Posted By Claire C
Dear All,

I have been given the task of reviewing our disciplinary procedures for our subcontractors on site.

Currently it states that for a breach of health and safety rules a yellow card shall be issued, then thereafter if another breach of safety rules occurs then a red card is issued and the subcontractor is excluded from site. However that is as detailed as the current procedure is. It does not details the lhow the card is issued, how it is recorded and the ength of time a yellow card is held for before it is deleted from your record.

I was wondering if any one has any suggestions on how best to manage this?

Thanks



Claire

Posted By Kenneth Patrick
You don't really mean disciplinary procedures, you can't discipline a non employee. You want a fair procedure for excluding people who not adhere to your site standards.

Posted By Ian G Hutchings
Claire

I agree with the previous points. Not a fan of the cards system per se I see that there could be some inconsistency here.

Do you have the same card system for your site manager or supervisor? Surely they also hold accountability for what goes on?

I've been told in the past and believe that when we have to discipline people frequently we have failed as managers. That view aside, you may need to see how proportionate each warning is to the resulting penalty. By all means make it clear that you do not tolerate violation of rules; it just needs to be fair and proportionate and have a clear link to the rule that has been violated.

There is a great deal to consider, which I cannot do full justice within this response. You could have some sort of example flow chart giving three scenarios and train site managers in what they would do. I have found this to be useful in the past as different individuals may have differing views on how discipline should be applied.

Hope this helps.

Ian

Posted By Robert K Lewis
Claire

Not sure if you mean the subcontractor operative or the subcontract company here. If you mean the company itself then I totally agree with what has been said about non-conformances above and you should hopefully have a suitable procedure already in place for closing these out.

If you are referring to operatives I have to say that this type of approach without ground rules and appeals is close to unfair employment practice. You are imposing these requirements on the employees of others and as such all things that you mention need to be fully transparent. I have heard of one or two of these reaching employment tribunals but this has been hearsay.

Like all such schemes you do need to set out:

What standards are to be achieved

How it will be monitored and by whom

Who is empowered to issue cards

What are the penalties

How can one appeal a decision

How long each strike/card exists as part of the count eg 1 month, 2 months, 12 months etc

They can be useful but need to be properly administered if you are not to cause major problems.

Bob