Introduction to Fire Safety Management

8.4.13 Performance 
review
In order to confi rm the contractor has in fact carried out 
the work to a satisfactory standard and met the safety 
conditions, the client will need a formal procedure for 
reviewing the performance of the contractor against the 
contract specifi cation and conditions.
In the case of the safety conditions of the contract, 
this will involve both effective monitoring of the work in 
progress and a formal review on completion of the work.
Monitoring the contractor’s performance
As already stated, the degree of monitoring required 
would be dictated by the nature of the work. However, 
no matter how simple or low risk the work may be there 
will always be a need for monitoring in some form. The 
monitoring may be carried out by the project manage-
ment team or by the local staff in the area of the works.
In either case the staff carrying out the monitoring 
will need access to information regarding the extent of 
the work to be carried out and the methods of work to 
be followed in order to properly judge the actions of the 
contractor. This may require the staff given the task of 
overseeing the work to be provided with copies of the 
contractor’s method statements.
The procedure should include reporting channels for 
non-compliance issues and formal feedback of perform-
ance standards.
All client staff should be encouraged to observe the 
activities of contractors and report any circumstances 
they feel to be unsafe to the relevant person within their 
business area.
Formal review
On completion of the works, or at predetermined 
periods during contracts of long duration, the client 
should carry out a formal review of the performance of 
the contractor against the requirements of the contract 
and their own method statements.
This should include the health and safety perform-
ance of the contractor as well as the technical aspects 
of the works.
The formal review of performance should be used 
in determining the competence of the contractor to 
continue the contract and when letting future contracts.