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In today's utility business, contractors perform the largest share of work in new construction, replacement and - sometimes - maintenance. This heightens everyone's need for cooperation to assure safety and to control quality.
Contractors and their utility clients operate under different business models due to the fact that contractors are not directly regulated under pipeline safety regulations while the utilities are regulated by federal and state pipeline safety regulations and rates. This difference in the way business is conducted often results in a difference in the way safety and quality are viewed and managed by contractors.
On the one hand, many contractors operate so as to meet their minimum - and only their minimum - requirements. On the other hand, some contractors conform their safety and quality practices to the regulated requirements governing the utilities. These contractors operate in lock-step with the utilities.
Many contractors have a culture of minimum "compliance." Then, there are contractors - so-called best-value contractors -who exhibit a culture of discipline and a commitment to personal responsibility.
Let us consider the historical model of contractor selection. The pre-qualification of contractors who will be allowed to bid work increases the utility's likelihood of getting better crews on the project. In the historical system, most utilities - with some exceptions - have a qualification process in which the contractor is asked to submit requested information to a central point (Figure 1). The submitted data from the contractor includes:
* OSHA Reportable Incident Rate/Total Incident Rate (TIR),
* Total Lost Time (TLT).
* Recordable Cases/Total Reported Cases (TRC).
* Days Away, Restricted or Transferred Duty (DART).
* Contractors Insurance Modifier Rate (IMR).
* OSHA Citations,
* Contractor's Safety Program,
* Safety Manuals and Procedures.
A major issue in this historical process is that these submitted contractor manuals and policies rarely get updated and - normally - they are not even seen or used by the utility operating group.
Contractors that meet the minimum customer requirements at this point are permitted to bid on the customer's projects. Qualification, in the utility's eyes, means that any contractor on the bid list is on a level playing field and any differences become just pricing (i.e. just low price, not best total cost). Upon selection, the contractor is...