How to ensure your suppliers are compliant.

Take the necessary steps to ensure those suppliers that work with you have sufficient skills and knowledge to do the job safely and without risks to health & safety, or data protection and so on. Clearly, the degree of competence required will depend on the work to be done.

Also don’t assume a contract with your supplier will ensure that the supplier will be deemed solely responsible if an incident occurs, and that the signed contract will protect you.

It probably won’t if a `criminal’ law has been broken. Most legislation, particularly health & safety that is relevant to the events industry falls under criminal law.

We've got 10 tips for protection.

1. Share your organisation’s health & safety procedures and policies with your suppliers and make sure they understand and will act in accordance with them. Make sure you include other compliance issues too such as data protection, disability discrimination, copyright and so on, where relevant.
    
2. Find out about the suppliers’ recent health & safety performance, and not just incidents that have occurred at your events. Ensure you are informed of any future incidents, including near misses and the outcomes of any investigations. Lessons can be learnt, particularly from near misses.
    
3. If your supplier consistently employs sub-contractors or freelancers, assess their selection procedures to ensure competence is always a key factor when they do sub-contract. Again, ensure the sub-contractors are aware of your own organisation’s procedures and processes.
    
4. Exchange information about risk in relation to the job the supplier is undertaking on your behalf. If you know something they could not possibly be aware of, it is your responsibility to pass that information on so they can build it into their own risk assessment.
    
5. Ensure risk assessments are completed and understood by the individuals doing the job in hand. Paperwork, without `know-how’ is just wastepaper.
    
6. Check on the suppliers’ employees undertaking your work at reasonable intervals. If a suppliers’ employee is short-circuiting the required procedures once, it is likely that they are doing it regularly.
    
7. Agree what personal protective equipment should be used and who should provide it.
    
8. Agree who should obtain any necessary permits or licences for your event.
    
9. Assess the supplier’s insurance policies.
    
10. Ensure the supplier is aware that failure to comply to your requirements could lead to an immediate cessation of your relationship, contractual or otherwise.

You do need to consider the risk to your business if you fail to take appropriate action.

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