Selecting Competent Staff and Contractors.

There are now a lot of very competent people who have training and experience but who have trouble obtaining work, this is because there are also employers who are not competent enough to know and understand they need to employ competent people and they don't really know, care or understand who is actually competent and how to select and employ them! Employers also need training in selecting the right staff. 

There are also those who know they should employ competent persons but don’t as they wrongly consider it’s cheaper to employ those who are far less competent.

Within the live music and events industry, this process is often ignored in favor of the cheapest price, this creates a "race to the bottom" with a lowering of standards and quality, and this is probably one of the greatest factors currently affecting Health and Safety Management standards and their lowering in our industry. Don't be one of those who is helping to lower standards please, especially if it's just so you can profit more with disregard to people's rights to safety.  

Quite simply, health and safety law requires you to ensure your staff has had or is having the required training to be competent, competence is a mixture of training, qualification, experience, and other qualities all in the right proportions! Employers must employ competent persons or provide the required training to staff to enable them to be competent, this training for employees must be free of charge and during normal working hours. 

Competence can be described as the combination of qualifications, training, skills, experience, and knowledge that a person has and their ability to apply them to perform a task safely. Other factors, such as attitude and physical ability, can also affect someone's competence. Competence must be proven, it is not something you simply decide upon without adequate evidence. 

When employing contractors you should:

  • Select a suitable subcontractor – ensure they have sufficient skills and knowledge to do the job safely and without risks to health and safety
  • 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. 
  • Do a risk assessment – you and the contractor should be aware of its findings. 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 who may be affected
  • Provide information, instruction, and training to your employees. You should also provide any information to contractors on the risks from your activities and the controls you have in place. You must consider, with the contractor, what instruction and training contractors will need.
  • Set up liaison arrangements for cooperation and coordination 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 on the nature of the controls before work starts

I should at this point mention the difference between training and qualifications, there are many types of training including courses and "on the job" training, a certificate is often provided for courses but this is not a qualification, there is a lot of training courses for the event production industry but not so many qualifications. Qualifications sit on the National Qualifications Framework (RFQ) and are often available at different levels, from trainee to Ph.D.  

Employers must make certain that staff and contractors meet the following standards and hold the relevant certification, this is vital when making License applications or preparing Event Safety Management Plans. 

IMPORTANT INFORMATION, PLEASE READ: 

As a promoter or event organiser your staff or contractors who operate forklift trucks of any kind must be accredited by one of the following, this needs to be also shown in your Event Safety Management Plan and any risk assessments. Licensing Authorities may also insist on this in License Conditions. 

UK Forklift Training Accrediting Bodies are as follows, make sure these plant operators hold certificates issued by one of the  following:

  1. Road Transport Industry Training Board (RTITB)
  2. Independent Training Standards Scheme and Register (ITSSAR)
  3. Construction Industry Training Board (CITB)
  4. Lantra National Training Organisation Ltd. (LANTRA)
  5. National Plant Operators Registration Scheme (NPORS)

There are basically three types of forklift truck and each needs a separate certificate depending on the type, they are the Industrial forklift of the type used indoors and at most arena venues, the rough terrain forklift, and the Telescopic Materials Handler or Tele Handler. 

Mobile Elevating Work Platform (Cherry Pickers and Scissor Platforms) operators should be accredited by The International Powered Access Federation (IPAF) which issues training certification.

Certification for the above and many other items of plant (such as Hi Abs) and work equipment is issued by the Construction Plant Competency Scheme run by the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB).

The use of aluminum scaffold towers is sometimes found on stage and at some event sites, training in their correct and safe use is given and certified by the Prefabricated Aluminum Structures Manufactures Association (PASMA)  www.pasma.co.uk 

The Ladder Association provides training and certification for the safe use of ladders, they are rather expensive so look online or talk to your safety consultant about alternatives.   www.ladderassociation.org.uk

Riggers should hold the National Rigging Certificate at Level 2 or above, Level 3 should be held by rigging supervisors. This scheme is run by the National Rigging Advisory Group that is administrated by PLASA.  www.plasa.org/qualification/national-rigging-certificate-nrc/

Electricians should work under the BS 7909 Code of Practice for Temporary Power Supplies for the Entertainment and Event Industries. BS 7909 Test and Completion Certification must be issued by the appointed Responsible Person.

  • www.bsigroup.com/en-GB/standards/bs-7909/
  • www.napit.org.uk/schemes/temporary-electrical-installations-scheme.aspx

All portable items of electrical equipment i.e. items with a 13 amp plug fitted must be Portable Appliance Tested (PAT) for electrical safety, this includes backline, lighting, audio, laser, and AV equipment as well as electrical equipment used by tour caterers, copies of all test certificates must be available at each site or venue and are normally held by the Production Manager or the Health and Safety Consultant for the tour or event.

Fall arrest, rescue, and specialist work at height training and equipment is provided by Lyon Equipment Ltd and Hightec.      www.heightec.com          www.lyon.com  

EMPLOYERS, PROMOTERS, AND EVENT ORGANISERS ARE LEGALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR APPOINTING COMPETENT STAFF AND CONTRACTORS, CAN YOU PROVE THEY ARE?  

MAKE SURE YOU, YOUR STAFF, AND YOUR CONTRACTORS ARE ALL COMPETENT!

An employer or an event organiser has a legal duty to select competent staff and contractors. Perhaps the best way of selecting contractors is to prepare a specification of your requirements and submit it to two or three contractors to quote against. This is fair and reasonable but that is simply not all that is required, you should also ask for a detailed Pre Qualification Questionnaire (PPQ). A PPQ can be several pages long and should be completed and returned with the quote, it is quite simple and suppliers must be made aware that if no PPQ is returned the quote will be rejected. It is not a matter of selection by price only and thus helping establish a race to the bottom. A meeting with your potential supplier also helps as do recommendations, observations, and obtaining references that should always be followed up.

Your PPQ should be a form that contains the following questions and requests for information: 

  • The names and contact details of your supplier.
  • Information about the company (Limited, Sole Trader, VAT Number, etc)., number of employees, and how long have they been trading.. 
  • Copies of insurance certificates.
  • Membership of Trade Associations
  • Health and Safety Policy
  • Risk Assessments
  • Method Statements
  • Records of accidents and prosecutions for safety breaches
  • Details of equipment test and inspection (such as LOLER, electrical inspection, PAT, etc)
  • Work at Height
  • Rigging Operations
  • Security, Stewarding, and CT
  • Crowd Management
  • Electricity
  • Gas Safety
  • Special Effects
  • Fire Safety
  • First Aid Facilities
  • Records of training and qualifications  (Most important)  
  • Does the contractor have a procedure for ongoing hazard identification, risk assessment, and determination of necessary controls?
  • Do they demonstrate that the contractor has adequately assessed the risks?
  • Do they come to similar conclusions as to your own risk assessments?
  • Do they cover all relevant known risks associated with the work?  
  • Do they demonstrate that the contractor has competence in health and safety?
  • Do they identify any areas of high risk?
  • Do they really relate to your work areas or are they likely to be generic at this stage of the process?
  • Are they appropriate to adequately cover the risks in your work environment to enable you to evaluate the bid?
  • At the early stages of the tender process where multiple bids are being considered, generic documentation may be more appropriate than towards the end and nearing a final decision where more contract-specific documents may be required.

This is not an exhaustive list. STAGESAFE uses several different PQQs depending on the services being quoted by potential suppliers to our clients. We help ensure you have competent contractors when we are appointed to look after safety for your businesses or event.  

When you have all the required information it can be studied and then a proper evaluation can be made. 

It is a similar process for staff, request written applications, ask them to provide their CV, and obtain and take up references. Check training and qualifications. Interview them about their experience. Make a selection and inform everyone, including those who were not successful, explaining why.

Make certain you understand what the various qualifications mean, for instance, there are several health and safety qualifications, that range from introductory, through intermediate to a professional standard. Many who offer the services of health and safety advisors only have intermediate-level qualifications! This is nothing more than deception in many cases and should not happen where lives may be at risk. Check all qualification levels. Are they appropriate for the job? 

The awarding of contracts is not only on grounds of price and technical ability but also on past safety and environmental records and present ability to carry out the work without risks.

  • As the client, you need to be certain that any contractor has the organisational structures in place and arrangements to make sure what it says it will do in fact gets done, ie an organisational structure and management system for occupational health and safety.
  • Does the contractor have a policy, authorised by the most senior executive, outlining clearly the organisation’s commitment to and intentions for managing occupational health and safety?
  • Look at the overall policy and confirm that there is a named senior officer (director) with responsibility for implementing the safety management system.
  • Is the policy appropriate to the nature and scale of the organisation’s occupational health and safety risks?
  • Are roles, responsibilities, accountabilities, and authorities documented and communicated?
  • Has it been reviewed/updated to ensure that it remains relevant and appropriate to the organisation?
  • Check the contractor’s monitoring and review procedures to make sure safe systems of work are operated in practice and are effective.
  • Check the contractor’s procedure for selecting, monitoring, and maintaining hardware.
  • Check the contractor’s procedures to monitor and measure occupational health and safety performance on a regular basis.
  • Such measures should include both proactive (eg training, planned preventative maintenance) and reactive (eg ill health, incidents including accidents, near misses) measures.
  • Look at the contractor’s ability to record, investigate and learn from incidents (its investigation procedure).
  • Does the contractor undertake regular management reviews and audits of the occupational health and safety management system to ensure its continuing suitability, adequacy, and effectiveness?
  • Check the contractor will provide all certificates of completion, test, installation, erection, inspection, maintenance, and examination of all relevant plant and equipment including vehicles, plant, electrical equipment, lifting, fire safety, rigging, and PPE.  
  • Check the contractor has adequate, current, and valid insurance including Employers and Public Liability Insurance. Will it be valid for the duration of the contract? Who are the insurers? What are the sums insured? Can they provide you with a copy of the insurance certificate? 
  • Can the contractor demonstrate that it has procedures and processes in place to ensure effective communication internally and externally?
  • Can the contractor show that it has established, implemented, and maintained procedures for effective consultation with (and participation of) workers
  • Is the contractor adequately resourced? This includes a wide range of hardware and organisational matters. Hardware would include layout and resources provided at the base location and provisions for PPE. Organisational matters would include workforce profile (crew headcount, reliance on agency operatives, absence cover), levels of supervision – particularly the ability to provide frequent face-to-face supervision in the field of operations, and contingency arrangements to cover unplanned situations such as sickness and emergencies.

This all sounds like a lot of work but it only needs doing once, next time you will already have most of the information you need from a supplier for repeat or subsequent events, except for equipment test and inspection documents, etc. 

The use of pre-qualification questionnaires is very useful in contractor assessment and procurement, the safety competency assessment of contractors, and collection of all health and safety information for the Event Safety File is a task Stagesafe carries out for our clients when we are looking after the safety management of their events. 

Competency must be properly assessed, competency is not simply an opinion. The competence required can vary depending on the work or workplace involved.

Information on standards for different industries can also be found on the National Occupational Standards (NOS) website.

One of the services Stagesafe provide for clients of either festival, concerts, events or tours is of helping you select and procure suitable contractors by the use of pre-qualification questionnaires we send questionnaires to prospective contractors and vendors (that you select) at the tendering stage to enable them to be assessed in terms of health and safety compliance, this process must be carried out before they are appointed. All too often we find clients who wish to appoint contractors before this assessment, we advise you not to do this as once appointed, they may well be reluctant to provide the required information, assuming of course they do have it to provide. 

Checking and being able to prove contractor competence is a major part of health and safety management. 

Always someone who will do it cheaper