Service companies in Canada might be discouraged to learn that another subcontractor pre-qualification service/website has arrived on the scene.  PICS Auditing from Irvine, California has been in business for a while, but has only recently appeared on the radar North of the border when Suncor started using its service.

Like ISNetworld RAVS, they are trying to offer a more comprehensive pre-qualification than simply the registry of insurance documents and questions required by ComplyWorks.  Rumor has it that the PICS staff conduct video conferences with a subcontractor safety representative, and ask the person to hold up policies and records to the screen as a way of demonstrating compliance.  This seems at first glance to be yet another redundancy with the COR safety audits, which are performed in person.  PICS claims to be popular though:

They claim to be "preferred" by 81% of contractors (presumably over ISNetworld?)  I wonder if the number would be so high if they asked the contractor if they felt the PICS audit was useful if they had already passed their COR audit.

Regardless of whether the industry needs 3 subcontractor management systems in addition to COR audits, the fact remains that these subcontractors need to manage their safety programs and produce the compliance reports that these audits, reviews or questionnaires ask for.   Please call or email us if you would like an explanation of how an online safety management system like SafetySync can help you satisfy the requirements of these subcontractor audits, reviews and questionnaires.

 
Those customers that use our system to train their employees for prime contractor orientations, will notice that for employees that have taken Shell's 12 Life Saving Rules, there will now be a second certificate on the printout.

Until now all the orientations and their expiries (if applicable) would print on the reverse side of a single ticket.  Some Shell worksites now require contractors and employees to carry a separate orientation card with them that lists the 12 Life Saving Rules.  So with this in mind, the separate certificate now prints for those that have taken this orientation, and it contains the required information.

Administrators and employees can re-print the orientation cards from within SafetySync for anyone that had previously completed the orientation, and the new Life Saving Rules certificate will be included.  The issue and expiry dates will still reflect the appropriate dates according to when the training and quiz were taken.

Some customers, particularly ones in the oil and gas industry, have subcontractors that work within the company, more or less on a full-time basis.  For example, your organization may be in the welding business, and could have welders on staff, and others on contract.

Rather than expect these contract workers to have their own safety programs (and the hassle of auditing and failing their non-existent systems), your organization may choose to include these workers in your own safety program, choosing instead to treat them as they would a full time employee (providing them with your training, policies, procedures, forms, etc.)  Most of the system works perfectly for both employees and contractors, however, our developers at SafetySync have recently added a couple of features to the OHSMS that cater to the unique requirements of managing contract workers:

1.  Ability to assign employees as "Contractors" and track Company Name
In order to track which workers are employees and which are under contract, we've added radio buttons to differentiate the two types, and added a textbox to record the contractor's company name, if there is one.

2.  Ability to assign a certificate to "Employees", "Contractors", or both
Certain certificates that our clients are tracking only pertain to contract workers.  Examples of these include Certificates of Incorporation, General Liability Insurance, Vehicle Insurance, and WCB Clearance Letters.   In order to avoid making these certificates required for employees in the same position, you can select which group the certificate pertains to (in this case "Contractors").  Only workers assigned to the group selected will have the the certificate listed as required or compliant (as specified).