Appointing contractors - legal duties for businesses

07 July 2015

Businesses have legal duties when it comes to appointing contractors and responsibilities to comply with health and safety legislation.

However some businesses aren’t aware that they have any legal duties towards contractors and therefore aren’t able to demonstrate that they have complied with their responsibilities. A contractor is anyone you ask to do work for you who is not an employee.

Legal duties include a responsibility to ensure that only competent contractors are appointed who are suitably skilled and sufficiently trained to perform the tasks required of them in a competent and safe manner.

When you are contracting construction work (such as plumbing and heating maintenance) you have duties as a client under the Construction Design and Management Regulations 2015 (CDM). A client is defined as anyone who has construction work carried out for them.

These duties also apply to letting agents and property managers who arrange maintenance not only at their own premises but at remote sites and properties that they manage.

 

When employing contractors, you should:

• Select only suitable contractors – ensure that they have sufficient skills and knowledge to do the job safely and without risks to health and safety. You need to be able to evidence how you have assessed a contractor’s suitability.

• Assess the risks of the work – the level of risk will depend on the nature of the job. Whatever the risk, you will need to consider the health and safety implications and demonstrate that you have done so. You should already have a risk assessment for the work activities of your own business. The contractor must assess the risks for the contracted work and then both of you must get together to consider any risks from each other’s work that could affect the health and safety of the workforce or anyone else.

• Set up liaison arrangements for co-operation and co-ordination with all those responsible to ensure the health and safety of everyone in the workplace.

• Decide what you need to do to manage and supervise the work of contractors and agree the nature of the controls before work starts.

 

Your Plumber maintains a comprehensive health and safety management system so that clients can be confident that they’re appointing suitably qualified service that pays due regard to the safety and welfare of our staff, our clients and also our clients’ staff and visitors.

Visit our Health and Safety page for more information about how we maintain a comprehensive health & safety management system.

 

For more information

 Download a guide from HSE.