To what extent can and should a company be held to account for the choices of those who may be several links removed? When a serious issue has been brought to a company s attention, are its managers obliged to address it, even if it involves the subcontractor of a subcontractor?

After attacks on 19 and 20 May resulted in the deaths of 11 national staff of Chemonics, a subcontractor for an alternative livelihood programme, in Zabol province, the company suspended its activities.

The authors draw attention to paragraph 19, eighth sentence, of the OECD Commentary which reads If an enterprise (general contractor) which has undertaken the performance of a comprehensive projects subcontracts parts of such a project to other enterprises (subcontractors), the period spent by a subcontractor working on the building site must be considered as being time spent by the general contractor on the building project (emphasis added).