Contractor management software plays an important role in asbestos management. The many processes it both automates and facilitates make it infinitely easier to coordinate asbestos management efforts, creating a safe and compliant work environment.
In this article, we will cover what contract management software is, what it does, and what the best contract management software on the market is.
What is contractor management and why is it important?
Contractor management is the management of information pertaining to third-parties that your business works with. In the context of asbestos management, contractor management involves the collection and archiving of information regarding companies that specialise in the testing and removal of asbestos.
This is important because effective contractor management is a crucial part of maintaining (and demonstrating) compliance within your organisation towards asbestos regulations.
What does contractor management software need to be able to do?
There are a number of tasks that contractor management software needs to effectively complete. These tasks involve asbestos compliance, which means that there is no room for error, as there are both safety risks and legal ramifications that come from mismanaged contractor management.
Store information on contractors to show who is working best for you!
When you hire contractors, your first step is to find the third party organisation that is going to best meet your needs. Because this occurs on a case by case basis, it helps to have a pool of collated information that you can draw from, in order to determine the ideal contractor for whatever situations arise.
Allows you to store and monitor all necessary documents
Collaborating with a third party on asbestos management comes with a lot of documentation. This is to ensure that both parties (you as the contractor, as well as the organisation that you’re interacting with) fully meet their respective obligations.
In order to achieve your asbestos management objectives, you need to be able to collect all of this documentation, reference it with ease and make addendums wherever needed. This helps keep track of objectives and resolve discrepancies.
Remind you when contractors are nearing expiry
Part of a contract’s timeline is when it expires. This is important to keep track of because it informs the timeline of tasks that need to be completed beforehand, and it signals the end of the contractor’s obligations as your collaborator.
In short; this is not something you want to get blindsided by.
That’s why contractor management software needs to alert you when contractors are close to expiring, giving you time to review and, if necessary, renew your agreement.
Allow for contractors to share their records with you
If you’re hiring a contractor for asbestos inspection or removal, that contractor is going to compile their findings into reports. You need contractor management software that makes it easy for your contractor to deliver those reports to you. This means you need document delivery that is both reliable, and containing multiple avenues for delivery.
Monitor contractor compliance and make changes when necessary
Once a contract has expired, the contractor is no longer compliant. This means that, if you want to continue working with them, you need to review existing contracts and renew them. This can be time consuming if your contractor management software doesn’t make it easy. Asbestos management is a time sensitive process, so make sure your contractor management software can keep up.
What kinds of features are important in contractor management software such as Octfolio?
There are many features in contractor management software that help it complete the many tasks that come with asbestos compliance. This includes tools that help your business interact with Asbestos Containing Materials, as well as aid your business in interacting with other organisations and regulatory bodies.
Simple Asbestos Asset Management
Octfolio makes it easy to record and access information on identified asbestos assets, storing swaths of information on a database that is easy to navigate. This functionality makes it easy for asbestos assets to be updated, and then for that information to be passed on to your contractors.
Extensive Report Creation and Distribution Functionality
Before software solutions made the process relatively easy, it was time consuming to compile asbestos reports as it meant sifting through paper registers. Octfolio allows for the easy creation and customisation of reports. Reports can then be easily exported in a variety of supported formats and sent to contractors across a wide range of devices and software platforms.
Business Compliance Manager
Under the current law, you are required to update your asbestos registers in the event that:
- Your asbestos management plan is reviewed under clause 430
- Further asbestos is identified at your workplace
- Asbestos is removed from, disturbed, sealed or enclosed at your workplace
You need to be able to provide your contractors with fully up to date asbestos registers so they can accurately assess your business. This is why Octfolio will automatically detect which asbestos registers require updating, automatically scheduling and managing the re-inspection process for you.
Event Tracking (Inspections, Regulation Changes, etc.)
Octfolio digital asbestos register allows contractors to view the results of your previous asbestos inspections, as well as your workplace’s asbestos regulations all in one central online database. They can then use this information to inform their approach towards their contracted work for you.
Field Data Collection
Octfolio’s asbestos field data collection functionality works both online and offline. This means that your contractors can record asbestos data no matter where it might be. The use of predefined drop down fields and platform-based data collection mechanisms dramatically speeds up the collection of information on site and reduces the potential for human data entry errors.
What is the best contractor management software?
The best asbestos software for assessors, auditors and consultants is Octfolio. That’s because Octfolio's asbestos software has all of the tools and features that these professionals would need in order to conduct a thorough examination of a business and their asbestos portfolio.
