How general contractors use supplemental safety staffing

Why the need appears

A contractor's safety duties do not scale down when the site gets busy. OSHA's construction standards require each employer's program to provide for frequent and regular inspections of job sites, materials and equipment by competent persons the employer designates.^[1] On multi-employer sites, a controlling employer, typically the general contractor, must exercise reasonable care to prevent and detect violations across the worksite.^[2] When headcount doubles or a night shift starts, the same safety team is spread thinner over the same duties.

The common patterns

• Phase coverage. Added for the busiest stretch of the job, such as interior fit-out of a data hall, then released.
• Shift coverage. Nights, weekends or second shifts that the core team cannot staff in person.
• High-risk task coverage. Focused on steel erection, roofing, lift-heavy work, hot-work windows or work near energized systems.
• Documentation. A steadier written record of site conditions for the project team and the owner.

Observer or full safety manager?

Supplemental staff fall into two broad types. Some firms place people who run or co-run the safety program. Others, like safety observers, add coverage and documentation inside the contractor's existing program and leave authority where it is. The second model keeps lines of responsibility clear and avoids two people directing the same crews. Compare the roles.

Coordination is part of the job

OSHA's Recommended Practices for Safety and Health Programs include communication and coordination for host employers, contractors and staffing agencies as one of their core elements.^[3] In practice, that coordination comes down to a short list agreed before the first shift:

• Scope: the areas, activities and shifts covered
• Designated representatives who receive reports
• Reporting format and timeframe
• The escalation path for imminent hazards, and who decides on stopping work
• Who assigns and closes corrective actions
• Site orientation, badging and any screening the project requires

Where it goes wrong

• Scope creep: added staff start directing trades, and crews hear two sets of instructions
• Unclear stop-work authority, discovered in the middle of an incident
• Observations given verbally and never written down
• A different reporting format from every person on every shift

How NSC Enterprises works

NSC Enterprises supplies safety observers on a scheduled, shift-based or project-based basis, under a written protocol agreed before mobilization. We supplement your safety team. We do not replace it or direct your work. See coverage options and how we work, or request coverage.