What this is
What is a contractor approval record?
What is a contractor approval record?
A contractor approval record is the documented decision to allow a specific contractor onto a specific site for a specific scope of work, made after prequalification evidence has been gathered and reviewed. It is not the evidence itself; it is the decision that the evidence, taken together, is enough.
What has to be true before a contractor can be approved?
Prequalification complete, safety statistics and risk classification reviewed, insurance and workers' compensation verified, a written contract with safety requirements in place, site rules accepted, and stop-work authority extended. The record forces those checks to be answered in one place rather than assumed.
Who signs a contractor approval record?
The contract owner, who wants the work done, and a safety lead, whose signature is not routine. The two-signature requirement exists because the person who benefits from a contractor starting on time is a poor sole judge of whether the evidence is actually sufficient.
Scope
When is a contractor approval record required?
This record is the decision, made once the upstream evidence exists. Using it to gather that evidence, or to keep it current afterwards, produces a record nobody can defend at audit.
Use this template when
- Prequalification, safety statistics review and risk classification are all complete for this contractor
- A contractor has been risk-classified and needs a formal go or no-go decision before their first day on site
- The evidence set has changed materially enough that the existing approval no longer covers the intended scope
- A new site or scope is being added for a contractor already approved elsewhere
- A conditional approval's conditions have been satisfied and the record needs closing out to a clean decision
Do not use it for
- Contractor Prequalification Questionnaire, which collects the safety, insurance, training and performance evidence this record only checks for
- Contractor Risk Classification, which sets the risk tier this record consumes rather than assigns
- Contractor Site Induction, which is the site-specific briefing that happens after approval, not instead of it
- Insurance Certificate Record or Insurance Adequacy Review, which verify cover in detail; this record only checks verification occurred
- Contractor Performance Scorecard, which measures conduct after work starts, a different point in the lifecycle
Compliance mapping
Which ISO 45001 cl.8.1.4 requirements does this satisfy?
Contractor approval is the point where several general standards converge on one act: letting an external worker onto a controlled site. None prescribe the form of the record, but several require the decision to be evidenced and its criteria defined in advance.
| Clause | Requirement | Where it lands |
|---|---|---|
| ISO 45001 cl.8.1.4 | Coordinate procurement with contractors to identify hazards and control OH&S risk from their activities | Evidence gathered |
| ISO 45001 cl.8.1.4.2 | Establish criteria for selection of contractors and apply OH&S criteria in that selection | Decision |
| ISO 45001 cl.8.1.1 | Establish controls to eliminate hazards or reduce OH&S risk from externally provided processes and services | Evidence gathered |
| ISO 45001 cl.5.3 | Assign and communicate responsibility and authority for relevant roles in the OH&S system | Decision |
| ISO 45001 cl.7.5.3 | Documented information available and suitable for use, where and when needed | Decision |
| HSE MHSWR 1999 reg.5 | Effective arrangements for planning, organising, controlling and reviewing preventive measures | Contract terms |
| OSHA Multi-Employer Citation Policy CPL 02-00-124 | Controlling employer duty to take reasonable steps ensuring hazards are addressed before contracted work proceeds | Header |
What it does not cover
- Contractor Prequalification Questionnaire, which is the underlying evidence this record checks for rather than collects.
- Contractor Risk Classification, which sets the risk tier consumed here and is not reassessed by this record.
- Contractor Site Induction, which is the site-specific briefing required after approval, before the first task.
- Insurance Adequacy Review, which checks that cover levels match the risk of the work, beyond confirming a certificate exists.
- Contractor Performance Scorecard or Prequalification Renewal Record, which govern standing after approval, not the initial gate.
Global
Contractor Approval Record requirements by country
No jurisdiction prescribes a contractor approval record by name. What they converge on is a non-transferable host duty to control who is allowed to work, which is what this record is evidence of.
OSHA Multi-Employer Citation Policy CPL 02-00-124; 29 CFR 1910.119(h) where PSM-covered
Controlling and host employers can be cited for hazards affecting a contractor's employees and for failing to ensure known hazards are addressed.
An approval record with unverified evidence reads, after an incident, as proof the host knew what it did not check.
HSWA 1974 s.3; CDM Regulations 2015 reg.4; MHSWR 1999 reg.5
Duty extends to persons not in the employer's employment, and clients must satisfy themselves the work arrangements are suitable.
The approval is the documented point that satisfaction is claimed, and it needs to survive being tested afterwards.
ISO 45001 cl.8.1.4 and cl.8.1.4.2
Coordinated procurement processes and defined OH&S selection criteria are a certifiable requirement.
Auditors test whether the criteria were defined before the decision, not just whether a decision exists on file.
How to complete it
How to complete a contractor approval record, step by step
The fields are mostly Yes, No and dates, easy to complete and easy to complete badly. Four judgements decide whether the resulting approval is worth anything.
Approved Scope should name the work the evidence was assessed against, not restate Work Category. A refrigeration contractor approved for planned maintenance is not approved for breakdown work at height, and a scope field that repeats the category grants access the classification never covered.
Each evidence field is a claim about a record elsewhere. Confirming the linked ID resolves to an actual record takes minutes and is the entire value of Evidence gathered; skipping it turns the section into assumptions dressed as verification.
Approved with conditions and Conditional pending evidence both describe a gap between where the contractor is and needs to be. Record the condition in Conditions Of Approval with enough detail that someone else can later tell whether it was met, and set a date to check.
Added To Approved List and Security And Reception Notified are the fields that convert a decision into a control at the door. A signed approval that never updates the list, or is never told to reception, protects nothing.
What auditors find
Most common contractor approval record findings
Approval findings rarely turn up a contractor working with no approval at all. They turn up an approval signed on evidence nobody checked, or scoped wider than the evidence supports.
| Finding | Clause | What fixes it |
|---|---|---|
| Evidence gathered fields answered Yes with no Questionnaire ID, Review ID or Classification ID entered. | ISO 45001 cl.8.1.4 | Require the linked record ID before a Yes is accepted; a Yes with no ID counts as unverified. |
| Approved Scope left blank or copied verbatim from Work Category, granting access beyond assessed risk. | ISO 45001 cl.8.1.4.2 | Write the scope to the work the evidence covers, and re-approve for anything outside it. |
| Approval Decision recorded Approved with conditions, with the condition populated but no date or owner. | ISO 45001 cl.10.2 | Attach every condition to a date and an owner; an open condition with no closeout is a silent gap. |
| Added To Approved List marked Yes with no corresponding List ID, or the list never updated. | ISO 45001 cl.7.5.3 | Treat the approved list update as part of the approval, not a downstream task. |
| Security And Reception Notified marked Yes with no evidence it reached the gate. | OSHA Multi-Employer Citation Policy CPL 02-00-124 | Route the notification through a system security can query, not an unread message. |
| Approval signed by the contract owner alone; safety lead's Second Signature absent or backdated. | ISO 45001 cl.5.3 | Hold the record open until both signatures are present, so urgency is not the only voice. |
Case in point
Case in point: the approval that was correct on the day it was signed
A frozen storage site approved a refrigeration contractor for planned compressor maintenance. Prequalification, safety statistics and risk classification were complete and linked, insurance was verified, and the decision was Approved with conditions, the condition being a confined space entry certificate the lead technician was booked to sit the following month. Conditions Of Approval recorded this in one line. No date was set to check it.
Five months later the same technician entered a machine room to trace a refrigerant leak, a task under the site's confined space procedure. The certificate had never been obtained; the training provider cancelled the course and it was never rebooked. The investigation found the record exactly as written, condition and all, unresolved since the day it was signed. The fix was not a new process; it was a mandatory closeout date on every condition, checked before it lapsed rather than assumed once mentioned.
The template
The template, field by field
The form exactly as it installs. Every field, option, score and conditional rule is editable, and the links to other templates come with it.
4 sections
- Reference
- CON-004
- Archetype
- Record
- Record ID
- CAPP-2026-000
- Scoring
- Not scored
- Direction
- n/a
- Singleton
- No
- Basis
- ISO 45001 cl.8.1.4
- Links
- Links Vendor, Prequalification
- Tags
- Contractor, Approval
- Sections
- 4
- Fields
- 46
- Follow up fields
- 0
- Repeating sections
- 0
- Links out
- 11
Header
12 fieldsApproval ID*
Auto sequence. Format CAP-2026-000.
The record's own ID. Other templates point at this value.
Status*
Drives who this goes to next.
- Planned2 pts
- In progress2 pts
- Complete3 pts
- Deferred0 pts
- Open0 pts
- Closed3 pts
- Overdue0 pts
Date and Time*
Completed By*
Site*
Site ID*
Format SITE-000.
Links to FDN-001 Site ID
Contractor*
Vendor ID*
Format VEN-0000.
Links to FDN-005 Vendor ID
Work Category*
Mechanical, electrical, refrigeration, civil, cleaning, catering, transport, IT or professional services.
Risk Tier*
Set by the work they do, not by how big the company is.
- Low3 pts
- Medium2 pts
- High1 pt
- Very high0 pts
Contract Owner*
No Approval, No Access
The gate is at the door. Security and reception check this list before anybody is issued a pass, which is the only way approval actually means anything.
Evidence gathered
15 fieldsPrequalification Complete*
- Yes3 pts
- Partly1 pt
- No0 pts
Questionnaire ID
Links to CON-001 Questionnaire ID
Questionnaire Score
Safety Statistics Reviewed*
- Yes3 pts
- No0 pts
Review ID
Links to CON-002 Review ID
Risk Classification Complete*
- Yes3 pts
- No0 pts
Classification ID
Links to CON-003 Classification ID
Safety Program Reviewed*
- Yes3 pts
- No0 pts
Program Review ID
Links to CON-005 Review ID
Insurance Verified*
- Yes3 pts
- Partly1 pt
- No0 pts
Insurance Record ID
Links to CON-020 Record ID
Workers Compensation Clearance*
- Current3 pts
- Pending1 pt
- Not held0 pts
Clearance ID
Links to CON-021 Clearance ID
Subcontractor Declaration Received*
- Yes3 pts
- Not applicable3 pts
- No0 pts
Declaration ID
Links to CON-006 Declaration ID
Contract terms
6 fieldsWritten Contract In Place*
- Yes3 pts
- Purchase order only1 pt
- No0 pts
Safety Requirements In Contract*
Safety expectations written into the contract are enforceable. Verbal expectations are not.
- Yes3 pts
- Partly1 pt
- No0 pts
Indemnity Record ID
Links to CON-024 Record ID
Site Rules Accepted*
- Yes, signed3 pts
- Verbally1 pt
- No0 pts
Stop Work Authority Extended*
- Yes, explicitly3 pts
- Implied1 pt
- No0 pts
Escalation Route Agreed*
- Yes3 pts
- No0 pts
Decision
13 fieldsApproval Decision*
- Approved3 pts
- Approved with conditions2 pts
- Conditional pending evidence1 pt
- Declined0 pts
Approved Scope*
Conditions Of Approval
Valid From*
Valid Until*
Renewal Lead Time Months
Added To Approved List*
- Yes3 pts
- No0 pts
List ID
Links to CON-033 List ID
Security And Reception Notified*
- Yes3 pts
- No0 pts
Contract Owner*
Signature*
Safety Lead*
Second Signature*
CON-004 · record IDs look like CAPP-2026-000 · Links Vendor, Prequalification
Open in KnowellaRun it with agents
From a document you fill in to a programme that runs itself
The decision itself is usually sound. What fails is everything around it: the evidence ID nobody checked, the condition nobody dated, and the gate that never heard the approval was signed.
Checks that every evidence field carries a live linked record before an approval can be marked Approved, and pushes the decision through to the approved list automatically.
Holds the safety lead's queue for countersignature and flags any approval sitting on a single signature past a set number of days.
Tracks every open condition against its closeout date and raises it before Valid Until, rather than at the point someone notices it was never resolved.
Watches for the combinations that should not close: a Yes with no record ID, a condition with no date, or an approval never notified to security.
This template lives in KnowContractor — contractor management. Prequalification, approval, induction, permits and performance.
Meet KnowContractor→Glossary
Contractor Approval Record definitions and key terms
- Approved scope
- The specific work an approval covers, matching the work the evidence was assessed against rather than restating the general work category.
- Conditional approval
- An approval made subject to a stated gap being closed by a given date, valid only for as long as the condition remains tracked.
- Stop work authority
- The right, extended explicitly or implied, for any worker to halt work they believe is unsafe without waiting for permission.
- Approved contractor list
- The register security and reception check before issuing site access, which an approval only controls if kept current.
- Renewal lead time
- The months before an approval's expiry that renewal should start, set so a lapsed approval is never discovered at the gate.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about contractor approval record
Can approval be granted before prequalification fully completes?+
Only as Conditional pending evidence, naming exactly what is outstanding and by when. Treating a partial evidence set as a full Approved decision because the work is urgent is the most common way this record becomes indefensible.
Does one approval cover every site a contractor works at?+
No. Site is required for a reason: risk, induction and local rules differ by site, and an approval scoped to one location should not be read across to another without its own record.
What should trigger a new approval rather than an update?+
A material change: a different work category, a higher risk tier, a lapse in insurance or workers' compensation, or an expired Valid Until date. A new site contact does not need a fresh decision, but the record should say which happened.
Who decides Valid Until, and what sets the period?+
The contract owner and safety lead, jointly, based on risk tier and the renewal cycle. Higher risk work carries shorter validity, so the next look happens before conditions drift.
What happens when a condition is never closed out?+
The approval should be treated as never having fully cleared, and the work it covers should stop until the condition is met or the scope is reduced. An unresolved condition with work continuing is an approval in name only.
Is a verbal go-ahead acceptable while the record catches up?+
No. The record exists because a verbal go-ahead cannot be checked at the gate or audited, and obliges nobody to have reviewed the evidence. If the decision cannot wait for the record, the record has failed its only job.
Keep going
Related templates and programmes
Industries this is written for
Programmes this belongs to
Used together in Contractor Onboarding and Management
Contractor Prequalification Questionnaire
Collects a contractor's safety, insurance, training and performance information before they are approved
Contractor Safety Statistics Review
Reviews a contractor's injury rates, citations and experience modifier over recent years
Contractor Risk Classification
Classifies a contractor by the risk of the work they do, from low risk services to high risk construction
Contractor Safety Program Review
Reviews the contractor's own written safety programme against your requirements
Subcontractor Declaration
Records any subcontractors a contractor intends to use
Prequalification Renewal Record
Renews a contractor's prequalification before it expires
More in Prequalification
Contractor Prequalification Questionnaire
Collects a contractor's safety, insurance, training and performance information before they are approved
Contractor Safety Statistics Review
Reviews a contractor's injury rates, citations and experience modifier over recent years
Contractor Risk Classification
Classifies a contractor by the risk of the work they do, from low risk services to high risk construction
Contractor Safety Program Review
Reviews the contractor's own written safety programme against your requirements
Subcontractor Declaration
Records any subcontractors a contractor intends to use
Prequalification Renewal Record
Renews a contractor's prequalification before it expires
Written and reviewed by
Siddarth Singh
Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Knowella
Certified Safety Professional and industrial and systems engineer with more than a decade inside food supply chain, freight and manufacturing operations. This page was written against the current text of the standards it cites, not against secondary summaries of them.
- Certified Safety Professional (CSP), Board of Certified Safety Professionals
- MBA, University of Chicago Booth School of Business
- MS and BS, The Ohio State University, Industrial and Systems Engineering
- Six Sigma Black Belt
Sources and last review. Reviewed 16 August 2026 against:
- ISO 45001:2018 clauses 8.1.4, 8.1.1 and 5.3
- Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, regulation 5 (GB)
- OSHA Multi-Employer Citation Policy, CPL 02-00-124 (US)
- Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015, regulation 4 (GB)
This page is general guidance, not legal advice. Confirm requirements with your jurisdiction’s regulator.