Civil Engineer Expert

Written by Barbara Mulhern

For Roger Friede, saving more than $12,000 per employee in workers’ compensation premium costs over the past ten years only partially explains his strong commitment to safety.

How Your Construction Company Can Make Safety Pay

Friede, president of Friede & Associates, LLC, a thirty-employee commercial construction firm in Reedsburg, WI, says what drives him the most in emphasizing safety is that “I don’t ever want to have to explain to somebody why that person’s father or husband isn’t coming home that night.”

On May 15, 2009, Friede’s company, which has never had a job-related fatality, celebrated six and a half years with no lost-time incidents. In an industry where serious hazards are an everyday part of the job, Friede & Associates’ example shows that making safety part of your company’s corporate culture can significantly reduce costs and save lives.

“Most people look at small businesses and see safety as being challenging because of resource issues. This is understandable. They are resource limited,” said Mei-Li Lin, executive director of research and statistical services at the National Safety Council. “However, small businesses are a lot more sensitive to safety and health outcomes. If there is an injury, they do not have the luxury of having somebody to replace the injured person. Also, every loss has a huge impact on small businesses.”

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Abstract

Risk Management and Control

Any large scale projects involve certain risks and that is true of software projects. Risk management is an emerging area that aims to address the problem of identifying and managing the risks associated with the software projects.

The basic motivation of having risk management is to avoid disasters of heavy losses. The current interest in risk management is due to the fact that the history of software development projects is full of major and minor failures. A large percentage of projects have run considerably over budget and behind schedule, and many of them have been abandoned midway. It is now argued that many of these failures were due to the fact that the risks were not identified and managed properly.

Risk management is an important area, particularly for large projects. Like any management activity, proper planning of that activity is central to success.

Risk Management Overview

Risk is defined as an exposure to the chance of injury or loss. That is, risk implies that there is a possibility that something negative may happen. In the context of software projects, negative implies that there is an adverse effect on cost, quality, or schedule. Risk management is the area that tries to ensure that the impact of risks on cost, quality, and schedule is minimal.

Like configuration management which minimizes the impact of change, risk management minimizes the impact of risks.

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How to Manage Complex Project?

Complexity of the any project can be reduced by making clear project plan and visualization of the project. To manage the complex project you can make it visual. The more visual you can make the project, and the process of achieving the targets, the more likely it is that each task will be completed on schedule and to the standards you have set. You manage the project by measuring people’s progress toward their individual targets.

The law is “Inspect what you expect from the project.” Never take for granted anything. Remember, Murphy’s Laws were developed by people managing projects of various sizes. You should keep in your mind some of these laws – “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong”, “However much you budget it will cost more than you expect”, “However long you allow it will take longer than you thought”. Eradicate all the things that can go wrong, the worst possible thing will go wrong at the worst possible time. And, of course, you’ve heard the consequence to Murphy’s Laws.

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Environmental Compliance Assistance

Starting a new construction project and not sure which environmental rules might apply or whether or not you need a permit? At one time, these were tough questions, but searching for environmental regulations and assistance has become much easier since the establishment of the web-based Construction Industry Compliance Assistance (CICA) Center (www.CICACenter.org). CICA Center, which is supported by funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), helps the construction industry identify and comply with applicable environmental regulations, including both federal and state rules. All of the resources hosted on CICA Center are free of charge.

CICA Center was launched in 2002 and has been continually adding new information. The center now covers nearly every federal and state environmental rule applicable to the construction industry, including stormwater, construction and demolition debris, wetlands and hazardous waste, just to mention a few. The center is operated by the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences (NCMS), located in Ann Arbor, MI. NCMS has drawn on the knowledge of several trade groups and many state environmental agencies to assist in developing and maintaining CICA Center.

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Construction Industry Appealing

I cut my teeth in construction as a carpenter apprentice in my teens. I then moved up the ranks as a carpenter, superintendent, project manager and a chief estimator. Then, I earned an MBA-and still stay fully connected to the industry. Why do I stay with the most cyclical, hyper-competitive industry in America? Because being a builder is more than a job-it can be a calling. Few industries share the arts, design, hard sciences and economics like this one does. I like to think of construction encompassing three distinct components or “verticals”-each no more important than the other: the art of building (design), the science of building and the business of building.

The Art of Building

From the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, to the complexity of a Frank Gehry design, to the beautiful simplicity of well-done craftsman details, buildings are an expression of art. I like to think that each time we create a thoughtful space, we are clarifying man’s ingenuity and ability to adapt his environment to his surroundings. In addition to providing shelter like the early homes of humans, today’s public and private spaces can often create emotion and a sense of well-being as well. Monuments are built to look at. Yet, the structures we build are not passive monuments meant to gaze upon, but instead are active monuments through which and in which we live. Our structures not only provide shelter, but they also help express our ingenuity and capabilities and serve as lasting monuments to our creativity.

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Are your company vehicles incidental or primary to the business? Do they cost too much money to operate or are they actually a benefit to your overall business operations?

Construction Vehicles: Assets or Liabilities?

There are two distinct groups of company vehicles-primary and incidental. The primary vehicles are those that can be used to generate income for your business by being able to establish charges for their usage, which is billed to the customer. Incidental fleets or vehicles are those units that generate no operating charges, yet are essential for company personnel to conduct business, such as those company-owned vehicles that are assigned to job foremen, superintendents, project engineers, sales, maintenance staff or material delivery personnel.

These vehicles may be costing your company more than the fuel, insurance and upkeep that it takes to maintain them. Did you know that in addition to the normal expected costs, job-related vehicle accidents are the leading cause of work-related fatalities and lost-time injuries, which cost companies millions of dollars in additional expenses? Your company may have a safety program in place with policies and procedures intended to protect your employees from workplace hazards and exposures related to the job activities associated with your operations. But does your company safety program, or risk control measures, address the necessary steps to afford the same level of controls and protection for the company vehicles that are provided to employees in order to carry out their day-to-day activities?

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Low Cost Ways to Improve Construction Safety

Unfortunately, in today’s economic climate many construction companies face diminishing revenues and uncertain future. As a result, budgets tighten and many initiatives, including those for safety, are put on hold or cut. However, it’s important to realize that significant safety improvement does not require substantial investment.

To be effective, safety must be managed like any other company function, regardless of economic conditions. Safety, quality and productivity must be held in constructive tension with one another. Focus on just any two and the third suffers. When production and quality control budgets are adjusted, the safety budget must be equally affected. Balance is the proven driving force behind success.

In searching for the most effective and time-tested method of improving safety, the traditional process found in all safety programs is based on compliance. Focus is on the minimum safe standards established by OSHA or industry best practices.

Focusing on compliance, the safety program stands alone, and safety is seen in the field as “something else we have to do.” Construction personnel, management and crafts-level employees are paid based on performance. When employees choose between productivity and safety, safety loses.
A New Foundation

Successful safety efforts must begin with active involvement of craft-level personnel with activities that are meaningful to the individual. Increasing employee participation in the safety process is the common denominator of sustained, continuous improvement efforts. This is the antithesis of the management by decree or directive methodology. It is also my experience that, although widely used, the directive method is the least productive.

Consider the following example, and ask yourself which has the potential for long-lasting change.

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