Handbook of Occupational Health and Wellness by Robert J. Gatchel & Izabela Z. Schultz

Author:Robert J. Gatchel & Izabela Z. Schultz
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Springer US, Boston, MA

Reasons for Outsourcing and Subcontracting

Outsourcing work to subcontractors is widely practiced to lower costs, to employ workers with special skills, and to diversify risk (Gochfeld & Mohr, 2007). Individuals or contracting companies that win contracts often do so by operating at the lowest possible cost. This economic constraint often means there is little time for safety training, as well as too little time and money to properly maintain and upgrade equipment. Examples include general contracting companies that operate equipment with damaged or missing machine guards, and whose workers are without personal protective equipment. For example, rock drill rigs and crews are familiar sights at highway, building construction, and surface mine sites. In the author’s experience, rarely does one observe drill rig contract workers wearing respiratory protection, and frequently no hearing protection even when exposed to very high concentrations of rock dust and high decibel noise levels. Small business general contractors and small farm operators and their contract laborers also often work with older equipment that, while functional, is compromised by a range of safety problems that place workers at increased injury risk. For example, mobile powered equipment with missing shields on PTO drivelines, inoperable backup alarm warning systems, broken or faulty lighting and marking, absence of fully charged and functional fire extinguishers, as well as bent, broken, or missing access steps and hand-holds for mounting and dismounting equipment, are widely prevalent (Cole et al., 2009). These conditions and unfamiliarity with hazards peculiar to a series of different work sites during short-term job placements increase contract risk for injury (Gochfeld & Mohr, 2007).

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