The Occupational Safety and Health Administration states that establishing a safety and health program is one of the most effective ways of protecting workers. The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Standard Programs and Processes (SPP) 18.004, Contractor Safety Management, establishes the contractor safety program and defines oversight requirements for managed task contractors and subcontractors working on TVA-owned-or-controlled sites to meet state and federal safety and health regulations.
TVA-SPP-18.004 outlines several contract pre-mobilization requirements, including requiring all contractors to submit a Site-Specific Safety and Health Plan (SSSHP), which should adequately identify hazards inherent to the work environment and address safe-work practices based on the scope of work identified in the contract. In addition, the process requires (1) a TVA Contractor Oversight Representative (COR) be assigned as the single point of contact for providing appropriate technical direction and oversight of work performed by each contractor and (2) TVA Safety to conduct audits of contractor safety performance. Due to the importance of the health and safety of personnel working at TVA sites, we performed an evaluation of TVA’s oversight of contractor safety.
We determined TVA was not providing adequate oversight of contractor safety in accordance with the contractor safety program. While some oversight was provided through tracking and trending of contractor safety performance, there were several areas that were not adequate. Specifically, TVA (1) could not provide completed SSSHPs for some contracts, (2) could not identify the COR for most of the contracts we reviewed or provide documentation that some of their responsibilities were being performed, and (3) did not perform safety audits as required.
