Effective Contractor Management Solutions

In many industries, to work with large clients such as Chevron®, BP®, Shell Oil Company®, Pfizer® and many others, you must be qualified by a prequalification site. Some prequalification sites include – *ISNetworld®, Avetta® , PEC Premier® , BROWZ, ComplyWorks®, Veriforce, Textura and Others. These auditors review, verify, and grade potential contractors and determine the eligibility of the contractor to work on their jobsites.

Most prequalification sites grade contractors based on the following elements:

  • Statistical Information: OSHA 300/A Logs, OH&S Statistics, TRIR, TRF, etc.
  • Health, Safety, & Environmental Program: Safety Manual, Safety Management System, HSE Manual, etc.
  • Insurance Documents: General Liability, Automobile Liability, Limits, Workers’ Compensation, Experience Modification Rates, etc.
  • Safety Training Programs: Weekly safety meetings, safety training videos/online courses, etc.
  • Questionnaire Information: Found in the MSQ™, PQF®, SSQ®, or equivalent

It is important to Maintain Your Prequalification Site Account to remaining eligible to work with these important companies. So, how can you most effectively maintain these accounts? Below are 5 key best practices to ensure your online accounts are kept in compliance.

1.    Monitor

Consistent monitoring of your account is the backbone of effective maintenance. You should log into your account at least once a week. Many changes can happen between quarterly updates, such as the addition of new requirements, expiration of insurance documents, and renewal notices—just to name a few! Consistent monitoring and a hands-on approach will be very helpful when the more extensive prequalification site quarterly update requirements come around.

2.    Review

In addition to monitoring your account on a regular basis, it’s important to be proactive with your safety programs. Most important, your safety program should fall in line with and meet the requirements of your health and safety administration (OSHA for the United States, OH&S for Canada, HSE for the UK and Australia). Review the applicable codes and federal regulations and make sure your safety programs are compliant. After this is done, thoroughly review your Owner Client safety program requirements—they may actually be stricter than the legislative standards!

3.    Update

Whenever a change is required in your programs, review the changes requested against what you currently have written. Changes in policy requirements can be quite extensive and take substantial amounts of time to properly research and write, so be sure to set aside the proper time and resource.  Brand new requirements may have to be written from the ground up if you do not already have a written policy on them. Owner Clients may require you to have programs that don’t pertain to your company specifically, but must have because they may be present on the job site.

Outdated account information that doesn’t meet ongoing regulation changes affects your prequalification site account compliance score. A low score can be detrimental to your business and may even keep you off a job site— proper attention should be given to these changes and updates right away. A safety program is a living document; it should be updated each time there is a legislative or requirement change, and changes should be communicated to employees.

4.    Document (Correctly)

The most common mistake companies make when maintaining their accounts is incorrectly-submitted documentation, or mistakes on the company’s end. When filling out OSHA logs or submitting statistical information, be aware that not every incident is required to be recorded!  Learn the differences between recordable and non-recordable incidents, otherwise it may appear that your company has a higher Total Recordable Incident Rate than it actually does.

Always double check that your documents have been filled out correctly.  Training documents should include the type of training received, date, location, time, supervisor that held the training, and a list of attendees, with a supervisor’s signature. Insurance documents must have the same company name (exactly) that is on the account, and abide to all of the requirements and limits. OSHA logs reflect exactly what is entered underneath statistical information.  Experience Modification Rates can be obtained from your workers’ compensation provider.

5.    Implement

Most important, it’s not a matter of just having the proper policies and procedures, training, and documentation—but it must be implemented throughout the company. Some prequalification sites will actively come onto the jobsite to ensure you not only have the policies and procedures they are looking for, but that you are following them. Communication of the policies and training should be given to each employee so that everyone knows what to do.  Simply having policies and procedures doesn’t keep job sites safe—following them does.  Actions speak louder than words!

Keeping these five best practices (Monitor, Review, Update, Document, & Implement) in mind can help to maintain compliance with any prequalification site.

Call today to speak with one of our highly skilled safety experts.

*Safety Services Company is an independently owned company, specializing in compliance with Third-Party Prequalification Providers. Safety Services Company is in no way endorsed, sponsored, approved by, or otherwise affiliated with ISNetworld®. ISN®, ISNetworld®, RAVS® , SSQ®, PQF® are registered trademarks of ISN Software Corporation®.

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