Contractor Management

Context: Why Contractor Management is an Industry Challenge

Contractor management remains one of the most acute problems in industrial safety. During large-scale construction or production modernization, the number of third-party personnel on site can reach thousands of people. Under these conditions, traditional control methods stop working: there is a lack of in-house specialists, process transparency decreases, and the competence level of hired workers often does not match what is stated in their certificates. Alexander Pivikov, OMK Production Safety Director, uses his company as an example to explain how to build a systematic approach to contractor management, moving from spot checks to partner development and automation.

Creating a Supervising Service

With thousands of contractor employees working simultaneously, the resources of the in-house HSE department are critically insufficient. The speaker shows, using OMK as an example, that creating an internal supervising service is a more effective solution than engaging external control. This allows investing in the development of internal competencies, building long-term expertise within the company, and ensuring continuous, rather than episodic, control over compliance with safety requirements at construction and production sites.

Process Automation and a Unified Information Field

You cannot manage what you cannot measure. The presentation details the process of integrating contractors into an automated safety management system (ASMS). Contractors get access to the system, where audits, violations, incident investigations, and the issuance of work permits are recorded. This ensures transparency: the client sees the real picture for all types of high-risk work, and the contractor promptly receives feedback and prescriptions. The blocking of passes for serious violations is automated, eliminating the human factor when granting access to the facility.

Training and Admission to High-Risk Work

The problem of having formal certificates without real knowledge is solved through mandatory testing. The speaker discusses the implementation of information terminals for mass professions (e.g., drivers) and the creation of an online school for contractors. The key insight is the integration of the testing process with the issuance of electronic work permits. A crew is allowed to perform high-risk work only after successfully passing tests that confirm their knowledge, which radically reduces the risks of injury due to incompetence.

Contractor Committee and Penalty System

To ensure transparent decisions and eliminate corruption risks, a special committee involving top management is created. The committee reviews disputes, analyzes contractor ratings, and makes decisions on the distribution of fines. An important approach: large fines are not aimed at withdrawing funds, but at targeted use — the head of the contracting organization must report that the fine funds were spent on purchasing PPE, tools, or improving the working conditions of their employees. The company parts ways with underperforming outsiders who fail to develop.

Integrating Safety into Project KPIs

Traditional project manager KPIs (deadlines, budget, quality) are often achieved by cutting corners on safety. Implementing a balanced scorecard, where audit results, zero incidents, and compliance with strict technical specifications (e.g., noise levels of purchased equipment) are evaluated alongside the budget, changes the motivation of project teams. This is an investment in the long-term safety and health of workers.

What you will learn from this webinar:

• How to organize control over thousands of contractor employees without inflating the staff?
• How to integrate contractors into the corporate IT safety management system?
• How to filter out incompetent workers before issuing a work permit?
• How to use fines to develop a safety culture within the contractor?
• How to balance project manager KPIs so that safety is not sacrificed for deadlines and budget?