Posted By Bob Shillabeer
Good morning Garry,

That's a good question how do you demonstrate proper supevision. I believe it depends on the nature of the work and its complexity. How long does each contract run, how long does the activity take and above all what are the risks involved.

For long running contracts, monitoring could be periodic visits mainly unannounced to check the contractor is acting in a specific predetermined way folowing agreed procedures supported by periodic performance reviews examining such things as accident rates, etc.

If the contract is of a short nature then more hands on monitoring may be required, this can be done through on site contract managers undertaking ongoing assessments but will depend on the nature of the work involved, remember the old clerk of works system.

Anyway it is important to remeber the contractor himself has a duty to ensure the activity is conducted in a safe manner, the responsibility is not just one way. As the contractee you have a duty to ensure your contractor operates in as safe a manner as possible and its how you deliver the checking of that that counts and of course how you stop any breach of the contractors' responsibility.

I sugest a process of contractor monitoring and feedback, with suitable recoirds of inspections and meetings maintained as evidence of the monitoring activity.