Friday, December 7, 2018

ISNetworld: The Top 8 Items You Need for Compliance

Contractor/vendor prequalification is becoming more and more the norm. ISNetworld is an online contractor safety prequalification program and just one among a crop of other programs like it, including Avetta (formerly PICS), PEC Safety, Veriforce and others. Prequalification programs like ISNetworld give companies a way to limit the liability risks that onsite contractors can bring. If you want to work for clients who use these programs, you must be a member and enter your company information into the system.



At first glance, ISNetworld setup can be a daunting task. To help get you prepared, we present the Top 8 items you’ll need to gather for ISNetworld compliance (or just about any other safety prequalification program).

 1.  General Company Information

You will need to know basic information about your company such as date established, structure, addresses and contacts, special codes and numbers (NAICS, Tax ID, DUNS, etc.), financial and project references and more.

2.  Safety Policies and Procedures

You will be asked a number of questions about your safety policies. How is your safety program setup, how is it built and who’s responsible? What’s the management structure and is company leadership involved? Are hourly employees involved and do you have full-time safety personnel? Do you do audits, who does them and how often? Also included are questions about safety meetings, training, documentation, observations, stop work policies, hazard reporting, policies for new hires, incident investigation and communication.

3.  Written Safety Programs

If you’re following OSHA compliance, you should already have written safety programs for the hazards your employees can be exposed to. Depending on the services you list as providing, ISNetworld and your client will generate a list of the individual programs that you need. There will be specific elements to incorporate into your written programs, so it’s likely you’ll need to update your programs. Be mindful what your revised program commits your company to. If it’s written in your program that your company will do something, you need to. If not, you could expose yourself to fines from OSHA for not following your own plan.

4.  Training Programs

For many of the written programs, you’ll be asked to upload corresponding training sign-ins and information, so you may need to conduct additional training. Be prepared to answer questions related to what kind of training you provide to new hires and routine employees, how often and how they are documented.

5.  Regulatory Data

You will need to track OSHA injury and illness data on a quarterly basis. This information is required to be input both quarterly and annually. You’ll also need 3 years of historical data. In ISNetworld you are graded on your 3-year average safety numbers and how they compare to industry standards. Thus, if you have a bad year, your grades may suffer for 3 years.

If any of your work is per MSHA standards, you’ll need to enter this information quarterly as well, including number of hours worked, number of employees, etc.

If you have commercial vehicles, you’ll need to enter DOT numbers and annual stats for number of drivers, miles driven, number of units, owner operators and violations. You’ll also need to enter in information about your company vehicle/driver programs and policies.

6.  Insurance

Individual insurance certificates will need to be uploaded for each client, and each will have specific requirements. Check with your insurance company to see if they’re a member of ISNetworld. If so, you can assign them to your account and they can upload certificates and deal with the nuances and negotiations for you. You will also need to enter 3 years of experience modification rate data and upload those documents as well.

7.  Employee Data

Individual employee data can be tracked in a number of ways and will vary by client. Some clients will require you to fill out reports on the number of incidents, workers, and hours spent at each site per month by you and your subcontractors. Other clients will request third-party drug and alcohol testing, background checks and certification uploads through the system. Site-specific training can also be required, with each employee taking online training before arriving onsite.



8.  A Plan for Management and Completion

This isn’t a requirement, but certainly a best practice. You will need to identify a person(s) on your team who’s going to be responsible for managing sites such as ISNetworld. There can be a number of time-sensitive items which need to be managed. Not maintaining them will make your grades drop, hindering your ability to get further work with them, or even issue invoices.

The initial setup may require the assistance of a number of people in your company, or the help of an outside firm. You may need a combination of compliance personnel and administrative staff to handle the day-to-day management. Please note that if you do involve administrative staff, please keep in mind that policy questions and program creation are best completed by someone with a compliance background. You need to be very careful on how you answer the questions and what you commit yourself to. It could make all the difference between an “A” and an “F”.

Other Considerations

Other items covered include quality management programs, environmental policies, sustainment programs and PPE. Answers to these questions will not likely to affect your grade. ISNetworld automatically uploads any OSHA citations for your clients to see, and these will likely affect your grade. You may also be required to have your own subcontractor management program, that is, a procedure for vetting your own subs.

See Original Post Here!