Local Government: Knowing When Control Goes Too Far

Contractors are key players in delivering services for local governments, but confusion often arises for councils when they are acting as the Principal Contractor, especially when it comes to the role they play in managing contractor safety. This confusion is heightened by the range of stakeholders involved—like the public, ratepayers, state government, and the various non-traditional workplaces that aren’t directly managed by councils.

As a result, many councils set up complex, time-consuming contractor safety management systems. Ironically, these systems can end up increasing liability for councils if incidents happen, while also consuming a lot of resources.

Workplace and occupational health and safety laws require anyone acting as a Principal Contractor to oversee contractor safety. Typically, this duty is seen as ensuring contractors manage risks in their work. But, that’s actually not quite right. The duty is really about protecting contractors from risks that come from the Principal Contractor’s operations—not overseeing their every move. Misunderstanding this duty can lead Principal Contractors to take an overly hands-on approach, dictating how contractors should work safely and piling on layers of monitoring and audits.

The Australian High Court has ruled that it’s neither practical nor necessary for Principal Contractors to micromanage contractors’ safety plans. Collecting, reviewing, and approving every detail of contractors’ safety documents is simply unrealistic. In local government, this challenge is amplified by the wide range of contractors involved, the variety of their skills, and the fact that much of their work is done off-site.

So, how can councils protect contractors effectively and meet their legal responsibilities? Here’s a streamlined approach to contractor safety:

1. Share information with contractors about risks tied to council operations
2. Monitor contractors to ensure they’re safe while on-site
3. Collaborate to understand how council and contractor activities impact each other
4. Clearly define safety roles and responsibilities in contracts
5. Show due diligence by having contractors confirm they understand their own safety duties
6. Ask contractors simple, direct questions about their safety practices
7. Minimise requests for detailed safety documents
8. Use references, industry expertise, and certifications to verify contractor competence
9. Review contractor safety performance once the contract wraps up.

Online systems make these steps much easier. With digital tools, councils can:

• Set up online prequalification questionnaires
• Provide worker inductions online
• Confirm prequalification and induction completion via QR codes at the site
• Track critical documents, like insurance and licenses, to ensure they’re current.

That said, any online system is only as good as the information in it. Make sure contracts clearly assign safety duties, that prequalification forms ask the right questions, that inductions cover the essentials, and that monitoring focuses on what really matters.

LinkSafe is a contractor safety management platform that provides qualified safety and legal advice for system setup and aligns with current practices in contractor safety management.

Sue Bottrell, Director of ContractorSAFE

This article was originally published on civica.com