How to reduce labour hire contractor risks

Safety is the most important element

Safety should be the most important element when it comes to your workforce. It does not matter if your workforce consists of direct employees, contract labour hire workers. It applies to everyone in every industry. In order to mitigate risks the proper risk management guidelines need to be identified and implemented to make sure the workplace is safe and accident free.

Inform and train your employees on labour hire & contractor risks

There is wealth of resources when it comes to training labour hires on safety related issues and responsibilities of supervisors in the workplace. Special officers should be appointed within the organization to overlook safety related matters.

The general perception is that it is not the host employer’s responsibility to cover contract labour hire  worker accidents and injuries as they do not belong to the permanent cadre of employees. Due to this the company will not care much about the safety matters of its staff leading to almost ignoring risk management practices. However, this is not true, you should provide labour hire workers with the same amount of safety at the work place, like you would do with your own employees.

Document your contract terms and maintain a record

You should draft a contract and have it signed and dated so that in case something goes wrong you always have a document to prove that all terms and conditions were mutually agreed upon by both parties and that the workers understands their rights and obligations very clearly. These contracts are also useful to prove that the responsibilities were agreed upon in case there is a claim. Not having proper documentation, can prove fatal when it comes to making a claim.

Agree on a documented indemnity clause

Adocumented indemnity clause is designed so that one party agrees to indemnify the other, when it comes liabilities that areincurred by various circumstances. The most effective outcome from this should be to shift the risk onto the contract labour hire. These clauses should always be drafted by a lawyer and legal counsel should be sought should a problem arise.

Discuss other terms relating to the contract based on the labour hire worker’s fitness and work capacity

Other than the indemnity clauses, other clauses such as that the labour hire company warrants the fitness of the workers should be agreed upon as well as the capacity of the worker to complete the assigned task accurately and in a timely manner, should also be agreed upon. This becomes very beneficial when you have a hugelabour hire workforce. It is viable to have your workers assessed for fitness and medical performed, then  you know they can take on jobs that requires being physically fit. Having this document is very important.

Encourage the labour hire company to be responsible for safety

You should ideally have the labour hire company be responsible for the safety of the workers.

You should make the labour hire company commit to take on the task of maintaining and upholding all safety regulations in the workplace or the work site. This will help to establish that the labour hire company should take on most of the liability, should something go wrong in the workplace.

Look into any risk or safety issues that is raised by the labour hire company

The Labour hire company should conduct an inspection on the ‘host’ work sites, and have an open discussion on health and safety issues. This will help to improve safety in the work place and the well-being of the worker. This helps when there is an accident as it will help the labour hire company protect itself against claims by injured workers. Make sure to act on any safety issues or health hazards that are raised by the labour hire company and have it documented. Always maintain a regular report with dates, facts and figures as to when the inspections were done and the action taken to mitigate work place accidents. Have regular feedback and communicate with the labour hire company so that you build up a good relationship with them.

Make sure that you establish good risk management practices.

This becomes very helpful during an accident as you know what to do and what protocol should be followed such as the filling of the relevant forms related to incident reports, retention of worker and witness details, collation and preservation of evidence through  photos etc. Make sure to provide all copies of the relevant documentation related to the worker.