Use cases

Contractor compliance in Cohiva Control

In short

Cohiva Control enforces a contractor-compliance gate that no one can click past. A contractor with expired, missing or unverified public liability insurance, a trade licence or a site induction cannot be assigned to a work order. The block is a hard 422 at the API level with no override, not a warning, and the required document set is configurable while the enforcement itself is not.

Contractor compliance in Cohiva Control

Most maintenance systems treat contractor compliance as a reminder: a flag, a colour, a note that someone should really check the insurance. Cohiva Control treats it as a rule. A contractor who is not compliant cannot be assigned to a work order, full stop. This page explains how the gate works and why making it a hard block, rather than a warning, is the whole point.

What the gate checks

Before a contractor can be assigned to a work order, Cohiva Control checks their compliance documents. The required set typically includes public liability insurance, a relevant trade licence and a site induction, and for each one the gate asks three questions: is it present, is it current, and has it been verified. A document that is missing, expired or unverified fails the check. A contractor who fails any required check is not eligible to be assigned that work.

A hard block, not a warning

The crucial design decision is that the gate is enforced, not advised. When an assignment would put a non-compliant contractor on a work order, the system refuses it with a hard 422 at the API level. There is no override, not even for an administrator. The assignment does not go through with a warning attached; it simply does not go through.

This matters because warnings fail at exactly the moment they are needed. A supervisor under pressure to get a job done will click past an amber flag, and the times that happens are the times an uninsured contractor ends up on site. By making the block a hard rule at the API, Cohiva Control removes that option. The decision about whether a contractor is compliant is made by their documents, not by how busy the person assigning the work happens to be.

Configurable documents, fixed enforcement

Operations differ, so the required document set is configurable. You decide which documents your contractors must hold, and you can reflect the requirements of your sites and trades. What you cannot configure is whether the gate is enforced. The list of required documents is yours to set; the rule that a non-compliant contractor cannot be assigned is constant. That separation is deliberate: it lets the gate fit your business without letting anyone quietly turn it off.

Where the gate sits

The check runs before every contractor assignment, as part of the same work order flow as everything else. A work order moves through its server-enforced state machine, and assignment to a contractor is one of the points where the gate applies. Because the block is at the API rather than only in the interface, it holds regardless of how the assignment is attempted.

How it supports your obligations

A contractor-compliance gate does not, on its own, satisfy your legal obligations, and Cohiva Control does not claim that it does. What it does is enforce the policy you set: it helps you comply with your own contractor requirements and supports your obligations by making it impossible to assign work to a contractor who fails your checks. The evidence sits in the system, in the documents and in the append-only history, so you can show that the rule was applied.

Why it matters

The risk with contractors is concentrated and serious: an uninsured or unlicensed contractor on site is a liability and a safety exposure. A reminder does not manage that risk, because reminders get ignored. A hard, non-overridable gate does, by turning the policy into something the system enforces every time, automatically, regardless of pressure. That is the value of treating compliance as a rule rather than a suggestion.

Part of the Cohiva platform

Cohiva Control is part of the Cohiva platform. Leisure operators often run it with Cohiva Complex, and finance teams connect it to Cohiva Crunch for the general ledger. Explore the platform at www.cohiva.app.

Frequently asked questions

What does the contractor-compliance gate check?
Whether a contractor has the required documents, such as public liability insurance, a trade licence and a site induction, and whether each is present, current and verified. A contractor failing any required check cannot be assigned to a work order.
Can a manager override the block?
No. The block is a hard 422 at the API level with no override, not even for an administrator. It is enforcement, not a warning that someone can dismiss under time pressure.
What if the required documents differ by site or trade?
The required document set is configurable, so you can set which documents are needed for your operation. What is not configurable is whether the rule is enforced; the gate always blocks a non-compliant assignment.
What does a 422 mean here?
It is the API's way of refusing the assignment because the contractor does not meet the compliance requirements. The assignment simply does not go through, rather than going through with a flag.
Why enforce it rather than warn?
Because a warning is the thing a busy supervisor clicks past. Making the gate a hard block removes the option to assign an uninsured or unlicensed contractor under pressure, which is exactly when warnings get ignored.