Traditionally subcontractors would arrive onto a construction site, receive an hours training, fill in some paperwork and start working. But as construction environments become more complex and fast-paced, communication can be blurred, potentially putting your subcontractor’s at an increased risk of an injury or accident on site. During a fast-paced project, the swift completion of the job becomes paramount, while also adhering to the appropriate safety rules and regulations. However, according to the authors Stephen Emmitt and Christopher Gorse in their book Construction Communication, there are some real questions surrounding the willingness of some within the construction industry to effectively communicate on projects.
Subcontractors Management: Fast-Track Construction
The rise of fast-track construction projects introduces even greater complexities to sites with the overlapping of activities and the ‘on-the-clock’ project management. According to Architectural Record, fast-tracked construction projects, which in some cases, involves breaking ground before the design phase has even ended, are becoming increasingly popular, with some industry associations saying they account for 40% of building projects. What this means is that a hospital that would generally take 3 years to design and build will now take as little as 18 months. This shortened design and building process could enhance bad communication on a site and lead to a considerable amount of communicative and safety problems.
Speed Bumps… Bad Communication
However, with frequent on-site changes and the fast-paced nature of some projects, it’s vitally important that you try to manage these developments and ensure your subcontractors are trained in how to deal with them. According to a 2013 report by the Project Management Institute, poor communications usually leads to a project’s failure, with one out of five projects deemed unsuccessful due to ineffective communications. As the report emphasizes, companies must take sufficient “ownership of this problem” and create initiatives that will improve communications and limit your failure rate. For fast-paced construction projects, effective communication is critical, with anything less resulting in subcontractors not being informed of multiple changes on-site and therefore, being unable to keep up with new risk environments and hazards. Bad communication can also put a serious delay on some construction projects and could potentially impact your bottom line.
Types of Communication
Regardless of the type of site you operate from, the chances are you will be using one or several avenues to communicate with your subcontractors. Each method of communication allows you to clearly explain how the site will change and the impact that will have on health and safety protocols.
Inductions
While most of your contractors will arrive on site with relevant qualifications for the task at hand, an orientation allows you to introduce the contractor to your corporate culture and policies, and what you expect of them. Orientations can take on a variety of forms and can provide a wide range of information they include:
General Orientations
These provide your subcontractors with the relevant company and health and safety information needed for working on-site.
Site-Specific Orientations
Allows you to hone the research that is applicable to only your site. According to the Health and safety Executive (HSE) in UK, a site-specific orientation should be “specific to this site and provides you with information on the current hazards of the site and tells you about the site rules.”
Task Specific Orientations
These types of orientations provide your subcontractor’s with the relevant training for “undertaking a particular construction activity,” according to the National Code of Practice for Orientations in Construction in Australia. The aim of these differing types of orientations is to provide your subcontractor’s with sufficient training and decrease the risk of an on-site accident.
Toolbox Talks
Traditionally, Toolbox Talks are used on a variety of construction sites to ensure subcontractors are kept informed on health and safety protocols, and as a way to efficiently communicate your safety message to all your workers. According to the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries, Toolbox Talks allows you to “observe job-safety techniques”, focus on what aspects of training are the most important for your site and “identify what poor practices are causing injuries or accidents on the job.” This is why it’s important to get the structure of your Tool Box Talks right from the outset. Each talk should have an “introductory statement, a guide for discussion and space for additional notes,” according to the document. Whatever material you decide to include in your Toolbox Talk, they are a handy way to communicate effectively with your subcontractors on an ongoing basis and avoid any risks associated with a lack of knowledge regarding safety.
Subcontractor Training On the Job
On the Job communication allows you to convey your training on a one-on-one basis with your subcontractors. This method is highly recommended if some of your subcontractor’s happen to be quite young, where it would fall to your supervisors to ensure they instill health and safety awareness among your subcontractors. Chances are, your subcontractor’s won’t be that young, but may still be limited in terms of their safety knowledge while on-site. You could use On the Job communication, however, to effectively communicate with your subcontractor’s through a buddy system. This approach is recommended by OSHA as a way to prevent serious on-site accidents. The mere act of supervision acts as a guide to ensure all your safety guidelines are adhered to.
Emergency Notifications
Emergency notifications allow you to communicate highly important and timely information to your subcontractors. In a lot of cases, these will take on the form of notice board notification, signs, outlines and even email notifications. They represent an excellent way to enhance your safety culture and effectively deliver a strong message to your subcontractors, particularly during a fast-paced construction project.
Refresher Training
After a certain length of time, training has less of an effect on behavior and people generally fall back into old habits. According Talk to Teachers by William James, habit is a tendency that is second nature to most people. “Education is for behavior, and habits are the stuff of which behavior consists,” the author contends. This is why your subcontractors need to be reminded if the dangers of falling into old unsafe habits on a regular basis.
According to OSHA Standards, you are legally required to conduct regular refresher training, regardless of your industry. For construction firms, Federal standards are similar to the industry rules. Therefore, annual refresher training should be provided for:
- Occupational Noise Exposure: Which should be repeated annually for “each employee included in the hearing conservation program. During this training, you should ensure that your program is regularly updated and consistent with “protective equipment and work processes.”
- Health Hazards, Hazardous Waste Operations, and Emergency Response: According to the standards, refresher training should be provided regarding the handling of hazardous waste, health hazards, and emergency response. The training should last for 24 hours, with the refresher training lasting for eight hours annually. You should also note, that you are required to give your subcontractor’s a “written certificate attesting that they have successfully completed the necessary training.”
- Respiratory Protection: According to the standards, you must provide refresher training if there were any changes in the workplace, or they type of respirator is deemed redundant. If your subcontractor lacks knowledge or a situation arises which retraining is necessary, you may have to provide new training.
Use GoContractor to improve efficiency
GoContractor’s User Model allows you to communicate on an unlimited basis to your subcontractors. You can start this process by conducting your orientations for your subcontractors using our platform. On GoContractor, it’s so easy to build orientation courses quickly that can deliver short, ongoing training such as Toolbox Talks every week. You can also ensure all of your subcontractors are aware of the varying health and safety protocols on-site. If there’s a near miss, you can take a photograph or video and instantly send it to all of your workers. You can also set up automatic refreshers and get notifications if your subcontractor’s qualifications go out of date. The system is built with efficiency in mind and is perfect for managing effective communication in a fast-paced construction project.
