Posted By Stephen_S_Edwards Robert, The minimum requirement would be Employers / Public Liabilty insurance, which they should have anyway. Also, if they can't do a risk assessment themselves (i.e. a bloke comes in to patch a leaky flat roof), then you could do one for him and make sure he works to it. From experience, supervision of sub-contarctors is crucial, regardless of the nature or duration of work.

Posted By Stuart Nagle Robert. This is a common problem. Most subbies either have few direct employees or the persons working for them are self-employed! My argument is this however, if they undertake work for lots of other companies, as they do, they do in fact know the rules but in most instances simply try to get away with not doing anything by stating that their small and don't have or don't do this, that or the other... Utter rubish in most cases. Whilst you can waste your time doing this for them, who's paying your wages? Yes your company, so is that cost deducted from the charges the contractors make...NO. Whilst the employer has a duty to ensure their safe working, he has no duty to perform their legal duty for them. It's time more employers put a stop to this and ensure that the contractors employed meet the duties imposed on them, and not be fobbed off into doing it for them - unless their contractors are prepared to meet the costs of doing it or reduce their costs accordingly. Added to this is the fact that so long as companies who employ small contractors continue to do this, they are adding to the burden of failures in respect of companies not perfoming the duties legally imposed. Is it any wonder then that most accidents occur in SME's and within the sector of employers who have small numbers of employees.... So long as they can get away with not having to obtain competent H&S advice they will, and the H&S professionals in companies employing them is in essence perpetuating this situation by these actions. This is not only self defeating, but also should be considered in respect of the employment of H&S professionals..... to provide these services to these small contractors etc.... I know many employers see the small employer as a cost efficient method of contracting, their costs are less, and now we know why eh!! We should be considering NOT employing contractors who cannot undertake the legal duties imposed, not making excuses for them and doing their job for them.... Stuart

Posted By William O'Donnell My employer also asks contractors to complete a simple questionnaire. The minimum requirements are the same, no matter what size the company. We accept that employers with less than five employees may not have a statutory duty to meet some of these duties, however it is the minimum standard required to work on our behalf. Amongst these requirements are: A safety policy Access to competent advice on health and safety, and a Risk assessment process Should the contractor be unwilling, or unable, to meet these standards then they are not used.