“Fronting is not safe practise nor is luck safe practice. Even a clean audit from the auditor cannot be automatically be perceived as a compliance letter, they audit based on information provided.”
If you have you delegated a labourer to administrate your safety file, or maybe an admin lady to press print on a health and safety system bought 5 years ago your luck may soon run out and you may even be held liable for an employee’s death.
Many contractors have no idea what the safety file entails, how it should be managed, or the responsibilities they delegate to an appointee, as is the case with appointees not knowing their responsibilities towards the applicable occupational health and safety appointment.
For many contractors a safety file is a document once implemented a safe guard against their or their employees wrong doing.
This could not be further from the truth. Control measures need to be administrated accurately. Preventative measures need to be managed as worksite conditions change. Employees need to be constantly reminded of Hazards and Risks associated not only with their task at hand but also activities of those working near them.
By ticking a box stating that everything is in order is not managing your safety file, in fact all one is achieving by doing this is turning a blind eye to a possibly worsening situation.
I have seen control measures indicating that, since inception of a project not one aspect of the work was ever short of compliance for the entire duration of the project. Extension cords have never been damaged, lifting tackle was never out of service, PPE issued was never required to be replaced. Hand tools was always effective. The same team that started on the project finished the project.
In many instances none of the above is true, employees change from one project to the next, appointments are outdated as teams changed from one project to the next, equipment on site is faulty, safety devices are removed and rendered unsafe, site conditions change, and preventative measure are no longer adequate to mitigate the risks, first aid cases are not reported and near miss incidents are not reported.
Fronting is not safe practise nor is luck safe practice. Even a clean audit from the auditor can not be automatically be perceived as a compliance letter, they audit based on information provided.
Ignorance is not bliss when you put your company or an employee’s life at risk.