First Compliance FAQ

In most any procurement process there are several documents that are commonly requested. Whether you submit directly to your client or to a verification service like Avetta, or ISNetworld®, these documents are usually required prior to beginning work.

The most popular and most important would be the Certificate of Insurance. This is a simple matter of liability so that in the event of a fender bender or a serious injury, your client wants to know that you’ll be covered for any incident. Coverage limits vary from client to client and could also depend on the services or products you provide.

Another Insurance related document that is typically required would be the EMR letter. EMR stands for Experience Modification Rate and is issued by your insurance provider in the form of a letter. Although the formula is quite complicated, the EMR is best explained as an estimate of the risk your company presents based on past injury claims and the safety performance of all companies within your industry. It may help you to understand that an EMR of 1.0 is considered to be an average within your industry, therefore, a rate below 1.0 means that your company represents a ‘below average’ risk.

The last common documents required would be your OSHA 300 logs. Although OSHA regulations only require a company to record injuries if you have 10 or more employees, most verification service will require you to submit them regardless of the amount of employees you have. You will be required to submit the past 3 years of OSHA logs.

Often there may be other documents to submit related to client specific requirements like MSAs or other specific agreements but that varies from client to client.

When a client chooses to use a verification service to manage and approve their contractors and suppliers, they have typically signed a contractual agreement with that service. That means that anyone performing work, or providing services and products must become a member of that service. It is also important to note that there are usually fees involved with these types of memberships. There are few exceptions but there are exceptions. These exceptions are commonly referred to as Variances. A client may grant a variance in situations where the compliance of strict qualifications may not be necessary.

Absolutely! There are many new companies who join verification services like ISNetworld® and Avetta. Some are prompted to do so because of a job opportunity and some just because they know that the majority of their potential clients will require it. Typically, a verification service will ask for 3 years of documentation related to OSHA logs and EMR Letters which, of course, as a new company you will not have. Not to worry! Although this may affect your grade a bit, in most cases a passing grade can be still be achieved.

Pre-qualification is the act of being pre-qualified to do work for a client by means of verifying safety programs, insurance, and any other criteria needed. A lot of larger companies are using systems like ISNetworld®, Avetta, Gold Shovel Standard, and many others to pre-qualify their contractors before working. For them, this is a cost savings, but may not necessarily mean the same for you. You may find yourself having worked for a customer for many years and they are now requiring you to join a system to be qualified and continue working with them. We understand how that can become frustrating. A lot of our customers found themselves in this same situation and we were there to help them through it.

Typically you will receive a letter from your client telling you to continue business you will need to sign up and become qualified through whichever contractor management system they utilize. These can include but not limited to ISNetworld®, Avetta, and many others. Every contractor typically has to provide the same information no matter which system you have to use. Every contractor needs to provide:

• • full safety program/HSE Manual
• • Complete a technical questionnaire(s)
• • submit insurance records
• • submit workers compensation records
• • submit data for OSHA/OH&S recordkeeping
• • list out services provided

These are the most common requirements within all of these types of accounts for pre-qualification. There are clients that may require more of you or maybe not as much, but this hopefully gives a good sense as to what to expect when going through these processes.

Here at First Compliance we have many years experience dealing with these types of systems. Some of us used to be in the same shoes as you needing to sign your company up for systems like these. That is what makes us so qualified to help you! We offer services tailored to meet the needs of any pre-qualification account you may need to be approved on.

Working with you we set up every portion of your account needed to get into compliance and we will do all the leg work in tracking down needed documents. We consider ourselves experts and we are here to help you. To learn more on how we can help assist with your accounts you can click here or request a quote below.

The Occupational Health and Safety Act of 1970 (OSH Act) was signed into law by Richard Nixon. In four decades since the (OSH Act) was signed, the nation has made dramatic progress in reducing the work-related deaths and injuries. Fatalities have decreased by 65 percent. Reported Injury and Illnesses have decreased by 67 percent.

Over the last few years, the stringency for compliance has increased for all industries. For example; to install a porta-potty, or put up a fence around the perimeter, and even delivering to a location) a grade requirement is necessary with systems like ISNetworld®, Avetta and others.

Compliance with these systems has proven to be effective for the Oil and Gas Industry and now more industries have adopted this program, as well. This is why you may get more and more request from current and potential clients to sign up with these services