Contracts independent contractor

Sponsor Monitoring. Another important oversight process to ensure quality, compliance, and subject safety, monitors may be employees of the sponsor s medical staff or a contract research organization, or may be independent contractors. In each... 

The Independent Contractor Agreement. Under this type of contract, the contractor is engaged to act as an independent entity, fully responsible for all actions taken during the execution of the work until acceptance by the Owner. 

A purchase order for a cabinet should include provision and funds for testing and certification of the unit after dehvety and setup but before final payment is made. Few, if any, vendors routinely make provision for this service or have their own personnel to do it. In order to avoid a potential conflict of interest, this should be arranged by the purchaser with an independent contractor. The cabinet vendor should be willing to delay payment of their invoice for a reasonable period to allow this to be done. This provision needs to be made in the purchase contract so that no misunderstanding will occur. There are training programs that teach how to perform the tests properly and there are firms or individual consultants available that will perform the tests at a reasonable fee. 

It is important to distinguish between contracts of service and contracts for services. The former describes the relationship between employer and employee while the latter is concerned with employing independent contractors to carry out certain specific tasks. Unfortunately it is not always easy to distinguish betwen the two and yet it is essential in order to determine the legal liabilities and responsibilities of the parties. This is particularly important in situations involving main contractors and subcontractors. The wording of the contract can place responsibility on any party but care should be taken to set this out clearly in the various contracts. If this is done then the parties involved can cover their responsibilities by obtaining insurance. 

In a contract of service it is said that a man is employed as part of the business whereas under a contract for services his work, although done for the business, is not integrated into it but is only accessory to it (Stevenson, Jordan and Harrison v. Macdonald and Evans " The Ready-mixed Concrete (South East) Ltd. v. The Minister of Pensions and National Insurance ). The distinction has serious repercussions on tortious liability for the general rule is that the employer is liable for the torts committed by his employees acting in the course of their employment, but he is not liable for the tortious behaviour of independent contractors. It must be stressed however that there are a number of exceptions to this basic rule. Even where an exception applies and the employer is liable to third parties, it may be that the contract will give the employer rights of reimbursement from the contractor. 

Initially the law is much the same as for employees. Thus, while a consultant is working for another, he or she is under an obligation to respect confidentiality and after the contract has been performed, the former consultant can be bound to continue to respect confidentiality either under the express or the implied terms of the contract. And, like an ex-employee, he or she cannot be bound to respect the confidentiality of information which has become part of his or her general knowledge and skill. But it is at this point that the law relating to employees and independent contractors may well diverge. 

From a legal perspective, safety and health professionals should be aware that there is a significant difference among and between the legal statuses of these individuals working at the job site. Independent contractors, as the name implies, work independently within a contractual relationship and contract, usually written, to perform specific work activities. Contractors are independent and usually paid by the job or activity. Contractors are responsible for their own workers compensation, insurance, wages, taxes, and other federal, state, and local requirements. Safety and health compliance at the worksite can be a provision within the written contact document. Safety and health professionals usually cannot discipline for failure to... 

Facilities available or underutilized. This is considered the least effective reason for manufacturing choice, but it regrettably seems to be the most prevalent. The history of the composite manufacturing business has been that an independent composite manufacturer would never be expected to reject a contract because of the lack of the optimum facilities or experienced personnel. The independent contractor would find a way to build it or would, in turn, subcontract. The same comment can be extended to most larger companies, such as the large aerospace manufacturers with adequate, but not infinite, facilities in house. Usually, the capital cost and overhead rate of a particular machine will be a strong consideration in the choosing process manufacturers do not want to see valuable machinery idle. 

Independent production contractors typically use their own equipment and employees to operate a pit, an entire mine, a preparation plant, or a mill for the owner of a lesomce, who often is not at the site. These kinds of independent contractors, sometimes called contract miners, may, in turn, hire other independent contractors to perform construction or services at the mine they are operating for an owner. 

Historically, the federal law applicable to contractor health and safety could be divided into two different categories. One set of principles governed contract mine operators. In contrast, independent contractors performing construction or services for the mine operator (rather than as the mine operator) were governed by a different set of rules as to legal responsibility and UabiUty. Whether those distinctions are still viable today remains to be seen, as discussed below. 

Contract Mine Operators (Independent Contractors Working as Mine Operators) In contrast to... 

Along with obvious terms such as work specifications, deadline for completion, price, and the way any dispute will be resolved—to name but a few—the written contract between an owner and an independent contractor should cover health and safety obligations, provisions that are particularly important in the mining context. For example, contract terms for work to be done by an independent contractor at a mine worksite often include these following health and safety subjects ... 

The next section discusses maintaining the relationship between an owner and an independent contractor in a manner to keep separate the independent contractor and the owner in reahty, as well as by contract. 

It should be emphasized, however, that it should not be considered control for an owner to require an independent contractor to submit periodic reports about safety and health compliance (or noncompliance), if the contract between the owner and the independent contractor requires such reports. Similarly, where the owner monitors the performance of the independent contractor, but does not direct the contractor s employees and does not direct when, where or how the work is to be done, the independence of the contractor should not be questioned. 

Some company activities can be compartmented and contracted out, as one way to deal with the up cycles, yet not creating an oversupply of people to deal with when the business cycle turns down. Some aspects of manufacturing can be handled on a contract basis, for example, polymer producers can utilize contract compounders, certain types of plant maintenance can be done by independent contractors, use contract trucking instead of or in addition to your own fleet, farm out molding work or decorating to other molders, use an outside payroll service, etc. 

Negligent employees and independent contractors may also be held liable in contract and in tort, but again the damages available will be limited by the individual s resources. The distinction between an employee and a contractor does not depend solely on whether the contract declares a worker to be an independent contractor. Each case will depend on its own facts but account will be taken of the ownership of equipment, the chance of profit and the risk of loss on the worker s part. 

This type of contract requires the operator to pay a fixed amount to the contractor upon completion of the well, while the contractor furnishes all the material and labour and handles the drilling operations independently. The difficulty with this approach Is to ensure that a quality well Is delivered to the company since the drilling contractor will want to drill as quickly and cheaply as possible. The contractor therefore should guarantee an agreed measurable quality standard for each well. The guarantee should specify remedial actions which will be implemented should a substandard well be delivered. 

Another way of overcoming some of the difficulties that can arise with the SBU organisational structure is for R D to be outside the business tube, acting as a contractor to the business unit This can be described as insourcing as opposed to outsourcing In this case, R D retains its functional independence, contracting out its services to the business unit, paid for on an as needs basis. The work is carried out physically within R D laboratories on behalf of the business unit. This is illustrated in Figure B5. 

Contractors under a contract for services, like employees, can be sned for breach of contract where they are shown not to have taken reasonable care in their dnties. In practice, however, because of their limited recoverable resources, it is far more likely that they will be dismissed. The position of contractors as independent for the purpose of prosecution for neghgence is complex. Independence implies that the contractor worked outside employer management and employer practice. This is rarely the case and contractors are treated by the law as employees. 

Once engineering is complete, the project moves to the field, and construction is contracted, preferably on lump sum basis. Schedule then becomes the prime responsibility of the construction contractor(s). However, the Project Manager must make independent progress evaluations to confirm that the work is proceeding according to schedule and no expediting action is required. 

It may be useful to supplement self-inspections with a quality audit A quality audit consists of an examination and assessment of all or part of a quality system with the specific purpose of improving it A quality audit is usually conducted by outside or independent specialists or a team designated by the management for this purpose. Such audits may also be extended to suppliers and contractors (see section 8, "Contract production and analysis"). 

An independent group of earthquake experts, outside of the project team, was formed to validate the earthquake re-evaluation of the buildings. CEA Nuclear Energy Direction, assisted by EDF is the Contracting Authority for this work, working with an industrial organization made up of the Novatome Direction of Framatome-ANP as Prime Contractor and manufacturers ... 

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