What this is
What is a contractor suspension record?
What is a contractor suspension record?
It is the formal record of a decision to stop a contractor working: an individual worker, a specific work package, or the whole contractor across the site. It captures the trigger, the scope, the authority, the immediate actions taken to make things safe, the business consequences accepted, and the conditions to be met before work resumes. It is a governance document, not an investigation.
How does a suspension differ from revoking access?
Revoking access is one of the actions a suspension causes. The suspension is the decision and its reasoning; the revocation is the step that makes it effective on the gate, the badge and the permit system. They are separate records because access is often revoked for reasons carrying no performance judgement, such as a completed job, and because a suspension is worthless if the access record does not follow the same day.
Who has authority to suspend a contractor?
Whoever your organisation has assigned that authority to in writing, which is the point of naming the decider on the record. Stop-work authority for imminent danger needs to sit with anyone on site; suspending a whole contractor across a business usually needs senior management, because it commits the organisation commercially. Confusing the two produces either paralysis at the point of danger or a supervisor unilaterally ending a group supply arrangement.
Scope
When is a contractor suspension record required?
This record covers the decision to stop a contractor and the terms of their return. Its neighbours cover the evidence for the decision, the mechanics of enforcing it, and the list that actually gates the gate. Collapsing them into one record is how suspensions become unenforceable.
Use this template when
- A serious breach, a refusal to comply, or imminent danger warrants stopping a contractor's work immediately
- An investigation has shown the contractor's arrangements inadequate rather than one worker's conduct poor
- Repeated audit or inspection findings have not been corrected and the escalation ladder has run out
- A prequalification condition has lapsed or failed: insurance, workers compensation cover, licence, credential or an undeclared subcontractor on site
- A contractor must be prevented from re-engagement elsewhere in the business while the matter is open
Do not use it for
- The safety breach itself, which belongs in Contractor Safety Violation Record; that record is the evidence and this one is the consequence
- The event that prompted it, which belongs in Contractor Incident Record; an incident case must never be written as though it carried authority to suspend
- Taking badges, keys and permit rights away, which belongs in Access Revocation Record and must be raised the same day and referenced here
- Changing the status procurement and site security actually read, which belongs in Approved Contractor List; that list is the control and this record only its justification
- Ending the contract, a legal act under the contract terms; a suspension pauses work and preserves the relationship, and dressing a termination as one weakens both
Compliance mapping
Which ISO 45001 cl.8.1.4 requirements does this satisfy?
No standard tells you to suspend a contractor. What they require is that OH&S criteria govern how contractors are engaged, that authority for such decisions is assigned and communicated, and that an external provider is re-evaluated on evidence before work resumes. Suspension is the instrument through which those requirements bite.
| Clause | Requirement | Where it lands |
|---|---|---|
| ISO 45001 cl.8.1.4.2 | Coordination of procurement processes with contractors and application of OH&S criteria to their selection and continued engagement | Header |
| ISO 45001 cl.5.3 | Responsibilities and authorities assigned, documented and communicated, including who may stop work and who may suspend a supplier | Header |
| ISO 45001 cl.9.1.2 | Evaluation of compliance with legal and other requirements, including the OH&S conditions the contractor accepted | Reason |
| ISO 45001 cl.8.1.2 | Elimination of hazards and reduction of OH&S risk, the highest control being removal of the activity from the workplace | Immediate actions |
| OSHA 5(a)(1) | General Duty Clause obligation to keep the workplace free of recognised hazards, irrespective of production or schedule consequence | Business impact |
| ISO 45001 cl.10.2 | Corrective action addressing the cause so that the nonconformity does not recur, with effectiveness reviewed before closure | Conditions for reinstatement |
| ISO 9001 cl.8.4.1 | Criteria for the evaluation, selection, monitoring of performance and re-evaluation of external providers, with the results retained | Reinstatement |
What it does not cover
- Access Revocation Record, which is the operational act of withdrawing badges, keys, system accounts and permit rights, and which must be raised and referenced rather than assumed.
- Approved Contractor List, which is the control that stops the contractor being engaged again; a suspension that does not change the list entry stops nobody outside the room where it was decided.
- Contractor Safety Violation Record, which holds the breach, its evidence and the repeat-offence history that makes the suspension proportionate.
- The contractor's root cause analysis and corrective action, which you require, review and accept but do not perform; requiring it is a condition, and doing it for them removes their ownership of the fix.
- Contract suspension or termination notice, which is a legal instrument under the contract with its own notice periods and remedies, and which this OH&S record supports but does not constitute.
Global
Contractor Suspension Record requirements by country
Suspension is rarely a named legal duty. It is the mechanism by which host duties get discharged: removing a recognised hazard, verifying arrangements, and keeping a workplace safe for people who are not your employees. Regulators ask why work continued, not why it stopped.
OSH Act 5(a)(1) and section 13 imminent danger provisions; Multi-Employer Citation Policy CPL 02-00-124
The controlling employer is expected to exercise reasonable care to detect and correct hazards created by others, up to removing them from the site.
A host that knew of a hazard and let a contractor continue is exposed as the controlling employer, which makes this record the primary evidence that reasonable care was exercised.
Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 s.3; CDM 2015 reg.8
Duty to persons other than employees, with an explicit duty not to appoint or retain a contractor lacking the skills, knowledge and experience for the work.
Retaining a contractor after their arrangements have been shown inadequate is itself a breach, so the suspension protects the host as much as it sanctions the contractor.
Framework Directive 89/391/EEC, Article 6(4)
Employers sharing a workplace must cooperate and coordinate protective measures, and outside undertakings must be given risk information before work begins.
Coordination duties are continuous, so a documented decision to stop and re-verify a contractor is the mechanism regulators expect rather than an exception to it.
Provincial OHS statutes; Ontario OHSA s.25(2)(h) reasonable precautions
Employers and constructors must take every precaution reasonable in the circumstances, with due diligence assessed on what was known and what was done about it.
Due diligence defences turn on the record of action after knowledge, so a dated decision with named authority and verified conditions is close to the archetype of the evidence required.
Model WHS Act ss.19 and 46
Primary duty extends to workers whose activities the business influences or directs, and duty holders must consult, cooperate and coordinate.
Influence over the contractor's work is itself the basis of the duty, so exercising it is expected, and the consultation obligation means the decision must be communicated rather than simply enforced.
ISO 45001 cl.8.1.4 with ISO 9001 cl.8.4.1
OH&S criteria in contractor engagement and coordination; defined criteria for the re-evaluation of external providers with results retained.
Auditors read suspension and reinstatement records together, and a reinstatement with no retained evidence of re-evaluation is a finding against the procurement control, not against the site.
How to complete it
How to complete a contractor suspension record, step by step
Suspending is the easy half, and the record makes it look like the whole job. Four judgements decide whether it holds when the contractor disputes it and the schedule starts to bite.
Individual worker, work package and whole contractor are three decisions with three different consequences. Suspend the smallest scope that removes the risk, and record why that boundary and not the next one out. A whole-contractor suspension over one operative's conduct invites a dispute you will lose, and suspending a single worker when the cause is the contractor's supervision or subcontracting practice leaves the hazard where it was.
Conditions written at the moment of decision are written against the risk. Conditions written later are written against the shutdown date, the penalty clause and engineering's opinion of the alternative supplier. Name the evidence, name the verifier, and require the contractor's own root cause analysis rather than their assurance. If you cannot write conditions that could be shown true, you have made a termination decision and should record it as one.
The form asks whether there is pressure to reinstate, and the tempting answer is none. Recording significant pressure is not an admission of weak governance; it is the trail showing the conditions were held despite it. Sites that record none and then reinstate early leave a file in which the reversal has no visible cause, which is the worst position available.
The suspension takes effect through the approved list, the gate, reception, the permit system and every other site in the group, not through this document. Update the list entry, raise the revocation record, notify security and reception, and tell the other sites the same day, because a contractor suspended at one site is very likely working at your others. Verify each of those rather than ticking them.
What auditors find
Most common contractor suspension record findings
Suspension findings cluster at the two ends: the decision never made operative, and the reinstatement never verified. The middle of the record is usually complete.
| Finding | Clause | What fixes it |
|---|---|---|
| Conditions for reinstatement recorded as a generality such as review procedures and improve supervision. | ISO 45001 cl.10.2 | Write each condition as a verifiable statement with the evidence and the verifier named on the record. |
| Contractor reinstated with conditions marked met on the strength of an assurance email. | ISO 9001 cl.8.4.1 | Require the named verifier to record what was examined before reinstatement can be set, and retain it. |
| Approved list still shows the contractor as approved days after the suspension decision. | ISO 45001 cl.8.1.4.2 | Treat the list entry as the operative control and change it as part of the decision, not as follow-up. |
| Other sites in the group never notified; the same crew works on elsewhere under the same arrangements. | ISO 45001 cl.7.4 | Hold one group-level approved list and notify every site on the day the decision is taken. |
| Whole contractor suspended when the cause was a single worker's conduct, with no reasoning recorded. | ISO 45001 cl.8.1.4.2 | Set the scope to the smallest boundary that removes the risk and record why the wider scope was rejected. |
| Contractor informed verbally only; scope, grounds and conditions are not in writing. | ISO 45001 cl.7.4 | Issue the decision, its scope and its conditions in writing to the contractor's senior management the same day. |
| No review date set; the suspension has run for months with no decision either way. | ISO 45001 cl.10.2 | Set a review date at the point of suspension and force an outcome of reinstated or removed at it. |
| Authority to suspend undefined; the decision was taken by whoever happened to be on site. | ISO 45001 cl.5.3 | Assign stop-work and suspension authority by role, communicate it, and name the decider on every record. |
| Work continued in the area because access revocation was left pending and unlinked. | ISO 45001 cl.8.1.2 | Stop the work and revoke access before the record circulates, and link the revocation record ID. |
| Reinstated with no increased monitoring, so the return looks identical to business as usual. | ISO 9001 cl.8.4.1 | Apply and record heightened monitoring for a defined period, with the trigger for its removal stated. |
Case in point
Case in point: suspended on Friday, working on Monday
A four-site chilled foods group suspended an electrical contractor after one of their electricians was found working on a live distribution board in the pasteurising plant room, isolation padlock hanging open on his belt. The site manager stopped the work within the hour, made the area safe, raised the suspension as whole contractor effective immediately, revoked both badges, told reception and security, and wrote to the contractor's operations director the same afternoon. Conditions for reinstatement read: contractor to review live working policy and retrain staff.
Two things then happened. The following Monday the same crew were on the group's second site installing a packing line, because approved lists were maintained per site and other sites notified had been left blank on a Friday evening. And five weeks later, with the install slipping and no alternative electrical contractor prequalified, the operations director sent a two-page letter describing a revised policy and a toolbox talk. Conditions met was set to Yes, reinstated to Yes, the list restored. Nobody had seen a training record or asked which electricians attended.
The group's insurer found it nine months later while reviewing a different claim, and the question was not why the contractor had been suspended. It was what had been verified before letting them back. The suspension itself was exemplary: fast, proportionate, documented, signed. What it lacked was a group-level list one decision could change, and conditions specific enough that a letter could not satisfy them.
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.
7 sections
- Reference
- CON-035
- Archetype
- Record
- Record ID
- CSUS-2026-000
- Scoring
- Not scored
- Direction
- n/a
- Singleton
- No
- Basis
- ISO 45001 cl.8.1.4
- Links
- Links Vendor
- Tags
- Contractor, Governance
- Sections
- 7
- Fields
- 56
- Follow up fields
- 3
- Repeating sections
- 0
- Links out
- 6
Header
12 fieldsRecord ID*
Auto sequence. Format SUS-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
Act Fast, Document Properly
Suspension protects people immediately. Getting the record right protects the decision afterwards, when the contractor disputes it or the commercial pressure arrives.
Suspension Type*
Individual worker, work package, or whole contractor across the site.
Effective Immediately*
- Yes3 pts
- Delayed0 pts
Decided By*
Reason
6 fieldsTrigger*
Serious violation, incident, repeated findings, insurance lapse, credential failure or undeclared subcontractor.
Source Record ID
Immediate predecessor record
Description Of Reason*
Severity*
- Minor3 pts
- Moderate1 pt
- Serious0 pts
Imminent Danger Present*
- No2 pts
- Yes0 pts
Consistent With Policy*
- Yes3 pts
- Partly1 pt
- No0 pts
Immediate actions
9 fieldsWork Stopped*
- Not required3 pts
- Yes2 pts
- No0 pts
Area Made Safe*
- Yes3 pts
- Partly1 pt
- No0 pts
Access Revoked*
- Yes3 pts
- Pending1 pt
- No0 pts
Revocation Record ID
Links to CON-031 Record ID
Contractor Senior Management Informed*
- Yes3 pts
- No0 pts
Informed In Writing*
- Yes3 pts
- Verbal only1 pt
- No0 pts
Approved List Updated*
- Yes3 pts
- No0 pts
Security And Reception Notified*
- Yes3 pts
- No0 pts
Other Sites Notified
A contractor suspended here is likely working at your other sites too.
- Yes3 pts
- Not applicable3 pts
- No0 pts
Business impact
4 fieldsCritical Work Affected*
- No3 pts
- Yes0 pts
Alternative Contractor Available*
- Yes3 pts
- Limited1 pt
- No0 pts
Production Impact
- None3 pts
- Minor1 pt
- Significant0 pts
Commercial Pressure To Reinstate*
Record it honestly. Pressure to reinstate before conditions are met is the most common way suspensions fail.
- None3 pts
- Some1 pt
- Significant0 pts
Conditions for reinstatement
7 fieldsConditions Defined*
Root Cause Required From Contractor*
- Yes3 pts
- No0 pts
Corrective Actions Required*
- Yes3 pts
- No0 pts
Reinduction Or Retraining Required*
- Yes3 pts
- Not needed2 pts
- No0 pts
Verification Required Before Return*
- Yes3 pts
- No0 pts
Minimum Suspension Period
Review Date*
Related records
2 fieldsApproved List ID
The list entry being suspended.
Links to CON-033 List ID
Scope Record ID
The scope affected by the suspension.
Links to CON-034 Record ID
Reinstatement
16 fieldsConditions Met
- Yes3 pts
- Partly1 pt
- No0 pts
Verified By
Reinstated
- Yes3 pts
- Not yet1 pt
- No0 pts
Reinstatement Date
Conditions On Return
Increased Monitoring Applied
- Yes3 pts
- No0 pts
Not Reinstated And Removed
Approved List Updated On Outcome*
- Yes3 pts
- No0 pts
Action Required*
Raise the action record, then enter its reference here.
- No2 pts
- Yes0 pts
Priority
- High0 pts
- Medium1 pt
- Low3 pts
CAPA ID
Format CAPA-2026-00000.
Links to FDN-014 CAPA ID
Action Owner
Site Manager*
Signature*
Safety Lead*
Second Signature*
CON-035 · record IDs look like CSUS-2026-000 · Links Vendor
Open in KnowellaRun it with agents
From a document you fill in to a programme that runs itself
The decision is rarely the weak point. What fails is the list that still says approved, the second site nobody told, the condition that could never be tested, and the review date that passed without anybody answering for it.
Changes the vendor status at the decision and holds the suspension, revocation, scope and list entries as one chain across every site.
Carries the stop-work and imminent danger decision into the safety record, so the reason stays attached to the hazard and not only to the supplier.
Keeps the reinstatement evidence together, so the re-evaluation can be produced intact for an auditor or insurer months later.
Watches the review date, the unverified conditions and the pressure recorded against them, raising the case before commercial urgency decides it for you.
This template lives in KnowContractor — contractor management. Prequalification, approval, induction, permits and performance.
Meet KnowContractor→Glossary
Contractor Suspension Record definitions and key terms
- Suspension
- A decision to stop a contractor, work package or worker working, preserving the contractual relationship but removing the authority to be on site or on the task.
- Removal from the approved list
- The stronger outcome in which the contractor comes off the list of parties who may be engaged at all, which is what makes a decision effective beyond the site that took it.
- Stop-work authority
- The power to halt an activity immediately in the face of danger, which should sit with anyone present and is not the authority to suspend a supplier.
- Imminent danger
- A condition where harm is reasonably certain before ordinary enforcement could act, which removes any question of proportionality from the decision to stop.
- Conditions for reinstatement
- The specific, verifiable statements that must be shown true before work resumes, written at the point of suspension, not the point of pressure.
- Reinstatement verification
- The act of examining named evidence against each condition by a named person, and the retained record of what was examined rather than what was claimed.
- Increased monitoring
- A defined period of heightened supervision, inspection or permit scrutiny after a return, with a stated trigger for ending it.
- Debarment
- Exclusion of a supplier from engagement for a stated period or indefinitely, used where reinstatement conditions cannot be set or have failed.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about contractor suspension record
Can we suspend one worker instead of the whole contractor?+
Yes, and it is usually right where the cause is that individual's conduct rather than the contractor's arrangements. Suspend the smallest scope that removes the risk and record the reasoning. The test is diagnostic: if a different worker from the same firm would have done the same thing, the problem is the firm's supervision, training or subcontracting, and an individual suspension will not touch it.
Does a suspension have to be in writing?+
The decision takes effect verbally and should; the record must follow the same day. Verbal-only suspensions fail predictably, in that the scope drifts. Their account becomes their electricians were stood down, yours becomes the whole firm was off site, and the difference surfaces in the dispute rather than the decision. Put scope, grounds, conditions and review date in writing to their senior management.
Is a suspension the same as terminating the contract?+
No, and blurring them costs you both. A suspension pauses work while conditions are met and keeps commercial remedies intact; a termination ends the relationship under the contract's notice provisions. If you cannot state conditions under which the contractor would return, you have decided to terminate, and recording that as a suspension leaves a live obligation nobody intends to honour.
What if there is no alternative contractor?+
Record it, and do not let it decide the outcome. A single-source contractor for critical work is a supply risk that should have surfaced long before the suspension, and the honest entry against alternative contractor available is what forces that conversation. What single-sourcing can legitimately change is scope: suspending one work package while permitting closely supervised work on another is defensible. Reinstating early because nobody else can do it is not.
Who should verify that the conditions have been met?+
Somebody other than the person under pressure to get work restarted. The contract owner is the wrong verifier, and so is the engineering manager waiting on the line install. Name the verifier at the point of suspension, typically the safety lead or an independent site function, and require them to record what they examined rather than that they were satisfied.
How long can a suspension stay open?+
As long as the conditions remain unmet, but never without a review date. Suspensions that drift become de facto removals with no decision behind them: no notice to the contractor, no closure of the list entry, and a vendor record that says nothing useful when the same firm is proposed elsewhere. Force an outcome at the review date: reinstated, extended with reasons, or removed.
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 Approval Record
Records the decision to approve a contractor to work on site
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
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, 8.1.2, 5.3, 7.4, 9.1.2 and 10.2
- ISO 9001:2015 clause 8.4.1, control of externally provided processes, products and services
- OSH Act s.5(a)(1) General Duty Clause and s.13 imminent danger provisions (US)
- Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 s.3, with CDM 2015 reg.8 (GB)
- Model WHS Act ss.19 and 46 (Australia)
This page is general guidance, not legal advice. Confirm requirements with your jurisdiction’s regulator.