(57c) Contractor Management

The OSHA Process Safety Management (PSM) and the EPA Risk Management Plan rule (RMP), require contractor management. More specifically, they require an evaluation of the proposed contractor prior to them doing any work in the covered process. Compliance audits of PSM/RMP show that the response to this element vary widely. The regulation aside, a facility contractor should be treated as an extension of the facility. They, more often than not, provide experience or knowledge that the facility may lack, or may not have the resources that are needed to perform various tasks. A facility’s owner or management should be concerned for the safety, health, and general welfare of its employees. The same should be said and afforded to the contractors in the facility as well.

The PSM final rule 29 CFR 1910.119, paragraph (h), includes provisions concerning employer and contractor responsibilities. Facilities will typically fall into two categories; the first category is where the facility will obtain the contractors OSHA 300A log, DART and experience modifier rates, and very little beyond that. More importantly, there is no evaluation as to the validity or a true evaluation of the data that was provided. This is the category where compliance audits indicate where most ammonia refrigeration facilities fall. The second category is where a third party may be used to manage their contractors. Most third-parties will obtain and manage the pertinent OSHA data, DART rate, experience modifiers, and required insurance information. However, they will also request or require that the contractor(s) have Safety & Health Management systems in place, provide documentation or certificates of training, and in some cases actually provide the training. The extent of information or requirements of the contractor are established through cooperation with the third-party and the facility. A facility is obligated to protect their employees as well as those of the contractor, period. However, the current methodologies used have significant gaps which put employees at risk and make the facility vulnerable to OSHA and EPA citations.