Hi all. I have been asked to look into window cleaners as part of a larger project (control of contractors). We have around 500 high street premises and use local window cleaners to clean the main display window & door. We do not ask them to do upper floor windows or windows to the rear of the premises. Because most of these are self employed, many will not have risk assessments, method statements etc. There is also likely to be a high turnover of staff For all our national contractors (electricians, gas service, fire contractors etc), we have national agreements, Contractors H&S Policy, PTW etc as they are larger more manageable contracts. Has anyone else have this same situation with window cleaners, and how do they control them. Whatever we do must be kept as manageable as possible as we will have to inform 500 odd branch managers. I would be particularly intrested in entries to H&S policies, generic risk assessments etc. Thanks if anyone can help.

m - easiest does not equate to safest in my experience, just because it is a national contractor that does not mean that they have better standards. It is a bit of a red-herring the statement that becuae they are self-employed they don;t have RA's and Policies. I assume you mean that becuase they are sole traders or employ less than 5 they don;t have any written RA's or H&S Policy. Let's look at this sensibly - you say that they only clean shop windows and doors at the front of the premises and at ground fllor level. So that is low risk. Most of the time a ldder will not even be used and even if it is then it will be only 1-2 steps up (yes I know serious and fatal accidents happen on the lower steps too) but on a well maintained ladder or step ladder that shouldn't be a problem. And if you look at other hazards such as passing pedestrians the man with a ladder and a bucket poses far less of a risk than the two men with a van and long hose and unwieldy rod and water everywhere that gets in everyone's way (fine for the higher risk jobs at higher than ground level or large jobs but for shop windows???) Support local business I say and employ your local window cleaner. Issue a standard policy to all managers stating the main issues and leave it at that. For example window cleaners are expected to use appriopriate and maintained ladders and where possible do the work from the ground. I find it quite sad to see the possible demise of the local window cleaner just so that a big national company with all singing all dancing RA's (that employees will never have looked at) can provide an easy solution. Your managers are paid to manage so let them do that and if they are not capable of following a basic policy on hiring window cleaners then they shouldn't be managers IMO.

I work in a different industry sector - entertainment - and we engage "freelancers" on a regular basis to carry out all sorts of work, some of it quite high risk. These could be exhibition carpenters, sound enginners, lighting designers etc. As well as our contractor approval process we have a freelancer approval process. This comprises of a subcontractor agreement form which asks some relevant questions about H&S. We do not ask for a policy or recorded risk assessments as we generally have risk assessed the project and as a one man band they have not legal requirement to provide a written safety policy. We do have require a copy of their insurance - minimum pulbic liability £5 million which is what our insurers insist upon plus any relevant health and safety qualifications which in our case can range from IPAF, rigging certficates, electrical qualifications etc. We also request a copy of their driving licence each year. I would definately recommend you have a chat with your insurers about levels of public liability indemnity. Hope this helps - good luck!