Checklist - Contractors and Mutual Aid

Category 17 audits the safety of work the department does not do with its own members but is still responsible for: contractors on its stations and training grounds, the safety content of what it buys, the agreements under which other departments operate on its incidents and its members operate on theirs, services it has outsourced (fleet maintenance, PPE cleaning, dispatch, medical, breathing air), and visitors and the public inside its stations. The question in every item is whether the department has kept control of the hazard when it has handed off the work.

It leaves to other categories: the department’s own procurement of PPE and equipment to specification (category 8 for PPE; the Equipment Standards team in 06 Program Improvement Teams); the incident management system itself (category 12); and station fire and evacuation plans (category 15).

The CFAI column in the checklist crosswalks each item to the 10th edition performance indicator where one applies (CPSE, 2019); the 11th edition applies to agencies appearing before the Commission from 2027, and the crosswalk will be re-mapped then (CPSE, 2024).

1. Score D, I and E for each item 0 to 3, then derive the item score (01 Audit Program section 5).
2. Both-required evidence codes (D+I, D+O, O+I) need each type before I can exceed 1.
3. Weights C3, K2, S1; L items must score at least 2 or the category fails its legislated floor.
4. Category score = sum(weight x item score) / sum(weight x 3). Effectiveness index uses E.
5. Record a finding, owner and due date for every item below 3; every major nonconformity (P1 (Imminent) or P2 (Serious) by risk) and minor nonconformity (P3 (Moderate)) goes to the Corrective Action Register within five working days, with the due dates its priority sets.

Loop test. A member at a volunteer station reports on Monday that a roofing contractor is working above the apparatus bay with no fall protection and no sign-in. The station officer stops the work, rates it P1 and calls the facilities program manager the same hour; the fire chief and the JOHSC co-chairs are told within 24 hours. By Wednesday the contractor has a reviewed fall protection plan and has been oriented; by Friday the item is in the register with the corporate facilities contact named; within the month the prequalification file shows the breach; the member has heard back from the officer. Within the quarter the program team has checked every open contract at every station for the same gap.

Answer from observation or interview only; record the evidence.

1. Find a contractor working today at any station: were they oriented, signed in, working to a reviewed plan, and does the station officer know they are there?
2. Ask an incident commander to describe the last incident with a mutual aid crew: how were the visitors put into accountability, on what channel, and who would have gone in for them on a mayday?
3. Ask members whether they can raise a concern about a contractor, a purchase or a mutual aid partner and get an answer. Did they name a person and a response?

1. (Station officer) Who is on site today who is not a member? Show me the log.
2. (Contractor on site) Who oriented you, what did they tell you, and who would you tell if you had to stop?
3. (Facilities program manager) Show me the prequalification file and the safe work plan for the current highest-risk contract.
4. (Procurement) What happens when a lower-priced equivalent is offered for an item on the standard list?
5. (Equipment Standards team lead) Show me the last safety-sensitive purchase and its JOHSC consultation record.
6. (Incident commander) Walk me through the last mutual aid incident from the visiting crew’s arrival to their release.
7. (Logistics) Show me the service level agreement with the PPE cleaning provider and the last batch’s records against the garment file.
8. (Fleet) Show me this year’s pump, aerial and ladder test certificates and who did the tests.
9. (Observe) A contractor at work: fall protection, hot work controls, barriers, apparatus bay doors, sign-in.
10. (Observe) Receiving of a safety-critical delivery: label check, specification check, record.
11. (Everyone) Who would you tell if a contractor or a visiting crew did something unsafe, and what would happen?
12. (Everyone) What one thing about contractors, purchasing or mutual aid would you fix first?

This chapter relies on the following legal requirements, which differ by province and territory. Check your jurisdiction’s section on each topic page before adopting it.