Managing contractor risks

Global industries, including those based in South Africa, increasingly rely on contractors to provide specialised skills and expertise, as well as to manage costs and capacity. However, contractors have associated risks in safety, health, environment and quality (SHEQ) that are gaining the attention of upper management.

Unmanaged, these risks may result in injury and death, environmental damage, low productivity and legal action against individuals and companies. In South Africa, the drive for sustainable development, strict legal requirements such as BEE, and accelerated globalisation give added urgency to the need to mitigate these risks.

Best-in-class global companies in South Africa and elsewhere are turning to a new breed of contractor management systems (CMS) to address these issues.

The solutions, such as the ComplyWorks Management System currently being piloted by a large South African mining and refining company, increase compliance of contractors with government and corporate SHEQ requirements, lower costs, streamline operations, and increase quality and productivity.

The ComplyWorks Management System supports the full engagement lifecycle by integrating isolated departmental processes and data into an efficient company-wide process.

Prequalify: Prequalify contractors and individuals by communicating your SHEQ requirements to them, collecting relevant information and documentation and evaluating their compliance with those requirements.

Select: Easily search, identify and select prequalified contractors and individuals when and where you need them.

Engage: Hire compliant contractors from your preferred list, or request an exception to use a non-compliant contractor through an auditable risk mitigation plan.

Manage: Communicate changes to contractors, track whether communications are received and understood, securely share documents with the individuals that need them and ensure requirements are met. Then track data on individuals, assets and processes with a single tool that can be accessed by all who require the data.

Complete: Evaluate and process project completion sign-offs, invoices and other transactions against master service agreements, statements of work, service level agreements and other requirements.

Measure: Measure contractor and individual performance against your SHEQ requirements to identify gaps and opportunities for improvement.

Improve: Manage performance and quality improvement over time, audit internal and external processes, and incorporate the results into improved work procedures.