Archive for the 'safety' Category

As 2007 came to a close, lean design and construction got some well-deserved press. The manufacturing community shares their successes and learning about lean through Association for Manufacturing Excellence (AME) and their "Target Magazine". Most lean manufacturers operate in buildings that were neither designed or built lean. That can change. Karen Wilhelm, writing for Target, spent quite some time investigating the lean construction movement. She shares what she learned in a cover story, Collaboration Makes Construction Lean.

"The culture of heroes works against the smooth flow of work."

I won't spoil the article for you by summarizing it. Not only does Karen write well, she shares a vision of what we can be doing in the built environment. I will offer one teaser… Read the rest of this entry ¶

It's that time of year again. I'm attending the Lean Construction Congress in San Francisco. This is the 9th annual event. As usual, the focus is on companies who have adopted lean approaches for delivering AEC projects. The morning presentations have been great. Company presenters are doing a fine job speaking about the benefits they are getting and how the lean approaches and principles cause that to happen.

Becoming lean and being evermore lean is fundamentally about learning, not about lean.

It's a little early in the two days to be saying this, but what the heck… Herrero Contractors, not yet three years into their lean transformation, is the most advanced lean contractor in the US.¹ Herrero understands that becoming lean and being evermore lean is fundamentally about learning, not about lean. They seem to be learning everywhere and everyday.

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1. Full disclosure, they used to be our client. A year ago they hired away one of our staff members to be their Director of Learning…not Director of Lean. [ ⇑ back ]

Bad concrete and wrong epoxy are just two of the problems with the Big Dig. ENR ran two stories in the August 5, 2007 issue detailing guilty pleas on criminal charges along with failure to act responsibly with structural design issues. Certainly, the whole project is not bad. But living in Boston, we worry not knowing which parts are bad. While money is always a possible motive, in this case people clearly were not exercising their responsibilities as custodians of public safety. In short, few were speaking up and fewer still were listening.

The Two Great Wastes contribute in significant, yet incalculable ways, to the failings on all projects.

I know first-hand how easy it is to just drive on by safety issues. It's easy to think, "Somebody must be taking care." Last Friday I drove by a police construction detail where a new home was being connected to a sewer line in the center of a state road. There were two police officers along with two flag persons and a 1/2 dozen workers. One man was neck deep in a straight-cut narrow trench shoveling loose gravel. In the situation I describe OSHA requires a trench box anytime a trench is 5 feet or more deep. From my passing view, this worker was just about at that limit. Was a trench box required? I don't know. There was no trench box present. I didn't stop. I should have stopped. But had I stopped, what conversation would I had and with whom? To my knowledge, no one was injured. No incident occurred. But it is really beside the point. I feel terrible for not stopping.

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Construction projects get a bad rep…a very bad rep. And the Boston Globe piles on with today's article The Industry that Time Forgot: Just Another Day at the Office for the Most Wasteful, Least Productive Industry in America

It's tough for me to comment on this article. I live in Boston. We've suffered major delays, overruns, inconveniences, and people lost their lives. It doesn't have to be this way. Companies have learned from the best operators in the world and have avoided these problems. In Massachusetts we have burdensome laws and practices. It's tough to do business with the state government. In my town no major project has finished on time or on budget. However, it can change. It must change. The industry knows what to do to change.

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The CBS follow-up story to Katie Couric's interview, One Doctor's Crusade For Hospital Reform is a good read. CBS highlighted the everyday benefits of high capability processes on our lives. The interview opens this way with Dr. Berwick saying,

"Hospitals are very dangerous places. I don't know how to explain this to the public in a way that doesn't create too much fear. But they need to be realistic, and the technologies that help you can also hurt you — and they do it every single day."

Improving process quality and safety creates more time for engaging with people.

Studies indicate that 15 million patients are injured or get some sort of insufficient care each year. Some where between 44,000 and 96,000 die unnecessarily. Dr. Berwick and the 3,100 IHI partner hospitals have set out to change that. They are making their improvements in the same way that Toyota and other high-capability companies make their improvements. IHI is adopting Lean Six Sigma. Dr. Berwick goes on to say, Read the rest of this entry ¶

Let me start by saying I'm not taking a shot at doctors. In fact, I'm writing about IHI because I think we need to deliberately set out to learn from people outside our industry. Thanks to doctors like Dr. Berwick we are making great strides in the delivery of safe medical services. I'd like to reference tonight's CBS broadcast of IHI's initiatives. Unfortunately, the CBS website is way behind the times. Not only can't I find the broadcast video, but the site doesn't display correctly in either Internet Explorer or Firefox. Still, I hope you caught Katie Couric's interview. Dr. Berwick and IHI lifted my spirits; I'm sure it will lift your spirits too. Read the rest of this entry ¶

Don Berwick is on a mission to eliminate deaths from medical mistakes in hospitals. His 100k Lives campaign at the Institute of Healthcare Improvement is making great headway. And along the way many people are noticing., including Katie Couric. On Tuesday evening CBS News will showcase Dr. Berwick and his lean approach to healthcare improvement. Here's the CBS announcement:

"The Institute of Medicine recently estimated that nearly 100,000 people die every year due to medical mistakes. Couric profiles Don Berwick, a Harvard-trained pediatrician and public health expert, who is trying to make American healthcare safer. Read the rest of this entry ¶

LPSThe Last Planner System® is a lean approach to planning and delivering projects. It is based on a hierarchy of planning: should, can, will, and did. LPS is not a computer system. It is a set of protocols corresponding with the four above items: pull planning, look-ahead planning, task planning, and daily coordination. The Last Planner System is a registered trademark of the Lean Construction Institute. Last Planner SystemThe Last Planner System® is a lean approach to planning and delivering projects. It is based on a hierarchy of planning: should, can, will, and did. LPS is not a computer system. It is a set of protocols corresponding with the four above items: pull planning, look-ahead planning, task planning, and daily coordination. The Last Planner System is a registered trademark of the Lean Construction Institute.

Some people think that construction safety is a matter of establishing safety as a value. If people value safety, those people argue, then workers will work safely. While that might be true, we don't have time for that. It can take years to establish a value for anything. The task of producing the value for safety becomes more difficult with new people always being introduced to the construction environment. We need to improve safety immediately. And we can.

While most planning approaches define what should be done that is insufficient to assure work will be done.

In the previous post in this series I said we need to follow the rule to only do work that is in a condition to be started and finished. But how do we do that without impacting productivity? Working to the safety rule is supported by a process for making work ready.

Making work ready — including all aspects for working safely — is an aspect of the planning system. While most planning approaches define what should be done that is insufficient to assure work will be done. Read the rest of this entry ¶

Previous in series

Construction safety has to improve. Fast. But it hasn't. Not in over 15 years. About 1,200 people have been dying on construction sites each of those 15 years in the United States. An average of 4 deaths each workday. One thing that has changed in those 15 years is that now Latinos make up a disproportionate number of those deaths. And many more are injured every day.

All it takes is a planning process for making work ready.

The basic approach to safety has only changed slightly. At OSHA's instigation, safety promotion — usually practiced as sloganeering coupled with rewards and punishment — has been supplemented with an increased attention on education. Some companies have benefited from it. However, even the relatively safe firms have a way to go. I won't write a long essay on this. I just want to share one action we can immediately adopt that will make construction sites far safer. And there is data to support it.

Read the rest of this entry ¶

Next in series

Construction safety needs to be everyone's concern working in the industry. Great strides have been made by many companies. Yet people are being injured in roughly the same numbers as they have been for the last 15 years. OSHA issued these violations¹ in the year ending September 2006:

1. Scaffolding, General Requirements (7895 violations)
2. Duty to Have Fall Protection (5746 violations)
3. Hazard Communication (5586 violations)
4. Respiratory Protection (3410 violations)
5. Lockout/Tagout (3068 violations)
6. Powered Industrial Trucks (2582 violations)
7. Electrical, Wiring Methods, Components, and Equipment for General Use (2396 violations)
8. Machine Guarding, General Requirements (2296 violations)
9. Ladders (2115 violations)
10. Electrical, General Requirements (1791 violations)

Trenching hazards, while not on this list represent an additional big problem for the industry. There is something you can do. Use the Last Planner System®² on your project. Anecdotal evidence suggests safety incidents will fall by 30%.

1. BLR statistics [ ⇑ back ]
2. The Last Planner System is a registered trademark of the Lean Construction Institute. [ ⇑ back ]

Congratulations to the people at C.R. Meyer for a safety record that has 50% fewer incidents than others doing like work. That record along with their safety program has qualified them for OSHA's Voluntary Protection Program's (VPP) Star status. This program has previously not been available to general contractors. In 2004, OSHA created a challenge program to bring the construction community into the fold. Let's look for more announcements of people achieving Star status.

Agile and Lean theories were used to design the mechanical and electrical construction processes. The success of a lean/agile design is to improve safety and productivity. The design incorporates automotive approaches for modular assembly with pulse-driven (paced) production. Has a goal to drive labor off the construction site to improve productivity and quality.

Design of a Lean and Agile Construction System

Peter Court, et al

"(Local) improvisations occur naturally unless you bring design intentions."

The system has three planning and coordination components:

• Modules (sub-assemblies)
• Components
• Consumables

Each has different work release and replenishment. Peter has learned to keep the implementation simple. He says, "Avoid explaining the theory."

Peter's lean/agile design will get tested next year when mechanical and electrical work begins. He promises to report on the results.

OSHA announced this week their expansion of the VPP (Voluntary Protection Plan) program to the mobile workforce of construction. This is a big deal. VPP acknowledges the responsibility and results of the safest companies — at least 50% fewer incidents than the average for their industry. Read more: OSHA Administrator Unveils Voluntary Protection Program for Mobile Workforce in Construction.

U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur, OH, is holding OSHA accountable for lack of oversight at the Toledo I-280 Bridge crane accident resulting in four deaths of Fru-Con employees in Feb. '04. Thankfully, this is a story that just won't go away.

OSHA cited Fru-Con for four willful violations and assessed a fine of $280,000. Later, OSHA reclassified (negotiated) the violations to "unclassified" keeping the fine the same. This potentially has consequences for the families in civil litigation with Fru-Con. Negotiating citations and fines has been a regular practice at OSHA. Congresswoman Kaptur sees it as part of the reason that we continue to have so many deaths in the construction industry.

"(T)hese men died, in my view, because of the apparent willful negligence of the U.S. Department of Labor and OSHA … and there are allies here in the Congress who have been cutting back on worker safety laws and have abdicated their responsibility to conduct aggressive oversight"

The cause of the crane collapse is not completely understood. However, this is not Fru-Con's only problem with cranes. The firm was fined $49,500 for nine serious violations for a death at the Four Bears Bridge. OSHA also negotiated the fines in "settling" this case.

Watch out for Kaptur, "There is a serious abdication of responsibility by the U.S. Department of Labor because this Congress has not held them to a higher standard." She's not letting go of this one.

Trenching deaths and injuries are in the news almost every week. (Take a look at the Safety Everyday Sideblog for recent stories.) OSHA recently responded with a Safety Tips Card: Safety in Excavations or Trenches. It is available in English and Spanish.

Trenches must meet at least one of the following conditions:

• Sloped for stability
• Cut to create stepped or benched grades
• Supported by a system made with posts, beams, shores or planking and hydraulic jacks
• Supported by a trench box
• An exit ladder must be within 25 feet of workers extending 3 feet out of the trench

See that your project meets these conditions. Don't ever go into a trench that isn't prepared appropriately. Print the above card and give one to everyone on your job. And for another take on how to address trench safety read Trench Warfare — Time to Get Serious about Planning.

Read Safety Everyday's construction safety in the news sideblog.

OSHA is cracking down on residential contractors. After employees complained to OSHA about unsafe work conditions the hammer came down, Nine New York Contractors Face $98,400 in Fines After OSHA Sweep. Antonio Pietroluongo, OSHA's acting Manhattan area director commented,

"It's particularly disturbing to see many of the same hazards at three different jobsites overseen by the same general contractor. Left uncorrected, these conditions expose employees to potential serious injury or death from falls, electrocution, scaffold collapse, gas cylinder explosions or head injuries."

Scaffolding and fall protection are two of the leading issues in the industry. There is no excuse for anyone putting themselves or others at risk on projects. Let's make sure we all go home to our families every night.

Read Safety Everyday's construction safety in the news sideblog.

The VPP works. The company featured in this short article enjoy a safety performance (injury and illness rates) that is 80% better than the usual company in its industry Occupational Hazards - OSHA's top VPP honors go to Ohio firm. Pro-Tec Coatings supplies the construction industry. Construction needs to learn from the suppliers to the industry. Check out VPP (Voluntary Protection Plan). Make it your commitment to your co-workers for 2005.

John L. Henshaw has resigned from his post at OSHA. The official announcement gives him credit for making our workplaces significantly safer over his tenure. That's true in total, but the situation is about the same for those of us in construction. In spite of all the efforts during the last 10 years, there is no change in worker death rates — about 1,200 workers die each year and many thousands are seriously injured.

I think the VPP (Voluntary Protection Plan) efforts will pay off. The program offers real incentives to firms who take the extra effort to qualify for the plan. Unfortunately, not enough firms will go after the VPP. Incremental improvement while desirable will not produce the results we need. It's time to come at this differently. In my mind there's no reason not to make the level of safety improvements MT Hojgaard, Denmark, accomplished when they adopted lean construction. They cut injury rates by about 60% in one year.

I want the new OSHA leader to make a commitment to cut injury rates by over 50% in the next two years. What do you want?

Read Safety Everyday's construction safety in the news sideblog.