Health and safety
A particular area of interest for Project
Managers to pinpoint which could
greatly increase OHSE awareness
and standards is the training and development of employees. There is a
commonissue where the projects induction training becomes a standard,
“one size fits all” exercise. Great attention must be afforded to the training
which is provided in the sense that it
is project or site specific as well as beneficial in terms of providing broader
understanding of required OHSE standards. The lack of benefits gained from
these generalized training programmes
can mean that employees working on
that project do not fully understand the
material or the importance of why it
must be provided. This in turn, can lead
to increased occurrences of incidents
as well as injuries which management
subsequently deems “unnecessary” or
“easily avoidable”. In truth, these incidents are easily avoidable, but they do
require more attention from leadership to ensure that the content in the
training material is correct and actually beneficial. The Project Manager
can take steps to review and request
changes to the training that is provided
in order to equip the employees on the
project with better knowledge and understanding of OHSE requirements and
responsibilities.
By increasing the focus on training,
the seed for cultivation of personal and
professional development is planted
amongst the workforce. Instead of employees feeling like “numbers” and that
they are only being trained to “fulfil a
legal requirement”, they will instead
feel empowered as well as confident in
their abilities. By encouraging a multiskilled, knowledgeable workforce the
Project Manager can reap the benefit
of being confident in delegating responsibilities and tasks. A keen eye for
noticing the talents of others is actually
a talent in itself and not everyone can
be expected to achieve this consistently and accurately throughout their
career. Project Managers can become
the link and catalyst to ensuring that
employees on a project gain personal
as well as professional benefit through
endorsement from management and
leadership.
Fundamentally, the Project Manager
must assist in the creation of an “OHSEcentric” workplace. Essentially, this will
be where all tasks and procedures run
through a Health and Safety process
before the first employee lifts a tool. A
workplace where management as well
as the OHSE Department are aware of
all works taking place means that the
correct monitoring and compliance
measuring processes can be implemented as necessary. The Project Manager
can then be confident that, at any time,
they will be aware of every job that is
taking place throughout the project
and can request the OHSE information
associated with that job without any
challenges. It then becomes the Project
Managers duty to ensure that top-level
leadership endorses this system and
that the workforce on the project adopts
this system successfully.
It is an accepted reality that plans
change from time to time in terms of
organisational structures and unexpected, unavoidable time delays result.
That does not mean to say that the
philosophies and ideals that the Project
Manager promotes on the project must
change. The variables might change but
the “game plan” must stay on course. The
personnel changes that occur within
different disciplines involved with the
project can sometimes mean that any
new person arriving to undertake a
specific role for the organisation often
also brings a new and different set of
ideas and values. The Project Manager
must ensure that this does not upset
the existing general consensus already
established on the project. Certainly, a
new and fresh approach can often be
very beneficial and these values can be
assimilated into the existing system as
the Project Manager sees fit, but some
bad habits and negative elements can
also creep in when an employee has the
incorrect attitude or perception of what
OHSE involves. This can be caught and
addressed with an effective induction
training program.
So all in all, the Project Manager has
an extremely broad base of skills and
knowledge which they must possess
and continually develop. The importance of supporting and implementing
the correct fundamentals on the project
site cannot be underrated.
The Project Manager must adhere to
following basic rules:
• Identify any OHSE issues arising on
the project promptly;
• Officially record, analyse and assess
those issues;
• Create a formal action plan to
address those issues;
• Communicate and implement that
action plan;
• Continually monitor and review
the effectiveness of the action
plan to verify if the issue has been
successfully resolved and;
• Always consider the finer details, i.e.
remember the “little things”.
• By showing genuine, true concern
for OHSE issues, the Project Manager
can contribute to an improved
project environment which could
in turn influence an improvement in
industry standards. There may be an
alarmingly large amount of content
spanning multiple disciplines that
the Project Manager must consider
at all times, but he/she can take
satisfaction in the realisation that
the efforts which he/shemakes will
ultimately motivate and inspire all
of those with whom he/she may
interact with on the project.
Raymond McDonald – NCC Health &
Safety Manager
september 2014 — PM Africa Magazine
45