Creating effective and relevant contractor training is extremely important in a jobs market which has shifted gradually towards contractors and with the on-going controversy surrounding the classification of workers. This shift presents a requirement for a contractor training program that covers a broad range of topics while staying relevant to a contractor workforce that is increasingly diversified. Achieving a streamlined contractor training process may involve less of an adherence to a checklist, as the online health and safety publication EHS said, and more of a focus on creating a culture that has a “commitment to safety”. Therefore, we have created a list of the top 6 topics which shouldn’t be missing from the contractor training.
1.The Company Culture
Information regarding your company’s culture is one of the most important aspects of providing appropriate contractor training. According to the book Above the Line by Michael Henderson, culture is both the “overarching framework of human connection” and the “underlying distinction of separateness from the surrounding environment.” The author says that culture offers people a variety of “powerful and inspiring enrichments in their daily lives,” which allows a person to feel a sense of “belonging, connection, belief, and identity.” Therefore, the author expressed a sense of bafflement when he came across “few companies” who really “understand and work with their cultures.” Think about what the benefits are of your contract workers also feeling like they belong. When everyone is working towards a common goal, you will notice that your contract workers will be more willing to go above and beyond and their job will appear more rewarding to you, compared to just completing a small portion of it.
For instance, the construction firm PCL, described a number of principles that guide their culture including: Honesty, integrity and respect that create a dynamic culture where contract workers and other employees “constantly seek new opportunities to learn, to improve, to teach and to add value.”
2. Common Objectives
It’s important that you outline your common objectives during your contractor training. Common objectives mean both you and your contractor are on the same page in terms of your entitlements and outcomes during the length of a construction project. For your contractor training, this will include objectives regarding health and safety, like ‘all of our workers must get home safe’ and that you promise to offer a site that is ‘safe and adheres to health and safety protocols’. According to a piece in FastCompany.com, more broadly objectives inform your contractors “where the organization is going” and “how it plans to get there” This can be used when your contractors need to make difficult decisions, whereby they can “refer to the organization’s goals for guidance.”
Your common objectives should be “clear, measurable and agreed upon” according to Forbes therefore, developing common objectives can “make all the difference between collaboration or contentiousness, productivity or discontent.” Let’s say you’re working on a major time-critical construction project, you will need to set out clear and functional objectives throughout the lifespan of the project so that everyone knows when a goal has been attained.
3. Expectations
Expectations are a two-way process, they generally involve the expectations you have of your contractor and the expectations they have of you. For instance, you may expect your contractor to adhere to company policy regarding health and safety while on a site, similarly there’s an expectation from your worker that you have efficient protocols in place. According to EHS Today, even if contractors are only working on your site on a temporary basis, they will more than likely adhere to your health and safety protocols. If, for instance, contractors “see workers walking around without safety glasses, they will follow the trend and stop wearing safety glasses” This sets a bad precedent and ensures that your contract worker will have a certain expectation when working on site.
Therefore, your contractor will expect guarantees on reporting accidents, incidents or near misses and detailed guides on taking care of tools, wearing effective Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and keeping their work area neat and tidy. This is where creating appropriate contractor training will be vitally important to ensure all expectations are met. There are notable dangers to setting high expectations that you can’t meet. According to Inc. Magazine when contractor expectations aren’t met there’s an increased chance that “tension becomes so thick it changes the air. Alliances form and a mutiny brews.” In order to avoid this, you can convey your expectations during the contractor training, which will ensure your site is “a friendly atmosphere where workers are comfortable and can focus on doing what they do best.”
4. Their health and safety
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), 2014 had the highest construction fatality rate since 2008. Construction fatalities rose to 874, from 828 in 2013, making the fatal injury rate for workers in construction at 9.5% per 100,000 workers. For contract workers more specifically, the total number of fatal injuries stood at 797, compared to just 749 in 2013. With these numbers in mind, the creation of appropriate contractor training material relating to health and safety will be very important. The fact that you have included it within your contractor training will show your contractor that their health and safety is taken seriously on-site. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has a number of protocols in place regarding your health and safety protocols, you can take a read here. In terms of creating your contractor training, you can find a number of topics here with the relevant OSHA Standard they comply with.
5. The health and safety of those around you
Although your contractor training will no doubt concern the health and well-being of all your contract workers, you should inform workers that they too must care for each other. According to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), employees must take care of their own health and safety and that of others, co-operate with you to help you “comply with health and safety legislation”, follow “any” health and safety instructions you provide and inform you of any “work situations that present a serious and imminent risk.” Your contractor training should also speak at length about the value of everyone’s health and safety, not just that of the individual worker. Let’s say you are working with a number of contracting firms, according to the HSE, you need to “consider how your work affects others and how their work affects you and your workers.” This can also be extended to the local community, as more than likely the work you do on-site will have an impact on the individual safety of members of the public. In the UK, the Considerate Constructors Scheme was devised as a way to help improve the image of the construction industry. The scheme works much like an advocacy group, with vested interests in the appearance of fellow contractors, how they can respect communities they work in, how they can ensure everyone’s safety and how they can value their workforce.
6. The environment
The environment can be negatively affected by contractors behaving badly, particularly concerning waste, noise, dust, and hazardous emissions which cause serious damages to humans and ecosystems. In many instances, contractors are unaware of the guidelines you may have in place. There are also a number of Federal Regulations in place for the protection of the environment, which are quite varied depending the type of construction project you are working on, as well as rules regarding the protection of historic sites and endangered species. More broadly the EPA have key guidelines in place that cover: waste, matters relating to air protection, guidelines regarding the usage of water and so on. The links connect to the appropriate agency that could be helpful during the formation of your contractor training. Contractor training is your best opportunity to impart some really useful and important information. This information could go so far as improving the work life of individual contractors, increasing productivity of your workers overall, protecting the environment and saving lives in the process. For this to work efficiently, it’s also important that you test your contract worker’s knowledge throughout to get the best from your training. Increasingly contractor firms are discovering that the best way to do this is through an online platform, you can request a personalized demo of GoContractor now.
