The Injury-Free Construction Site and the Foreman: An Underutilized Resource
in the Safety Process
March 2007
The ultimate goal of the safety function is
to assist in creating a safe work environment for the organization's employees.
by Peter
G. Furst
Liberty
Mutual Group
Traditionally, this means complying with the organization's safety program.
Generally all safety programs have the same fundamental elements. These elements
reflect the accepted safety practices as well as the national safety standards.
A further refinement or improvement in this area might be the inclusion of specific
elements in the program that address unique needs of the organization. These
additional elements may include a substance abuse program, a fleet program,
a modified duty program, a wellness program, lifestyle interventions, incentives,
etc., to name a few.
Generally, safety is treated as a stand-alone program, and is in all likelihood
"owned" by the safety department. They then become the champions of the process
and work to get results. This separation from operations also tends to focus
on the worker in trying to accomplish better safety outcomes and in creating
a safer work environment. The traditional interventions have been rewriting
or modifying programs, training or retraining the workers, emphasizing certain
aspects of the program, setting up priorities, a greater emphasis on audits
and inspections, giving incentives, or enforcing disciplinary measures. These
interventions work to some extent but eventually they all "plateau," and we
know they do not achieve lasting improved results.
The Importance of Planning
One more reason for poor safety outcomes can be attributed to management's
failure to plan the work with safety in mind. And more importantly, when push
comes to shove, production trumps safety and safety needs. Construction jobs
are dynamic, and ever-changing. Planning is a necessary management tool and
is a key factor in contracting used to marshal and control resources: men, material,
and equipment. Safety is a managed process, just like any other in the construction
business. One would not dream of running the job without a plan; safety management
should also be treated with the same respect and diligence.
Planning is a critical element of the estimate, as an estimate cannot be
completed without a plan. Therefore, to set the stage for an injury-free work
environment, the estimate needs to address this important element in its assessments
of time, productivity, and pricing structure. The next step is for operations
to devise a tactical plan, and field operations to ensure that the safety plan
is carried out as part of the building process.
For the planning to be effective, the organization needs to broaden the traditional
approach to safety, which involves looking at hazards and exposures. To truly
achieve safe work, it needs to address risk. Risk management consists of the
logical process of identifying and analyzing loss exposures, examining alternative
techniques for dealing with these loss exposures, selecting the most promising
technique(s), as well as implementing and monitoring the results to see if,
in fact, the loss exposure has been dealt with most effectively. A comprehensive
risk management process not only looks at hazards and exposures to the worker,
but at all the risks that reside in field operations, in the tactical work plan,
in the means and methods employed to get the job done, as well as the processes
and procedures for executing the work.
So an integrated risk sensitive operational planning process, when applied
to the project delivery plan, will take a holistic approach to construction.
This kind of outside the box thinking will not only look to the worker for safe
performance, and the physical conditions in which the worker works, but to everything
under the control of management. The integration of risk management into the
strategic as well as tactical planning will effectively address the loss sources
and allow the contacting firm to approach the creation of an injury-fee work
environment in a systematic, objective way, while making the best decisions
given available information.
The Importance of Execution
Going back to the traditional safety approach, there is another area that
contributes to underperformance in safety, and that is in the area of execution.
Line management fails to adhere to the requirements of the safety program. It
allows workers to take shortcuts in the name of productivity. Line managers
may "look the other way" when "productive" workers do not follow good safe work
practices. All this may seem like it's benefiting the organization, but in the
long run, the negative results are much more detrimental and insidious in nature.
To create an injury-free work environment, operations must "own" safety and
safe work practices, and ensure that workers diligently follow the required
safety work practices.
The key position with the greatest impact in creating an injury-free work
environment in construction field operations is the person having direct oversight
of the work crews. That usually is the foreman. It is the foreman who is with
the crew most of the time and has the greatest opportunity to observe the workers'
behavior, and has the authority to direct the work and make necessary changes.
It is this person who should be held responsible to ensure that only safe work
practices will be allowed on the worksite, that proper planning and risk assessment
has been conducted, and that a safe work environment can and will be attained.
The Importance of the Foreman's Role
Building on this obvious conclusion, the next question is, is the foreman
capable of taking on this task. The foreman obviously will have to become fairly
familiar with the content of the safety program to be held accountable for the
safe work practices of the workers under his or her supervision.
Before the foreman is given the responsibility of managing the workers' safe
behavior, let's assess the foreman's capability to take this on. There are three
levels of expertise/experience in both the workforce and management. The workforce
stratification starts at the bottom with the unskilled worker (helper), the
semi-skilled worker (apprentice), and the skilled worker (journeyman). Management
starts with the line manager (supervisor/foreman), the middle manager (superintendent/project
manager), and senior management (executives). Within each group, advancement
in the ranks is a progression from the bottom to the top. The lowest level manager
(foreman) in construction traditionally came from "the trades" or the workforce.
Figure 1 provides a graphic illustrating this Work Hierarchy.
One becomes a supervisor (foreman) by being exceptionally good in doing one's
job as a "tradesman." The tradesman must be a good technician, know the skills
of the trade, be self-directed, productive, show initiative, and be a problem
solver, to name a few. The requisite skill set for a supervisor are these same
technical skills, as they must oversee other possibly less experienced tradesmen,
but they also need additional skills. A few important new skills required to
be a successful supervisor are planning, organizing, controlling, risk assessment,
administration, and human relations. These skills are not typically learned
while practicing one's trade.
The Importance of Management Training
Newly promoted supervisors in construction are usually not given any management
training. It is expected that they somehow can do this intuitively. Only a small
percentage, however, have the innate ability to seamlessly make the transition.
Most struggle to some extent, and some fail. No one would dream of tossing their
kids into a lake and ask them to swim across without training, protection, and
supervision, yet in industry, we routinely do this to our employees!
If we assume that almost all of our workers are reasonably rational individuals,
then the question is: Why do they sometimes act in such unpredictable ways?
A simple response to that is that people and their personalities and behaviors
are a product of their learning and life experiences. Though some of the employee's
actions may seem irrational to the supervisor, they are perfectly logical to
the worker. To really understand employees, the supervisor would be able to
fairly accurately predict the employee's reaction to criticism, the assignment
of a new task, or some change in operations or procedures. This is an important
part of the supervisor's job.
So, an important element in managing people is understanding the basics of
motivation. People strive to satisfy a hierarchy of five basic needs (Maslow's
theory), with the most elemental or compelling ones coming first.
Figure
2 illustrates these five basic needs. The first is the need to be,
and stay, alive (biological). To satisfy this need we eat, breath, sleep, see,
hear, etc. The next is the need to feel safe. We like to feel safe from accidents,
pain and suffering, criminals, an uncertain future, a changing present, etc.,
and to this end we have laws, contracts, insurance, social security, etc. to
protect us (security). The third need is the need to be social. Since the beginning
of time, we have lived in social groups of one kind or another. This need is
carried over to our family and work life. The fourth need is the need to feel
worthy, respected, and valued (esteem). Since the other three needs are easily
met in modern life, this one becomes increasingly important to the individual.
And the last, being the need to do work that we like to do, and to do it well
(self-actualization). The degree of the importance of these may vary in individuals,
but basically they are operative at all times.
The supervisor needs to understand that the lowest order need that is not
satisfied is the strongest at that moment in time. And once that need is satisfied,
it no longer motivates or drives the individual to persevere. So if we want
our employees to exert greater effort, we then need to address the next unsatisfied
employee's need. People tend to move to a lower need level if they perceive
that there is a threat there, this may include such things as change in general,
and specifically shutdowns, layoff, acquisitions, new supervisors, policies,
procedures, initiatives, to name a few.
Many people are happier at work than at home. The job may be challenging,
the peers may be cooperative, and the supervisor supportive. Herzberg's theory,
places the above five needs into two general categories. The organization generally
provides for the first two levels of needs. The income provide for the necessary
life needs and safety in providing a safe work environment. To have the social
contact, be appreciated as well as enjoy one's work is more often a function
of the individual's supervisor's actions and behaviors, management, and leadership
style. A good supervisor can go a long way toward satisfying the individual's
need by the way they manage. This can be accomplished by treating the worker
with respect and dignity, by making the work meaningful, being empathic, expressing
appreciation of their efforts, providing challenging assignments, and being
supportive, honest, and fair.
To achieve an injury-free workplace, we need the people in the organization
behaving in such a manner so as to enable the achievement of the injury-free
workplace goal. This applies to all levels within the organization. In construction,
generally the only people whose behavior is scrutinized are the workers. The
worker can control his/her behavior. But this is only one aspect of achieving
an injury-free workplace. This, to some degree is addressed in some of the more
progressive companies. They have instituted some form of behavioral safety.
They manage worker behaviors through feedback and consequences. This can only
be fully successful if all levels of management also behave appropriately and
ethically.
If we look at the project delivery process, it is management who controls
everything on the project. Management to some extent also controls the worker
though hiring practices, task assignment, oversight, training and education,
recognition and incentives, etc. Management controls the time, the speed, shift
duration, the place the worker works, productivity goals, crew size, equipment,
tools, etc. The worker really has two choices: to work or not to work. And since
the worker has to earn a living, they will generally do what management wants
them to do, sometimes even if it is not safe. Another aspect of this scenario
is that if a worker willfully or unintentionally engages in unsafe behavior,
then it is the responsibility of the supervisor to intervene and stop it. Therefore
the first-line manager (supervisor) plays a key role in ensuring that the workplace
is injury free.
To meet the organization's goals and objectives, management must manage performance.
To mange performance, mangers need to establish objectives, create standards,
and targets. Employees must clearly know the organization's expectations and
must be empowered and enabled to achieve the goal. So workers and all levels
of management must have clearly established expectations and must be held accountable
for them. Of course, it is understood that the organization must provide the
resources, the knowledge, the information, the tools, and equipment to enable
the employees to be successful.
The foreman is a grossly underutilized resource when it comes to managing
safety effectively on the construction site. With a little education, some practical
training, guidance, coaching, and support, the foreman can become a highly effective
extension of management in the effort to create and injury-free work environment.
Opinions expressed in Expert Commentary articles are those of the author and are
not necessarily held by the author’s employer or IRMI. This article does not purport
to provide legal, accounting, or other professional advice or opinion. If such advice
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