Guide

How are duties shared when contractors work on site?

The principal employer's and the contractor's duties do not replace one another; coordination sits with the principal.

Two separate employers

The contractor is the employer in respect of their own workers and carries their own duties. The principal employer does not take those duties over, but is responsible for coordinating work running in the same workplace and for informing.

Information runs both ways

The principal informs the contractor of the workplace's hazards and emergency arrangements; the contractor informs the principal of the hazards the work brings. One-way information leaves a gap neither side can see.

Shared areas and simultaneous work

Overlapping jobs can be dangerous together even when each is safe alone. Who works where and when in shared areas is arranged through permits and coordination meetings.

Records

The existence of training, health and competence records for the contractor's workers is checked at the start of the work. A document requested later is not found after the job is done.

In Optifora

The contractor module keeps the firm, its workers, their documents and the area they will work in together; a site entry request with missing documents is flagged.

  1. Register the firmRecord the contractor, the scope of work and the area.
  2. Check the documentsAsk for workers' training, health and competence records at the start.
  3. Inform both waysGive your hazards and take theirs.
  4. Set up coordinationArrange shared areas and simultaneous work with meetings and rules.
  5. Tie in permitsPut hazardous work under the permit system.
  6. Close at the endComplete area handback and records when the work ends.

Manage this in Optifora

Optifora is not a single program but a compliance platform assembled from modules. The catalogue states which module is ready today and which is on the roadmap.

See what Optifora is