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ISNETWORLD Part II: Why You Need To Know

May 7th, 2018

In Part I we told you what ISN is, where the ISN scores come from and why those scores are valuable. Now here are the caveats.

Many contractors and service providers are discovering that inadequate or outdated safety programs, higher-than-industry injury rates, or regulatory compliance problems cause their pre-screening score to fall below the acceptable minimum for the hiring firm. Often, much like personal credit problems adversely affecting an individual’s credit score, the impact from previous safety issues or incidents will linger for several years, driving down the firm’s score. These contractors often find themselves on the outside looking in, and wondering how to increase their pre-screening scores and potentially be allowed to bid on jobs again. 

One of the best ways to help increase your company’s pre-screening score is to re-evaluate and update your safety program. Hiring companies tend to strongly weigh the potential contractor’s safety program. Does your company have a robust, thorough accident and incident investigation process? Does your company have a process for its employees to report and quickly address safety issues? Does your company keep its safety programs up-to-date with changes in OSHA regulations, for example in bloodborne pathogens, combustible dust, silica exposure, or recent changes in the walking-working surfaces regulations?

Improving your firms’ safety program works on multiple levels; just having a safety program established or upgraded will tend to directly improve your pre-screening scores with the various vetting companies. More importantly, however, having strong safety programs will reduce your company’s accident and injury rates over time. Fewer employee injuries is not only the right thing to target for basic humanitarian reasons, it has been shown in multiple studies to improve the company’s bottom line and will significantly improve your firm’s pre-screening scores.

James W. Darrow, PhD, CHMM, FMP Senior Environmental, Health & Safety Manager at HRP Associates, Inc.