Diocesan Approved Contractors

Diocesan Approved Contractors

Diocesan Policy 6.5 requires parishes to use Diocesan approved contractors in all instances, noting there is also a process to assess parish nominated contractors. There are several reasons the policy specifies this requirement:

• Noting the new WHS Act means that duty holders may become liable for any illness, injury or death caused by their actions, there is a very strong desire to protect parish councils and individual wardens. This is in part achieved though the diocese approving all contractors used for parish maintenance and ensuring they meet minimum standards for insurance (public liability and workers compensation), compliance (licencing) and quality of work.
• Because most of the buildings we own are public buildings, there are higher expectations on us to ensure they are safe and compliant. This means that we need to ensure that contractors are properly licenced, and the quality of work is of an appropriate to this higher standard.
• A fair portion of our repair bills are insurance related. In these instances, the insurer appropriately reserves the right to accept or decline liability for the repair and to approve the contractor undertaking the repair, given they are paying for it.
• The Diocesan Office manages repairs and maintenance grant funding. Similarly, in these instances, the Diocesan Office appropriately reserves the right to approve the contractor undertaking the work.
• By ensuring contractors have appropriate public liability and workers compensation insurance, we keep our own insurance premiums as low as possible.

Contractors may be added to the panel by emailing their details to the PPT, who will then confirm their insurance and licencing requirements. A flow chart view of this is provided in the Nomination of Preferred Contractors Process.