HR Learning's Fourth Section on Contractor Management. Topic 6 Inductions and Topic 7 Consultation

1. Contractor Management
Section 4
Topic 6 Inductions
Topic 7 Consultation with Contractors & others

2. Contractor
Management
Topic 6 Inductions

3. Inductions
• Inductions are an important method to meet
the PCBU’s Section 19 (3)f duty of care to
provide instruction, information and training
commensurate with risk.

4. Welcome to this HR Learning Course on
Contractor Management
The course has 5 sections.
Each Section has slides.
This section has three videos that are essential to watch.
There is an Assessment Workbook for you to complete. This will help
you to understand the most important information. It will also help
you engage with hypotheticals to UP your skills and knowledge.
If you see a key symbol It indicates this is important for your
assessment.
If you see a book symbol it indicates there is a resource that is
downloadable accompanying these slides.
Upload your assessment when complete, and It will be assessed by
one of our HR Learning experts. You will also be awarded a
certificate of completion.

5. INSTRUCTIONS FOR
LEARNERS
• Make sure to download the Assessment
Workbook after looking at the two units in this
Section.
• Have a look at the resources.
• Ask yourself- Can I remember what this material is
about? What are the main learning points? Do I
understand the material? How would I teach
someone else this material?
• If you get really stuck. Send your question to
michael@hrlearning.com.au.
• (You must be enrolled in the HR Learning Course
at hrlearning.com.au to get academic support)

6. Reasonably
Practicable
• Where the PCBU relies on a specialist or technical
expertise, the PCBU is required to:
verify the expert has the necessary
expertise for the work
verify the expert has their own systems
in place for carrying out work safely
verify the expert is carrying out that
work safely as per their own stated
procedures (and not putting others at
risk)
continue to consult co-ordinate and co-
operate with the expert
 provide appropriate instruction to the
contractor.

7. Induction Quality
• What makes for a good induction?
• Should it be eLearning or face to face?
• How long should it run 5 minutes or 3hours?
• Should there be an assessment?
• What other elements should we look for in an
induction?

8. Secrets to writing a great
induction
1. Have a clear SMART learning goal.
2. Be clear about your learner and their learning need
3. Be aware of your context of learning
4. Assess the learners and record their completion of
induction and their result for at least a year after the
project has finished.

9. 1. Have a clear “SMART” learning goal.
SMART stands for
•SPECIFIC;
•MEASUREABLE;
•ACHIEVABLE; •REALISTIC
and •TIMELINED
Ask yourself, by the end of induction,
what are learners going to be able to
do? Secondly, what knowledge will
they need to be able to do that thing?
In this case, I want my learner to be
able to work safely at my workplace.
Let’s turn it into SMART..
By the end of the induction the
learner will be able to identify
hazards associated with our work
processes. Specifically hazards around
our plant, chemicals, electricals and
our confined spaces.
Underpinning knowledge-our site
specific hazards and our safe work
procedures.

10. 2. The learner
and their
learning need
• Consider who the person is that is coming onto your site.
• What will be the average LLN level. The average person is
at Level 3 ACSF (Australian Core Skill Framework). This
means they can read simple English instructions without
assistance. Will your contractors have English as a second
language?
• How will you communicate a simple safety message?

11. The learner
• You are not inducting someone to teach
them English, make them smarter or for any
other reason except to ensure that they are
able to work safely at your site.
• Design your induction to the Language and
Literacy (LLN level) ability of your workers.
Where a person might have difficulty with
LLN offer translators or assistance to help
get them inducted.
• The outcome is to get the person inducted.
We can provide them with as much help as
they require to achieve this.

12. Context of learning
• For your induction what would be the most
effective format?
• Face to face learning
• eLearning
• Workplace simulation
• Classroom style
• On the job
Some inductions may be most effective by
taking the person around the site, others
may be better suited to eLearning.

13. Assessment
You need to assess your learner
To check that your message has got across
To have a physical record that your
organisation has provided instruction and
training
Many inductions make the mistake of trying to teach work health
and safety. An induction is a brief of the WHS dangers that
someone, who isn’t familiar with your site, might come across. Keep
your goals clear.
It’s essential that you can ensure that visitors to your site have
understood the inherent dangers of that site.

14. Assessment
• When developing assessment it’s good practice to use the Rules of evidence and The
Principles of Assessment.
• Inductions should be developed by someone who holds at minimum a Certificate IV in
Training and Assessment (TAE40116). They will be familiar with the Rules of Evidence and
Principles of Assessment.
• The Assessment should not be an ordeal. It should be a straightforward check that the
contractor or visitor has enough knowledge about on site hazards to work safely.

15. Rules of
evidence
• Valid-ensure that you only assess the learner on material
that has been provided in the induction. It is not
acceptable to throw in tricky questions or general
knowledge questions.
• Authentic-You must have a system to ensure that the
person completing the assessment is who they say they
are. At one local government depot all of a team had a
particular person do their assessment online for them.
They all gave this person their log in details. This raises a
legal can of worms. You must ensure authenticity.
Plagiarism and cheating are also forms breach of
authenticity.
• Current-A person may have done induction previously with
your organisation. Ask yourself how long should you
induction remain current. 3 months? Six months?
• Sufficient-Make sure that you collect sufficient evidence to
ensure that a person is fully oriented to the safety issues at
your site.

16. Principles of Assessment
• Valid-Ensure that your induction is to the point, clear and
doesn’t waste time. Some inductions are way too long, try for
too much and waste time. An induction is solely about hazards
on your site, how to report issues and your organisations
procedures.
• Reliable-Keep assessment questions clear, concise and drawn
entirely from the learning material.
• Flexible-eLearning allows contractors to be inducted on their
own time as suits. Having to sit in a classroom or guard house
and complete induction is wasteful and irritating.
• Fair- Avoid trick questions, ensure that reasonable
adjustments can be provided for people with disabilities (see
https://desbt.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0028/8299/re
asonable-adjustment-for-web.pdf)

17. Summary
A brief induction with clear SMART learning goals
will work to orient the contractor or visitor to the
specific hazards of your site.
Ensure the induction is focused and to the point.
Assessment provides proof of learning. It helps
demonstrate the PCBU has met its primary duty of
care. So documentation is very important.
Ensure that assessment is written by someone with
a Certificate IV TAE40116 and that it meets the
Rules of Evidence and Principles of Assessment.

18. That ends Section
6
Proceed to Section 7

19. Topic 7
Consultation

20. Reasonably
Practicable
• Where the PCBU relies on a specialist or technical
expertise, the PCBU is required to:
verify the expert has the necessary
expertise for the work
verify the expert has their own systems
in place for carrying out work safely
verify the expert is carrying out that
work safely as per their own stated
procedures (and not putting others at
risk)
 continue to consult co-ordinate and co-
operate with the expert
provide appropriate instruction to the
contractor.

21. Work Health
Safety
Management
What would you see in a company
that had great WHS happening?
21

22. WHS Management
• What are barriers
that exist to
effective WHS
management?

23. Consultation
What is meant by the term
“to consult”?
23

24. Communication is not
consultation!!
• It’s important to note that communication and
consultation are not the same thing.
• Consultation is the process of actively
seeking the opinion from someone.
• Communication is telling people things
that you want them to know.
• Please do not get them confused. They are
both good but one is a legal requirement.
• Consultation requires that process of active
listening and seeking the opinion from a group
or an individual.

25. S 46
Consultation
• There are two types of consultation that you,
the Contractor Manager, must manage.
• These are Vertical Consultation and Horizontal
Consultation.
• Consultation should occur vertically with
workers in the organisation (s47, WHS Act [s35
Victoria]) and horizontally with other PCBUs (s
46, WHS Act[Sect 35 Victoria]).
• Remember that the term “worker” under s7,
WHS Act [S21(3) Victoria] , includes
contractors, subcontractors and employees of
contractors and subcontractors.

26. Vertical Consultation
• Vertical consultation will usually be between a PCBU, its
workers and their representatives. Workers are usually best
placed to understand how the system, process or
equipment works and can offer the best insight in to what
or where things can go wrong
• Consultation should be with all workers – it is important
that contractors are not segregated from other workers. If
workers are represented by Health and Safety
Representatives (HSR’s), consultation must involve those
HSRs.

27. When should consultation
occur with workers ?
• The WHS Act identifies
matters when consultation
must be carried out with
workers (see s 49, WHS
Act) but does not limit the
PCBU to just those items.

28. Making it real
• Keep workers at your organisation appraised of
project related hazards and risk.
• Actively listen to feedback from your organisation
workers.
• Contractors and sub-contractors are workers. Ensure
they are given a voice
• Inspect project area or if not possible-around the
project area, with HSR’s to determine hazards that
may affect your organisation’s workers.
• Consult on all safety aspects of the project as it may
affect your workers.
• Act on and report back on feedback from workers.

29. Should consultation be
documented?
Yes. Ensure that there is an attendance form that records each
person present at the consultation.
Make a note of whether they are a HSR representing their
workgroup.
There should be an agenda that is given to participants at least two
days before the meeting. This allows them to prepare.
Minutes of the meeting should be taken. As with all minutes they
should be sent to everyone who attended as well as a copy to your
PCBU (Officers on the Executive) for corrections and agreement.
Each subsequent meeting should agree on the minutes.
• This provides you with a written record of consultation.

30. Horizontal Consultation
This is when you need to consult, co-ordinate and co-operate with other PCBU’s.
This could be the business who provided you with labour hire workers .
The objective of consultation is to make sure everyone associated with the work has a
shared understanding of what the risks are, which workers are affected and how the
risk will be controlled. This consultation will determine which health and safety duties
are shared and what each person needs to do to co-operate and co-ordinate activities
with each other to comply with their health and safety duty
Relying on another business (the contracted party) to comply with their duties and
obligations under relevant WHS legislation does not automatically result in
compliance from a Commonwealth PCBU’s end. You will need to verify they are doing
what they said they would do. This monitoring step is to ensure contractors WHS
systems are current and relevant for the work they are conducting.

31. Sect 46 Consultation with other PCBU’s
• Consultation, co-operation and co-ordination might include:
>Reaching an agreed understanding of expected deliverables and safety expectations.
>Developing a clear scope of work – break scope down into activities.
>Clarifying any restrictions on work – time of day, types of materials, specific tools,
licence requirements etc.
>Agree on the monitoring/review/reporting approach for safety/work
activities/deliverables - could be via meetings, audits or some other agreed means.
>Establish a contractor register and induction process to know who is onsite when.
>Agree process/induction etc. for contractor engaging contractors and supervision of
new workers to site (site specific risks).
>Involve HSR’s in consultation—ensure two-way communication—seek involvement.
>Sight evidence of information training, instruction and supervision having been
provided.

32. KEY POINTS FOR THE PCBU
A PCBU cannot
contract out its
WHS duties
(ss14, and 272,
WHS Act).
A PCBU needs to
ensure that the
contractor has
the specified
knowledge it
claims to have,
that they have
appropriate
safety systems in
place and that, so
far as it is
possible, to test
the contractor is
complying with
their systems
(some sort of
monitoring or
verification
process via your
own contractor
management
system).
The contractor
is usually
limited by the
instruction it is
given by the
PCBU
•e.g. if you are
contracting
someone to build
a building on your
site then you need
to explain the
risks associated
with that site such
as contamination,
chemicals,
unusual building
materials etc.
The difference
in expertise
between the
PCBU and the
contractor is
crucial—the
greater the
difference, the
less ‘reasonably
practicable’ it is
likely to be for
the PCBU to
independently
identify hazards
during the
contractor’s
work.

33. Making it real
• Create a project WHS Plan with the Project
Leader or Principal Contractor
• Ensure the plan has safety deliverables that are
SMART.
• Meet regularly (weekly)
• Document meetings
• Ensure all stakeholders are at those meetings
• Check that the safety measurables have been
met. Lead figures on actions achieved. Lag
figures on injuries, incidents.