Contractors

• The host employer has specific responsibilities for contractors that come on-site.

Host employers must assess contractors’ safety policies to ensure that the contractors’ employees are properly trained and that contractors have the appropriate written programs in place.

Before the contractor starts work, the host employer and the contractor employer are required to inform each other of their respective lockout/tagout procedures and the hazards involved in the task at hand. The host employer then must inform employees about the contractor relationship and how to safely interact with the contractor’s employees. The contractor must also communicate this information with the contractor’s employees.

Both employers must comply with the minimum standards. If the host employer takes a direct supervisory role over the contract employees (telling the contract employees what to do when they are on-site), then the host employer becomes responsible for training the contract employees. Typically, temporary employees who are hired through an agency would fall into this category. Supervising host employers could be cited when an on-site contractor does not comply with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration standards.