Best Practise Guide

1. General

   When arranging the hire of an item it is important to consider a number of important issues and for both parties to agree clearly defined areas of responsibility.

   The first and most important point to understand is that the hire agreement is between the supplier and the customer. contak is not involved in the agreement.

2. A Contract

   It is strongly recommended that a written agreement is entered into by both parties. This is not an onerous task and should be viewed as part and parcel of taking part in contak activity.

   A sample contract framework is available by clicking here. You should download this framework and amend it to suit the circumstances of any particular agreement. Once agreed, both parties should sign it and each retain a copy.

3. Insurance

   Insurance is likely to be an important part of any hire agreement. We are currently looking at ways of facilitating conveniently arranged insurance for all contak users - details on how to make use of this will be available from the contak website as soon as suitable arrangements are in place. In the meantime we would recommend that either the customer or the supplier make independent arrangements, and that this is stated in the hire contract.

4. Health & Safety

   The legal responsibilities of both parties are currently being looked at by English Nature's Health & Safety Advisors - their advice will be reported here when available.

   In the meantime contak advises you to adopt the following principles:

   • The adequate training and certification of operators and all other personnel involved is the responsibility of the user.
   • The supplier should check and satisfy him/herself that the user complies with the above requirement.
   • In the event of an item being hired with an operator the responsibility for adequate Training and Certification lies with the supplier.
   • Where applicable, machines and equipment will only be hired to certificated operators (e.g. herbicide applicators).
   • Risk Assessments are a valuable tool for reducing the dangers and risks associated with any activity. Straightforward and helpful information, dispelling many of the myths surrounding risk assessments, is available from http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg163.pdf. A short cartoon video explaining the principles of risk assessment can be viewed by clicking here.
   • contak recommends that all customers and suppliers carry out appropriate risk assessments.
   • Machine specific risk assessments may be available from contak, along with the details contained on the database for each item, if provided by the supplier.
   • The customer or user should also carry out a site/task based risk assessment.
   • All machinery, equipment and tools should be supplied with the operators manual and an up to date service record where applicable.
5. Machine Movement

   The responsibility for uplift and return will normally rest with the customer and this can be agreed as part of the hire contract - details of hauliers offering such services can be found by clicking here. Inclusion in the database does not confer a recommendation from contak.