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A specialist building contractor has turned the tables on
clients and main contractors by asking them to complete its own
health and safety pre-qualification questionnaire.
A source at the firm, which wishes to remain anonymous, told CJ:
"Our questionnaire was produced following endless requests from
main contractors to complete their own questionnaires to assess
whether we are competent enough to work for them.
"Our own questionnaire was produced in order to be filled in by
main contractors to see if they actually took the paperwork as
seriously as they would have us believe. In recent months we have
sent out 15 questionnaires to check their competency to employ us.
To date only three have been completed and returned."
The three-page questionnaire covers safety policy, environment,
design and insurance. Questions include:
* Do you have a safety policy?
* Are you familiar with your duties in accordance with the
requirement of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations
1994?
* Do you operate maintenance schedules for your plant and
equipment?
* Have you issued and made us aware of all the design
implications for our works?
* Have you ever been subject to prosecution or other action by the
Environment Agency for breaching environmental legislation?
The source complained that contractors' prequals are becoming more
and more farcical. "One main contractor told us that if we wanted
to be considered as an approved subcontractor we would have to
download and complete its form from a third-party website. We tried
to download the files but discovered we had to install various
plug-ins.
"After an hour we gave up and submitted our standard paper copy by
post. A week later it was returned with a note stating that only
electronic submissions would be accepted."
The source concluded: "We're not being cynical here. Working safely
is one of our highest priorities. But the lack of response does beg
the question: 'Do these contractors want the firms that work for
them to be safe, competent and efficient?'"
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