Virtual contractor and visitor induction: what it is and what Colombian law requires

What contractor and visitor induction is

Induction is when the company explains to people coming from outside how work is done in its facilities: what hazards exist on site, how they’re controlled, which internal rules apply, and what to do if an emergency occurs. It’s given to contractors and their workers, to suppliers who come in to provide a service, and to visitors.

It comes before entry for a practical reason: the information only protects people if they have it before they’re exposed to the risk. That’s why Colombian regulations refer to an induction “before the start of their work” and to informing contractors “before the start of the contract.”

Virtual induction doesn’t change that content. It changes the timing and the channel: the person watches the material and takes the assessment before arriving, and at the entrance the only check is whether they passed and whether it’s still valid.

What Colombian regulations say about induction

The foundation is Decree 1072 of 2015, the single regulatory decree for the labor sector (Decreto Único Reglamentario del Sector Trabajo), in the chapter on the OHS management system (SG-SST, Sistema de Gestión de la Seguridad y Salud en el Trabajo). Four articles address the subject directly.

The same article 2.2.4.6.28 requires reviewing contractor staff turnover during the year and making sure new personnel receive the same information. It also requires verifying, before work starts and periodically, enrollment in the General Occupational Risk System (Sistema General de Riesgos Laborales), a topic covered in the guide to contractor social security.

Resolution 0312 of 2019 from the Ministry of Labor, which sets the minimum standards for the SG-SST, includes a standard called “Induction and re-induction in OHS” (Inducción y reinducción en SST) in the table for companies with more than fifty workers and for those with fifty or fewer classified at risk level IV or V. That standard requires induction and re-induction to be part of the training program, to be aimed at all workers regardless of how they’re engaged or hired, and to take place before they start work. Compliance is checked by reviewing each worker’s supporting records. Smaller companies have their own tables of standards in the same resolution.

What a contractor induction should cover

Article 2.2.4.6.28 sets a floor: the general and specific hazards and risks of the work area, including routine and non-routine high-risk tasks, how to control them, and the emergency prevention and response measures. It also requires instructing contractors on their duty to report suspected occupational accidents and illnesses that occur while the contract is in force. On that basis, a typical induction includes:

• Site hazards and risks: the general ones for the facility and the specific ones for the area where the person will work.
• Controls: how each risk is controlled, including the high-risk tasks performed on site.
• Internal rules: restricted areas, vehicle and pedestrian traffic, hours, and work permits where they apply.
• Personal protective equipment: what’s required in each area and who provides it.
• Emergencies: evacuation routes, assembly points, alarms, and whom to follow.
• Reporting: whom to notify of an incident, an accident, or an unsafe condition, and through which channel.

What the regulation lists is the minimum; each company defines the rest based on its hazards. A chemical plant and a corporate office don’t have the same induction, and an induction copied from another company doesn’t describe the risks of your own site.

Contractor induction and visitor induction: how they differ

The two share a purpose but not a scope. A contractor will perform work inside the facility and is exposed to the risks of that task. A visitor comes in for a meeting, an audit, or a delivery, moves through common areas, and is almost always escorted.

When virtual induction makes sense, and when it doesn’t

General induction (facility hazards, rules, emergencies, reporting) is information that’s the same for every person who arrives. It’s the clearest case for online delivery: the content is recorded once, delivered before entry, and each person leaves evidence that they watched it and answered the assessment.

It also has an operational advantage: it takes induction out of the gatehouse. When the briefing is given on arrival, a crew’s entry waits until someone is available to give it. When it was done beforehand, the entrance only checks the result.

When it isn’t enough

Online delivery has limits. Induction for a specific position or a high-risk task may require hands-on training, on-site supervision, or certified training with its own regulations, and that training isn’t replaced by a video and an assessment. The same applies when the risk depends on conditions that can only be seen on site.

Whoever is responsible for the SG-SST decides which part of the induction can be done remotely and which requires being there in person. Article 2.2.4.6.11 also requires training to be documented and delivered by qualified personnel under the regulations in force, whatever the channel.

How to prove the induction took place

An induction without evidence is hard to prove months later, when an audit asks for it or an accident has to be investigated. Proof usually has five pieces:

1. Assessment Questions on the content, with a minimum passing percentage the company defines
2. Certificate The individual record proving that the person passed, and on what date
3. Validity period How long the induction is considered valid before it has to be repeated
4. Re-induction Repeating it when the validity period ends, or sooner if the hazards or the person’s job change
5. Record Who completed it, when, and with what result: it’s part of the SG-SST records

Induction as a condition of entry

The last step is connecting induction to access control. An entry-restrictive induction works like a restrictive document: anyone who hasn’t passed it, or whose induction has expired, doesn’t get in, even if their social security, certificates, and the rest of their file are complete. Without that connection, the induction becomes just another file, and the decision at the gatehouse is made without knowing whether the person received the information.

Which documents to require from each contractor and how to keep track of their validity are topics of their own: they’re covered in the guide to the document requirements matrix and in the guide to contractor document expirations.

Induction delivery can run in a system

Part of all this is pure operations: sending the material, giving the assessment, grading it, issuing the certificate, knowing when it expires, and matching the result against entry. It’s the part most often lost in spreadsheets and emails when contractors number in the hundreds.

In NAVA 360, third-party induction is set up with its topic, its description, the minimum passing percentage, and its expiration frequency, and it can be marked as entry-restrictive: a third party that hasn’t completed it doesn’t get in, even if its documents are complete. For each element, the system calculates the inductions completed indicator, completed versus assigned. In NAVA ID, visitor induction is part of the visit flow: the visitor watches the video, takes a configurable assessment, and downloads their certificate, and the person in charge reviews that certificate along with the documents before approving or rejecting the visit.

Ongoing training for your own employees is a separate process from third-party induction: NAVA handles it over WhatsApp with NAVA Skills.