Ep. 115: Why are subcontractors at higher risk?

The Safety of Work

Safety isn't one-size-fits-all, especially for subcontractors who navigate multiple sites with varying rules and equipment. This episode peels back the layers on the practical safety management challenges subcontractors endure, revealing how transient work complicates the integration of safety protocols.

We scrutinize the institutional oversights and fragmented safety systems that often overlook the needs of these critical yet vulnerable players in the industry. Our conversation isn't just about identifying problems; it's an urgent call to action for better practices and a safer future for all involved in subcontracting work.

Discussion Points:

• The vagaries of subcontracting work
• Background on the paper being discussed
• Findings presented in the paper
• Institutional safety vs. the subcontractor’s work
• Expertise in the work does not equal expertise in safety
• Communication and safety work activities
• Institutional safety mechanisms
• Dangerous environments and lack of safety knowledge in that environment
• Subcontractors in the mining industry and the many layers and risks
• Safety rules are perceived differently by subcontractors
• Financial and other burdens to following safety protocols for subcontractors
• Key takeaways
• The answer to our episode’s question –the short answer in some of it is that there are lots of filtered and missing communication towards contractors' gaps in situational specific expertise that don't get identified and just our broad safety management systems and arrangements that don't work well for the subcontractor context.

Quotes:

"Subcontracting itself is also a fairly undefined term. You can range from anything from large, labour -higher organisations to what we typically think in Australia of a small business with maybe one to four or five employees." - Drew

“All of the normal protections we put in place for safety just don't work as well when there are contract boundaries in place.” - Drew

“the subcontractor may be called in because they've got expertise in a particular type of work, but they're in an environment where they don't have expertise.” - Drew

Resources:

Link to the Paper

The Safety of Work Podcast

The Safety of Work on LinkedIn

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