Risks in Subcontracting Work at Height – How to Protect Yourself Against the Most Common Problems

Outsourcing work at height to a subcontractor does not end your responsibility – in many situations, it only complicates it. An accident, property damage, a dispute over the scope of work completed – any of these scenarios can pull a general contractor into a costly, time-consuming dispute, even if, formally, “they weren’t his employees” and he had no direct involvement in the incident itself. Below are the most common, recurring risks in work-at-height subcontracting, and concrete ways to protect yourself against them effectively – before a real problem on site ever occurs.

Risk 1: A Subcontractor’s Accident on Your Site

Even if the technician working at height is formally employed by the subcontractor, the general contractor is responsible for providing a safe site, coordinating health and safety when several contractors work on one site, and passing on information about hazards specific to that location. A lack of such coordination can mean real shared liability for the general contractor, even with no direct fault whatsoever in the incident itself. We cover in more detail who is actually liable for a subcontractor’s accident in our article on who is liable for a subcontractor’s accident.

Risk 2: Gaps in Liability Insurance

A subcontractor’s liability policy may have a coverage limit that is disproportionate to the value of property in the work area, exclusions relating to work at height, or no extension covering further subcontractors if the company itself relies on subcontracting. These gaps in coverage almost always surface only when an actual loss occurs – exactly the moment when it is already far too late to renegotiate the policy’s terms. We have described the full list of questions to ask about policy scope in our article on liability insurance for a work-at-height company.

Risk 3: A Subcontractor Without Real Competence at Height

A national work-at-height OHS course is a legal requirement, but it is not the same as certification in rope access technique – the difference concerns things like redundancy in the belay system, assessment of anchor point load capacity, and rope rescue procedures. A company without real, verifiable certification (e.g. IRATA) may carry out the job somewhat more cheaply, but using methods that fall short of the standard expected by insurers, auditors, and, in the event of an inspection, the National Labour Inspectorate. We write more about the difference in our article on IRATA certification.

Risk 3b: The Subcontractor Sub-Subcontracts the Work Without Your Knowledge

It happens that the company you sign a contract with subcontracts the work out further, on its own – sometimes because it has no free crew, sometimes to cut costs. The problem arises when this further subcontractor does not hold the same certifications or insurance, and you only find out it exists after the fact. A contract clause requiring clear, written consent for any further subcontracting, together with an obligation to notify you of such a change in advance, effectively closes this particular gap already at the contract-signing stage.

Risk 3c: Equipment Without Current Periodic Inspections

Ropes, harnesses, descenders and belay devices have manufacturer-defined periodic inspection intervals and replacement schedules based on time in service or number of uses. A subcontractor who does not keep a record of these inspections, or who uses equipment considerably longer than the manufacturer recommends, puts at risk both its own workers and – indirectly – the general contractor who allowed such a company onto its site without verifying this element.

It is worth asking the subcontractor directly how it keeps records of equipment inspections and, for larger or longer jobs, requesting to see that register before work begins. A company that cannot produce it, or treats the question as excessive caution, is signalling that equipment condition is not treated as a priority.

Risk 4: An Unclear Scope of Liability in the Contract

Work-at-height subcontractor agreements sometimes contain clauses excluding the subcontractor’s liability for “unforeseen circumstances” – a phrase broad enough that, in practice, it is difficult to enforce compensation for most actual damage. Likewise, the absence of a clearly defined scope of work opens the door to disputes over exactly what was included in the job and what counted as “additional scope” requiring a separate quote.

Risk 4b: A Discrepancy Between the Design Documentation and the Actual Condition of the Site

With work at height involving the installation or repair of structures, it happens that the technical documentation handed to the subcontractor does not fully match the actual condition of the site – an element was modified earlier, the dimensions differ from the design, or a point that was supposed to be accessible is in practice blocked by another installation fitted after the documentation was drawn up. Continuing work on the basis of such a discrepancy without clarifying it carries the risk of an error whose consequences only surface later, sometimes after the entire project has been completed.

The safeguard is a clear contractual provision that the subcontractor is obliged to report any discrepancy noticed between the documentation and the actual condition before continuing work at that location, rather than deciding independently how to interpret it. This protects both parties – the subcontractor against accusations of working contrary to the design, and the general contractor against the consequences of an error stemming from outdated documentation.

Risk 5: Work Stoppages Due to Weather Conditions Without Clear Rules

Work at height depends on weather conditions – strong wind, ice, or heavy precipitation rule out safe working. Without rules agreed in advance (who decides to stop work, how it affects the schedule and settlement), it is easy to end up in a hard-to-resolve dispute over whether a given stoppage resulted from a real, objective hazard or from a subcontractor’s reluctance to work in less comfortable conditions.

A reliable subcontractor informs you of a decision to cancel work in advance, based on the forecast, rather than only on the morning of the planned day – this allows the general contractor to rearrange the schedule for the remaining crews in good time, instead of losing an entire day on site with no work done and no backup plan.

Risk 6: Missing As-Built Documentation

Without an acceptance protocol, photo documentation, and confirmation of the scope of work completed, it is difficult to prove what was actually done – which matters both for the final settlement with the subcontractor and for any dispute with the investor over the actual quality of the work.

Before-and-after photo documentation has additional value – it allows you to distinguish damage caused during the work from damage that already existed on the site beforehand. Without such a clear point of reference, it is difficult in practice to determine who is actually responsible for a defect noticed only after all the work has been completed.

Risk 7: Schedule Conflicts With Other Contractors on the Construction Site

If several crews are working on a site at the same time – crane, electrical, finishing – the absence of clearly defined zones and working hours for the height-access team leads to situations where one crew’s work blocks another, generating delays on both sides. This risk rarely stems from any company’s ill will – more often it comes from a lack of communication between the general contractor and the individual subcontractors about exactly who is working where and when at a given stage.

The safeguard here is a simple but consistently applied coordination mechanism – a short meeting or exchange of information before every stage where more than one crew is working on site, with a clear division of zones and hours. The cost of such coordination is negligible compared with the cost of a delay caused by a schedule conflict discovered only on site, once the crews are already blocking each other.

What to Do in the Event of an Actual Loss – Step by Step

When, despite these safeguards, a loss does occur – property damage, an accident, a dispute over the scope of work completed – it is worth knowing the basic procedure so you don’t waste time improvising at a stressful moment. The first step is to secure the site of the incident and photograph the actual condition before anything is moved or repaired. Next, gather all available documentation – the contract, protocols, correspondence relating to the scope of work – and report the incident to both the subcontractor and, where applicable, its liability insurer.

In the event of a dispute over scope or quality of execution, it is worth aiming for an amicable, on-site determination of the facts, with both parties present, before the dispute escalates into formal proceedings. Documentation gathered in line with the principles described in this article – protocols, before-and-after photos, a clearly defined scope in the contract – allows such a dispute to be resolved quickly in the vast majority of cases, without the need to involve lawyers or a court.

How to Protect Yourself – The Practical Minimum

• Thorough verification of the team’s certificates and current liability insurance before signing the contract, never after the fact.
• A written, precise agreement on the scope of work, the schedule, and clear rules for stopping work due to bad weather.
• A handover protocol for the work front and a detailed acceptance protocol once all work is completed.
• A clear contractual provision on the scope of liability for damages, with no clauses excluding general “unforeseen circumstances” left undefined.
• Regular, pre-agreed health and safety coordination whenever several different crews are working on site at the same time.

We have described the full checklist for choosing a subcontractor, including warning signs to watch for in a quote and contract, in our article on choosing a work-at-height subcontractor and in the article on red flags when choosing an industrial climbing company.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can a general contractor ever fully protect itself against the risks associated with a subcontractor?
It is not possible to eliminate the risk entirely, but consistently applying the safeguards described in this article – verification before signing the contract, clear provisions, documentation at every stage – significantly reduces both the likelihood of a problem and its consequences, should one occur despite everything.

Is it worth having a lawyer involved in every contract with a work-at-height subcontractor?
For larger, more complex contracts, it’s a reasonable investment, but many of the safeguards described here – protocols, verification checklists, a clear scope – can be implemented independently as a standard procedure, without involving a lawyer for every single job.

How long should documentation from a subcontractor’s work-at-height project be kept?
Given the statute-of-limitations periods for civil claims, it is worth keeping such documentation for at least several years, and for larger projects, until the end of the warranty period for the entire building.

What if the subcontractor refuses to sign a contract with the safeguards described in this article?
That is in itself a significant warning sign – a reliable, experienced work-at-height subcontractor usually has no problem with a clearly defined scope, documentation, and standard liability clauses, because it’s also in their own interest.

How We Approach This

We start every job with a clear, written agreement on scope, a complete set of documents, and rules for handling any change in conditions – before any crew sets foot on site. Check out the scope of our services or get in touch with us to discuss the details of a specific project and how we intend to protect both sides even before work begins.

We can also provide our documentation – team certificates, the equipment inspection register, our current liability policy – even before the first meeting, so that verification goes smoothly and doesn’t delay your project’s schedule.