As construction professionals continue to endure volatile times, technology and the automations they enable are positively impacting project site performance, and improving financial outcomes whether the build is industrial, commercial or residential.
The ICO Tech Drops newsletter offers insights into multiple construction technologies relevant to individual roles within the building value chain to deepen the understanding of the “why” and “what’s in it for me” elements of the tech available on your jobs today.
ICO Tech Drops addresses each role within the construction value chain from trade partner, to building developer to not only grow the awareness of available technologies, but more importantly to include the the context of the digital enablements specific job roles use in the day to day work.
This is YOUR newsletter so YOU can optimize the digital enablements that will support your bids, submittals, change orders, payrolls, estimates, reports, site safety, schedules, communications and more.
Technology coverage includes :
- Software
- Drones
- Robotics
- 3D Printing
- Predictive analytics
- Artificial intelligence
- Building Information Modelling (BIM)
- Sensors
- Digital twinning
- Wireless Monitoring
- Augmented Reality
Digital Risk Mitigation and Safety Reports
What you need to know!
Risk Mitigation Reports – Why?
We all know risk is prevalent on EVERY construction job. The bigger the job, the more potential risks increase on your projects. One wrong “step” and the whole project can potentially fail.
Part of working and managing construction projects, no matter the size, and type, is how well pre-construction project management plans and budgets include potential risk factors. Including risk considerations on your jobs mean the mitigation strategies you implement and include in your building processes are crucial factors for the safety of your site-workers, and that truly affects all members of the project including your back-office. Having the right features in your digital risk assessments, and safety reports can make all the difference to the ultimate well-being of your crews, and the financial outcomes on your projects.
5 Risk Challenges
- Budget shortfalls
- Contractor and fieldworker inexperience
- Inspector performance
- Tight project schedules
- Excessive approvals
Yesterday’s site data can help predict tomorrow’s risks!
During pre-construction, the use of data analytics can help projects run more smoothly. Requests For Information (RFIs) are a good example. Collected information to consider can include contractor summaries of the volume of RFIs the prospective supplier has won in specific categories. This can include their response times, how they handle contractual obligations, and which RFIs typically result in change orders. Such information allow project teams to take corrective measures where necessary on active projects. Comparing current and historical information relating to individual labour performance, and materials availability, can further assist project managers to anticipate supply chain bottlenecks and schedule delays.
What is an RFI in construction you ask?
An RFI’s meaning in construction is a document that is used to track and source the right materials and labor for a new project. By sending out RFIs to prospective contractor companies, suppliers, and vendors, general contractors, and project owners, can accurately assess which materials best fit their budget and other specifications of the particular structure.
Safety On-site
Safety first! Preach!
Digitally tracking previous safety meetings, and discussions, is a potential way to have essential data points to use on future job sites. Enabling forepeople, safety officers, and site supers to optimize their own safety management practices using relevant historical data, can go a long way to keeping everybody safe on the project. Keeping track of questions and issues discussed during previous Toolbox talks ensures all subs, and trade partners understand your specific safety standards and best practices. OSHA, has very specific guidelines for keeping track of safety records.
Record-keeping Requirements
Many employers with more than 10 employees are required to keep a record of serious work-related injuries and illnesses. Minor injuries requiring first aid only do not need to be recorded.
How does OSHA define a recordable injury or illness?
How does OSHA define first aid?
This information helps employers, workers and OSHA evaluate the safety of a workplace, understand industry hazards, and implement worker protections to reduce and eliminate hazards -preventing future workplace injuries and illnesses.
Maintaining and Posting Records
The records must be maintained at the worksite for at least five years. Each February through April, employers must post a summary of the injuries and illnesses recorded the previous year. Also, if requested, copies of the records must be provided to current and former employees, or their representatives.
OSHA Record keeping Regulations
https://www.osha.gov/recordkeeping
SAFETY – that’s what we’re talking about!
DIGITAL RISK REPORTS – WHO USES THEM?
Health & Safety Officers, Contracts and Risk Managers, Estimators, Superintendents
Your construction risk management plan should be analyzed and shared with the crew and these stakeholders that apply the data extracted from previous RFIs, change orders, submittals etc. Risk mitigation reports allow you to evaluate the effectiveness of your contingency plans. While this can be done with an Excel spreadsheet, using the right risk management software, and project management platforms, are much more efficient. Online tools gather the data automatically, and create dashboards to illustrate progress and generate detailed reports that are easily distributed.
Risk Software Specs
- Easy to use and offers an intuitive user experience
- Customizable fields to suit various team structures
- Templates to support safety and risk guidelines
- Automatic creation of risk assessment forms for site managers, and crews
- Risk assessment and ranking levels
- Compliance tracking ensuring guidelines, regulations, and policies are followed
- Training tools so employees have access to procedures, and training manuals where applicable
- Real-time alerts for notifications and critical events
Careers in Risk and Safety
Career Opportunities: Contract Specialist, Surety Risk Manager, Underwriter Analyst, Project Controls and Managers, Health & Safety Officers
The versatility of roles involved with the management of either the financial or the safety side of risk and safety construction management, vary from job to job.
Safety Officers tend to make this their career path, by first performing specific trades on the site, and then moving into the management of overseeing site safety. This role is performed on the project site. Safety Officers must have specific certifications available through federal organizations, such as the Occupation Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) that govern workplace health and safety standards.
Project managers and co-ordinators on the other hand, have to have knowledge of project contracts, trade contracts and procurement risk management. While mitigating financial risks, this role coordinates the production and maintenance of risk registers and perform cost and risk analysis when required.
Risk Assessment and Reporting Vendors
To name a few…
- Zepth
- RiskMP
- Safety Reports
- RiskWatch
- SiteDocs
- ConnectTeam
- Avetta
ASSESS YOUR NEEDS FIRST…
Requirements Gathering 101
- List roles/responsibilities who will utilize the technology
- Prioritize major outcomes relevant to your projects
- Document additional systems, equipment & external roles impacted by this potential technology implementation
ICO Software Evaluation System™
HEARD IN THE INDUSTRY!
Industry experts share how technology improves
worksite safety
“Safety inspection software is also a growing technology we see clients using, making sure folks in the field are working as safely as possible” Nowakowski says.
These digital tools include wearable devices and ergonomic AI technology, which evaluates a workplace and provides recommendations for improvements that can reduce the risk of injuries and related costs, Nowakowski explains.
Lawrence Barone, a senior safety services consultant at Sentry Insurance, gave sensing devices that monitor oxygen levels and hazardous atmospheres as an example of wearable technology being deployed on projects.
“Jobsites should have an attendant paying attention to workers in confined spaces, however, the sensors can add an extra layer of safety by sending alerts,” Barone adds.
According to Al Paniagua, senior safety services consultant at Sentry Insurance, building information modeling (BIM) systems is also helping contractors identify and reduce potential project risks by recreating the environment in a digital realm.
“Building information modeling helps contractors run into potential hazards virtually before they run into them realistically,” Paniagua says. “If you can visualize property or worker risks in advance, you can incorporate the proper controls to operate more safely throughout the design, planning and construction process.”
Barone explains safety technology is much like any other investment, requiring further outlays to maintain it and train staff to use it.
“Technology can enhance your risk management efforts, but you need to understand the overall investment and you need to have the skill set within your company to use it properly,” he tells PropertyCasualty360.com. “If you’re able to make the long-term investment and provide ongoing training to your team, technology can help make jobs simpler, safer and more effective. But you need to understand the human elements that go into using technology effectively.”
Similar to BIM, some businesses are taking advantage of immersive reality to get a better assessment of a project’s risks through 3D and 4D models, according to Barone.”
SOURCE: PROPCasualty360.com
Next Issue – CAD & BIM – WHAT’S THE DIF?
