Construction Risk Management: Avoiding the Incompetent Worker
March 2008
When a taxi shows up at the curb, you expect
the operator to know the town, maneuver carefully, be sober, and have a driver's
license. We trust him or her blindly and completely. This inherent trust (likely
a behavior learned from well-meaning parents) speaks to a fundamental oversight
in the construction world that hurts good people.
By TJ Lyons
Turner
Casualty and Surety
Work near a crane, climb a scaffold to inspect a detail, or tie-off to a
fall protection anchorage—every construction worker puts inherent trust (life-trust)
in someone he or she does not know each day. In
Photo 1, a contractor was to erect perimeter protection to provide fall
prevention for every person on the floors of a high-rise. The industry standard
requires a minimum of at least two such cable clamps at a specific distance
from each other. In this case, the minimum was not achieved.
Somewhere along the line, both the supervisor of the work, super of the project,
and the installer failed to notice the incompetent installation. The result
was what Dave McCollum, one the better safety philosophers in the United States,
calls "an armed hazard." Again, this is just one small contributor for an incident,
but it was put in-place by an incompetent person who failed the life-trust needed
for any successful site.
The intent of this article is to help identify people from our project who
should not be there, and highlight the harm the incompetent person does on our
projects.
Pinch Points
Though numerous opportunities exist to find life-trust violators, there are
five critical pinch points that will flush these folks out. It will take honest
questions, close scrutiny of the individual, the ability to listen, and some
people skills to identify and rid a project of these hazardous people.
Pinch Point #1: Call a Friend
Among safety professionals, there is an informal but critical link that allows
candid conversations about people and firms to occur between competitors. Contractors
across the United States identify weak and strong
subcontractors. One of the best opportunities to get ahead of an incompetent
is to "phone a friend." If a specific contractor has just finished up on a competitor's
project, call your competitor and ask not only how the job went, but, more importantly,
how their supervisor or foreman performed. Any team is only as strong as its
leader, and knowing who your subcontractors "A" players are is critical to your
own success.
One of the most critical questions to pose is who would your competitor
not want on the project site. By specifically
asking, you may learn that the project's crane operator made a tactical decision
to move a tracked crane, boom-up, during the windiest day of the month with
the outriggers in. This operator, a verified risk-taker and incompetent party,
is not someone you would ever want on your project. So ask who he was!
Pinch Point #2: Pre-bid Subcontractor Leadership Meetings
Ask potential contractors to take a complete look at their scope of work,
prepare any questions they might have, and invite them to the site for a meeting.
Since they have not been awarded the work, they will be eager to please and
should be well prepared for the session. Let them know before the meeting that
they will be providing an outline of their approach to the
specific work, and that the top levels of
management are expected to attend.
On the general contractor's side of the fence, ensure that the project manager,
executive superintendent, and safety coordinator also attend. This is an opportune
time to gauge the competency of the people you will be entrusting. Listen carefully.
The following are actual comments that surfaced during a series of such meetings
for a U.S. project.
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A flooring contractor's foreman was asked if they would be willing to
use cut-resistant gloves during his portion of the work. He acknowledged
they already were using Kevlar and that would not be a problem. The question
was then posed on his use of self-retracting knives for the work. "Self-retracting…"?
Though some coaching soon took place, he was not aware of this longstanding
risk control for razor-knife use, and that spoke volumes as to his knowledge
of the safety side of the trade.
-
During an interview with a steel erector, his fall protection program
was reviewed. It was very extensive but relied heavily on ladders for connectors.
The leadership team asked the contractor if he would be willing to simply
work out of scissor lifts instead of ladders, and if there would be any
cost associated for that. The contractor agreed that elimination of ladders
would both increase production, eliminate huge fall protection exposures,
and after a later review, there was no increase in cost.
-
During a session to meet with the company doing the roofing work for
a project, the president of the firm and his salesman attended the pre-bid
meeting to discuss their approach. Again, the job had not yet been bid.
To the surprise of the hosts, it was immediately apparent that one of the
two had enjoyed an adult beverage for lunch. Though this was not brought
up during the session, the leadership compared observations after the meeting,
and the firm was not allowed to bid on the project. A conference call would
not have provided the same information.
Though many projects do not make the time or have the culture to force these
sessions, their value to establishing life-trust cannot be overstated. Like
meeting the boy that takes your daughter out on a date, this is time well spent—handshakes
can be gauged, and expectations clearly stated.
Pinch Point #3: Evaluation of Subcontractor's Project Team
As the work is closer to starting, assembling the subcontractors' crew for
a talking session is a fundamental and critical step toward eliminating the
chance for incompetent oversight. At this point, the team that will do the work
has been chosen, and a coordination meeting with your site team is needed.
Your superintendent must organize this effort for the system to be a success.
Avoid "safety" putting this together for the general contractor's supervisor;
after all, it is the general contractor's mission to ensure the safety of the
project, and he must be comfortable with those he entrusts.
This is the time for simple questions and preplanning the work. Though the
focus should be the planning, this provides a nice opportunity to ask some pointed
questions. Competency is based on knowledge, experience, and
understanding. Following are a few examples
of simple questions to gauge competency.
For plumbers: "As you know, with the hot heat-producing work you guys do,
setting fire to my building and the use of compressed gases is always a concern.
So, why is it that a bottle of acetylene cannot be stored on its side, and second,
how will your fire watch program work?"
For erectors: "Falls are something we do not want happening on our project.
We are targeting fall prevention instead
of protection and will need your help. Just a quick question, if you are tied
off at your chest with a conventional lanyard, what is the maximum distance
you would fall?"
For crane operators: "Cranes are easily the biggest and most dangerous machine
on my project. As an operator, what scares you the most, and second, when we
lay out your working pad, how close to level will you need it?" See
Photo 2.
For electricians: "As you know, we have a zero tolerance for anyone operating
on energized equipment. Can you tell me what the NFPA 70E was written to protect
your folks from?"
For concrete pump operators: "We see your pump as a crane since a load is
being lifted to another area. Just how close will you be able to get to a power
line?"
All of the above questions should be easily answered by a competent person.
A concern might be that someone who was competent a decade ago is no longer
competent. In the electrician's question, for example, NFPA 70E is a consensus
standard targeted and adopted for use in the electrical arena. A significant
effort was made to detail methods to eliminate or lessen the effects of working
on energized electrical equipment and associated dangers of arcing. A competent
electrician would be aware of this issue and the reason for the standard. It
is surprising how many electricians have not heard of it.
The bottom line is your best efforts at assembling a great crew will be limited
by the subcontractors that do not field their "A" teams. These conversations
are a great opportunity to get the right person at the right time—before you
start.
Pinch points 4 and 5, which are addressed during construction,
will be addressed in the next column.
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