Page 26 - Occupational Health & Safety, March 2019

FALL PROTECTION
parts in the construction system, not just his or her own niche. Hav- ing a holistic view of project flow from design to installation (where there is an especially high risk of injury) to actual building is essen- tial, so flow charts that outline processes, whiteboards that capture real-time concerns, and regular meetings that empower people to evaluate and articulate what is going on in their surroundings are all a part of the Lean toolkit. Through these methods, an invest- ment is made in everyone’s safety from the start, which prevents the misunderstandings and miscommunications that so often result in risky environments.
In addition to creating common ground for team members, Lean strategies prevent accidents by increasing efficiency. For ex- ample, incorporating the Last Planner System helps teams plan col- laboratively versus in a silo, giving them the opportunity to identify potential constraints early and eliminate wasted efforts and frustra- tion. We in the industry know that time equals risk. Therefore, any opportunity you can take to eliminate a step in the construction process means you are eliminating risk, which in turn means a bet- ter chance at lowering injuries and increasing safety. And this is all more than just theory. We have seen an overall turn in incident rate with the increase adoption of Lean practices. In 2012, incident rates were between 3.0 and 4.0. But for the past five years, those rates have been continuously at 1.0 or below. This is reflected in workers’ attitudes. Labor hours continue to rise as employees are encour- aged to come to work in spaces where their physical and mental well-being are considered priorities.
A project I recently hired for offers a prime example of the
impact Lean can have on recruitment and retention, and thereby overall project health and safety. When we put out the call for 350 skilled labor workers over the course of a year, we were concerned about attracting quality employees for the job. As it turned out, we did not need to worry. Workers reached out to us wanting to be a part of a large project that they heard was incorporating Lean prin- ciples and knew we would be insistent on training and getting to know our workforce on the front lines. This resulted in building a team of individuals who were committed to truly working together with the same mindset, were well-suited to the type of work we wanted to do, and were overall less prone to injury.
Although adopting Lean is ultimately something of a paradigm shift for most companies, getting started is easy. The Lean Con- struction Institute (https://www.leanconstruction.org/) is an organi- zation committed to spreading Lean throughout the industry and has developed a wealth of resources for companies of any size.
Finally, the role that owners and CEOs play in construction site safety often goes unrecognized in the realm of traditional project management, but the importance of engaged leadership to injury pre- vention cannot be overstated. It is not enough for owners to simply sign the dotted line and walk away or, equally harmful, to hound team members for speed at the expense of safety.
Henry Nutt III is Sheet Metal General Superintendent at Southland Industries (http://www.southlandind.com/), one of the nation’s largest MEP building systems experts. Zach Gill, Safety Manager at Southland Industries, contributed to this article.
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