirements; whereas, their time would be better utilized communicating with the job sites and focused on improving the safety culture and management systems within their own organizations.”

Industry Needs a Solution

The lack of performance and the contractor burden on all stakeholders is a significant problem that requires a solution. Industry needs to think and operate differently. The answer is not:

• More compliance
• More administrative tasks
• More enforcement.

The answer is in measuring and developing a positive evolving safety culture. Peer reviewed research continues to demonstrate that safety culture is the engine that drives and sustains a safe operating environment. It is a form of governance with powerful links to high-performance.

If contractor safety is an imperative, then “strength of culture” must be a strategic priority.