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Contractors fill one of every five jobs in the United States and are expected to make up nearly half our workforce within the next decade. They bring with them varying degrees of occupational health and safety knowledge, training and experience, making it difficult for organizations to manage workplace safety.

Pipeline operators are charged with ensuring safe day-to-day operations in potentially hazardous work environments, yet it’s often unclear what occupational health and safety knowledge their third-party contractors bring to job sites. Uncertainty of contractors’ general safety training and how well it aligns with their expected job duties makes it difficult for operators to mitigate risks associated with inadequate or improper safety training among contractors.

Making an exception is often a reality when hiring a contractor. Despite intention to adhere to your company’s contractor safety program, highly-specialized, last-minute, or high-volume work demands can quickly leave you in a gray area—unable to find a contractor who meets your company’s safety prequalification requirements or has time to get up to speed with them.

Establishing and maintaining a strong operator qualification (OQ) program requires key ingredients: technology to streamline OQ records verification and management, audit services that help ensure the integrity of your OQ processes and records, high-quality covered task training content, and OQ regulatory expertise.