Safety and Wellness “Accelerated Schedules”

Construction: Safety and Wellness “Accelerated Schedules”

At a recent frontline supervisor training specifically dedicated to leading ‘safety’ as a foreman or leadman, we discussed the relationship between an accelerated schedule and site safety.  No matter how great the site leadership, how knowledgeable the site safety managers or how engaged the craft worker, there can’t help but be some level of impact when the message is “we are going to work longer hours and we need to get this done…and safely!”.  It is a given that workers will get tired, there is a higher potential for near hits and incidents, and even the most engaged employees can experience lower morale.

What does this have to do with Wellness?  Accelerated schedules, as well as all construction projects, require that our skilled apprentices, journeymen and front line supervisors are feeling their best and making decisions with a clear head. OSHA would tell us that all incidents are preventable, but we know that there are sometimes those that are out of our control.  However, to avoid those that we can control, site leaders might want to consider the following:

  • Communicate clearly and often about Safety and Wellness: Awareness is the key to avoiding any near hit or incident. Starting the day out with a Safety Talk that speaks to the specific job, referring often to JHAs, JSAs, STAs and other job/task hazard and mitigation documents, and ensuring employees are working safely by walking the jobsite and engaging with workers will raise awareness exponentially.
  • Acknowledge that there is a potential for higher incidents during aggressive schedules…and why: We often think that our employees are only motivated by money, which may accompany an accelerated schedule as overtime. However, acknowledging an aggressive schedule and sharing the impacts on employees, can be motivating as well.  We can’t change what needs to be done but acknowledging it and thanking the crew for their hard work will go a long way.
  • Encourage and empower all employees to report ‘near hits’: Recently a safety consultant shared that an organization with a high percentage of reported ‘near hits’ demonstrates a strong safety culture. Encouraging workers to report their near hits is an opportunity for growth and learning during any construction project.  For those that are working ‘longer, harder, faster’ truthful reporting allows the site management to see and address early any trends that may be showing up on the site.  An early ‘root cause analysis’, with appropriate redirection, can mean the difference between safety and a near hit. Or worse, an incident or fatality!
  • Address employee ‘wellness’ directly: A safety talk doesn’t have to be about the job. It can be a talk on heat exhaustion/stroke or frost bite.  It can also be on topics such as ‘fatigue’ and dehydration, both symptoms that can show up as your workers are maxed out.  Asking crew members to watch out for each other facilitates a strong team environment. If a worker is working ‘fatigued’, he/she can be as impaired as if taking drugs or coming to work drunk or hungover.  Ensuring that all crews are physically and emotionally ‘well’ during times when projects are accelerated is key to both safety and production.

Safety and employee wellness are partners in strong and successful safety cultures.  EAPs (Employee Assistance Plans), programs for addictions and smoking cessation, and ‘Health Awareness’ programs are all tools to support and ensure that workers have access to being safe and well every day.

Technology and Social Media: Powerful Tools for LPR

The construction industry has the reputation of being a hard hat, hands-on, trade specific and ‘blue collar’ business.  Many ironworkers, when asked why they do the work they do, will talk about a time when they started as a laborer, got up on some steel, and they were hooked.  One of our apprentices who just completed his NCCER apprentice training, becoming a full journeyman, shared his thoughts:

“Oh boy!!! The feeling you get watching pieces fly into your position to connect.  The feet, the miles of weld you lay.  The feeling of being the baddest trade ever to step onto any construction site.  The feeling of other trades watching you as you’re 10 feet or 400 feet off the ground.  That is the feeling like no other.  Being an Ironworker is not for everybody.  But those who are, are incredible human beings.”

But even though construction continues to be the choice of hard working people, interested in building with their hands and being proud of a finished product that they can point to, they are finding a place and purpose for tablets and software, as well as for Facebook and Yammer.

Many companies have issued iPads and tablets to their foremen and other field leaders in an effort to bring technology into the business.  Some have done it better than others.  The organizations that have provided the hardware but have had little to no training on the software and its purpose, have found that the devices ride around in the back of the truck, while notebooks, spreadsheets and plans sit on the front seat, dusty and stained with dirt, signs that they are highly utilized by the company.  Other companies are purposeful about the software that they choose and use.  They provide comprehensive training and there is an expectation that the field will shift to the new programs.  These are the companies that no longer have offices full of rolled up plans or paper timecards.

At LPR our foremen are issued tablets with software such as PlanGrid and Mobile Field Manager.  These programs are just a few of the applications that allow foremen to instantly access plans while out on the site and allow real time input of employee hours.  We also issue these devices to our craft mentors, who provide on-site guidance and training for our field apprentices. Our craft training model relies on access to NCCER ‘book-skill work’ on our LMS (learning management system) and mentors can utilize the tablets to support apprentices in access to their e-learning, as well as reinforce concepts and skills that are more knowledge than performance based.  In addition the mentor can review his/her mentee’s OJT hours to ensure they are having the opportunity to get the work that will move them along in their programs.  Laptops, tablets and access to smart phones allow all employees in the company to hear a quarterly ‘State of the Company’ update from our company president.

Although social media is not new, identifying a productive application of these ‘open’ communication tools has been challenging in all businesses but especially for the construction industry.  Posting updates on Facebook and LinkedIn may seem without purpose but the feedback and exposure gained from sharing our projects and the great things about our employees has been validating. LPR is also using ‘texts’ as a way to immediately communicate with the whole company, as well as individual groups such as our craft tradesmen.  Consistent and informative updates through texting helps to bridge what can be a communication chasm between corporate and the project sites.  Employees at every level can be better informed and hear a consistent message or update, improving the level of employee engagement and the feeling of being bigger than the whole.

Next steps for LPR involve the ‘Yammer’ technology platform, with the hopes of providing an open communication forum for anyone working with LPR.  Every employee will have the opportunity to provide company feedback, comment on questions posted and have the opportunity to create groups or ‘small communities’ where the sharing of ideas can be done in real time.  Implementing a system where there is open conversation relinquishes a level of company control over information and messaging, but allows for open and candid conversation within the company.  As a result, we hope to be able to communicate better within all divisions and provide updates and new initiatives to all employees.