Folks my memory is letting me down. What was the case that looked at control of contractors A company let a contractor loose at a shutdown to clean some tanks and then tried to say they had delegated responsibility Oct -- summat??

Thanks Pete I think I need to book my place in the old folks home

thanks Rodger One there (viasystems) I'd not seen before

Primark Store, Bedford. My information came from Safety Management magazine, December 2007. Headline: "Poor management placed 15 workers at risk of inhaling asbestos". G Ltd was carrying out a "soft strip" out of a store. G was aware that there was asbestos present from the survey report. Soft strip was to be only carpets, door frames and furniture. G boss instructed his site workers to conduct a soft strip but failed to leave written instructions or copies of the asbestos survey on site. They eventually removed one-third of the shop ceiling (AIB). G fined £20,000 plus full HSE costs of £16,140 Rodger Ker

May I suggest a little lateral thinking is required. While it is perfectly true that Primark were not prosecuted, they did receive a great deal of unwanted publicity from the event. At that time I worked for a company that was doing similar work on store refurbishments for Primark, and their "contractor control" was somewhat lax. When you throw into the equation the Marks and Spencer prosecution over asbestos removal/contractor control and management, it might be considered that Primark were fortunate. This case and the others that I highlighted all, in different ways, indicate that "contractor control/management" is of vital importance and needs to addressed by all parties involved. The days of "you are the experts, just get on with it and let me know when you are finished" should be a thing of the distant past. If you are a contractor and the client doesn't want to manage or control you, you will need to ensure that they are made to. In making presentations on Contractor Control, to either contractors or clients, these examples usually bring about a lively debate and people mumble that we must do things differently in future. (As they used to say in Hill Street Blues, "be careful out there!") Rodger Ker

Another case that is worth considering is the fatal fall (from roof) of a contractor's employee. The site owner/operator, the client in the contract was prosecuted alongside the contractor. The esssence of the prosecution was that the firm failed to follow its own laid down procedures for contractor control. Tullis Russell - Scottish papermakers. Phil