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Occupational health and safety and Sustainable development questionnaires

Hydro-Québec promotes best practices in occupational health and safety (OHS) and sustainable development (SD) in order to strengthen the supply chain and ensure it is more focused on social responsibility.​

Increasingly, standardized OHS and SD questionnaires will therefore be included in tender calls or requests for supplier qualifications, either as a valorization criterion or as an eligibility criterion.​

Advantages of this initiative​

  • Encouraging bidders to create a safe environment that is focused on sustainable development​
  • Rewarding the efforts made by bidders regarding occupational health and safety and sustainable development​
  • Informing bidders of the steps to take to improve occupational health and safety and sustainable development practices

On this page:

Types of criteria

The OHS and SD questionnaires can be included in tender calls or requests for supplier qualifications either as a valorization criterion or as an eligibility criterion. What’s the difference?

Valorization criterion

This criterion is optional. Based on the score they receive by completing the questionnaire (OHS or SD), suppliers will be able to improve their bid or their qualification package in accordance with the percentage assigned to the criteria (OHS or SD).

Eligibility criterion

This criterion is mandatory. If suppliers do not provide a validated report or score, their bid or qualification package will be considered non-compliant and will be rejected.

Please note

To find out if the questionnaire represents a valorization or eligibility criterion, please refer to the Information and Instructions for Prospective Bidders section of the tender call document or the Information and Instructions for Interested Bidders to Qualify section of the request for qualifications document.

The questionnaires

To provide information on their practices, suppliers must fill out the questionnaires and provide certain documents on the platform operated by our external partner Alcumus SafeContractor (formerly Cognibox). To help you prepare your file and forward the required supporting documents, the content of the questionnaires is available for consultation below.

Important note

For each SD/OHS practice declared in these questionnaires, you will be asked to provide official supporting documents, which will then be validated by the external partner. These documents must be submitted in French, unless the provisions of the Charter of the French Language allow you to use another language.​

Target markets

Occupational health and safety

The OHS questionnaire is gradually being included as an eligibility criterion for service markets where a high or moderate risk has been identified, generally involving work or physical installation by the supplier on a Hydro‑Québec site.

From October 2024, the OHS questionnaire will become an eligibility criterion without a passing score on all these markets; suppliers will have to include a validated questionnaire in their proposal, but the score obtained will not be eliminatory.

From July 2025, it will be progressively integrated as an eligibility criterion with a passing score: suppliers will not only have to include a validated questionnaire in their proposal, but also obtain a minimum score of 70%, otherwise their bid will be considered non-compliant. In January 2026, all the following markets will be subject to this criterion.

Please note that the lists below are not exhaustive; the OHS questionnaire can be included in other tender calls according to the activities involved in the contract

Sustainable development

As of January 2024, the SD questionnaire will gradually be included as a valorization criterion in all tender calls pertaining to goods and services (with a few exceptions).

Procedure

Step 1: Register on the SafeContractor platform.

  1. Log in to your company's Supplier Space.
  2. Consult the Supplier Record.
  3. Under the Identification heading, find the Register with SafeContractor section (see screenshot)​
  4. Click on Access SafeContractor form, fill it out and send it in. The external partner will contact you to continue the process.
    Please note Make sure you use the same profile as the one in the Supplier Space and have your Québec enterprise number (NEQ) on hand.
  5. Pay the annual subscription fee to have access to the SafeContractor platform. The subscription cost depends on the size of your company.​
    Note: The external partner will take into account existing subscriptions with other hiring clients, where applicable (see cost grid [PDF 469 kB]).

Step 2: Fill out the questionnaire.

  1. Choose the select the assessment area for which you wish to obtain a score: OHS or SD.​
  2. Answer the questions and submit all required supporting documents.
    Reminder: All supporting documents must be presented in French (unless the provisions of the Charter of the French Language allow you to use another language).
  3. Click on Submit my file once you have filled out the questionnaire or modified your responses on the questionnaire.

  4. If the supporting documents are not accepted, you can change your answer to the question or upload another supporting document.
    Notes : Remember to submit your file again after making your changes.
    The validation criteria for the supporting documents are specified under the questions. Allow 24 hours for access requests and 48 hours to validate your file (business days). Feel free to consult the How to fill in the OHS and SD questionnaires [PDF 944 kB] - in French only] task aid.

Step 3: Obtain the validated assessment report.

  1. Once your file has been assessed, you’ll receive an email with your score.
  2. You will then be able to download your assessment report.
    Note : Make sure the score was validated by the external partner and that the status indicates that your company is qualified.
  3. Once you have downloaded the assessment report, attach it to your qualification package or send it to the RFP manager if your company is already a qualified supplier.

SafeContractor, the assessment platform!

The SafeContractor platform is used to evaluate the OHS and SD questionnaires. Do you have questions about the procedure or do you need support in using the platform? Click on the link below to have all of your questions answered:

Learn more about SafeContractor

Learn more

Hydro‑Québec regularly organizes online information sessions to present the procedure. Save the date(s) in your diary and click on the link to access the session!

  • Date of next sessions: to come

See also the following contents:

SafeContractor also offers information sessions, open to all, on our questionnaires: access the calendar and search for « Coffee Break 8: Hydro‑Québec, SD and OHS questionnaires ».

If you have any questions after consulting this page and these documents, you can also contact:

How can we help you?

Do you have any questions? Contact us.

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