How can you ensure that your contractors are competent in process safety?
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Process safety is the prevention and mitigation of major accidents involving hazardous substances, such as fires, explosions, and toxic releases. It is a critical aspect of workplace safety, especially in high-risk industries like oil and gas, chemical, and pharmaceutical. If you hire contractors to perform tasks that involve process safety, you need to ensure that they are competent and qualified to do so. Here are some steps you can take to verify and improve their process safety competence.
Before you engage a contractor, you should check their credentials and track record in process safety. You can ask for their certificates, licenses, references, and samples of previous work. You can also conduct interviews, tests, or audits to evaluate their knowledge, skills, and attitude towards process safety. You should verify that they comply with the relevant standards, codes, and regulations in your industry and location.
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Wilfy T Sabu
Grad IOSH, IDip NEBOSH, EHS Head (site) at Larsen & Toubro
Ensure that the selected ( or verified) persons are available. They are not suppose to delegate their duties to juniors with out effective monitoring.
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Muhammad Bilal
Instrumentation & Control|Automation |Maintenance |Calibrations| Fertilizer| Oil & Gas| Petrochemical| Power Generation| Offshore|FMCG|PSM| Dupont|SAP|
Establish safety policies and procedures The starting point for any point for any organization is to clearly and accurately establish the safety policies and procedures that everyone on the worksite is expected to follow. ... 2. Provide adequate training ... 3. Conduct regular inspections ... 4. Develop a reporting system ... 5. Follow up with contractors ... 6. Manage all of your tasks .
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Once you select a contractor, you should clearly communicate the scope and expectations of the work they will perform. You should specify the process safety hazards, risks, and controls that apply to their tasks. You should also define the roles and responsibilities of the contractor and your staff in relation to process safety. You should document these details in a contract, a work permit, or a safety plan.
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Wilfy T Sabu
Grad IOSH, IDip NEBOSH, EHS Head (site) at Larsen & Toubro
Conduct daily (if required), weekly or fortnightly meeting with the contractor(s) to ensure that progress is as per mutually agreed manner.
Even if the contractor has proven qualifications and experience, you should still provide them with adequate training and orientation on your process safety policies, procedures, and systems. You should cover topics such as emergency response, incident reporting, hazard identification, risk assessment, and management of change. You should also familiarize them with your site layout, equipment, and operations. You should ensure that the training and orientation are relevant, timely, and documented.
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Wilfy T Sabu
Grad IOSH, IDip NEBOSH, EHS Head (site) at Larsen & Toubro
Share incident alerts with the contractors. Past accidents, near misses and investigation in to root cause can educate them effectively.
During the work period, you should monitor and supervise the contractor's performance and compliance with process safety requirements. You should conduct regular inspections, observations, and feedback sessions to identify and correct any issues or gaps. You should also involve the contractor in your process safety meetings, audits, and reviews. You should keep records of the contractor's activities, achievements, and incidents.
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Wilfy T Sabu
Grad IOSH, IDip NEBOSH, EHS Head (site) at Larsen & Toubro
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.
At the end of the work period, you should evaluate and improve the contractor's process safety competence. You should solicit feedback from the contractor, your staff, and other stakeholders on the contractor's strengths and weaknesses. You should also measure the contractor's results and outcomes against the agreed objectives and indicators. You should use the evaluation findings to recognize and reward good performance, address and prevent poor performance, and identify and implement improvement opportunities.
By following these steps, you can ensure that your contractors are competent in process safety and contribute to your workplace safety goals. Process safety competence is not a one-time event, but a continuous process that requires your attention and commitment.
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Eliott Culqui
Senior Risk Management Specialist | HSE Management | PSM Management | Safety Coach
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.
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Wilfy T Sabu
Grad IOSH, IDip NEBOSH, EHS Head (site) at Larsen & Toubro
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.
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Shahid Ahmed Kazmi
Freelance work AutoCAD, SEO, Digital Marketing, Wordpress builder. 20.4k followers & running Instrumentation enthusiasts group with 22,920 plus members
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.
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