Client contributions to contractors’ H&S: A general contractor’s perspective .

21 August 2013

The reputation we have created for ourselves as an

industry

Do clients have an influence on H&S?-Focus Private

clients

• Clients create / influence the market conditions

• The client's Representative (agent)

• 'Cost of buildings'

• Other examples of Contributions to Contractors’

H&S

In Summary (Future Client contributions to Contractors’

H&S)

Content Overview

Construction industry reputation

• Unprofessional• Non delivery• Aggressive non- conformist• Uneducated• Lack of trust• Short-cut• Unsafe

Do clients have an influence on H&S?

Definitely!

Return vs. Greed, The business world-The Rabbit Hole—Alice in

Wonderland-tried and tested rules of past-don’t work so well any more

Strange distracting characters pop up randomly and disappear again

The norm is continually being challenged. Rules are continually

changing(subbies,consultants,employees,public,shareholders,weather etc.)

Most successful change efforts begin when some individuals start to look

hard at a companies competitive situation, market position,tech trends and

financial performance-----what about OHS?

Clients create / influence market conditions, influence contractors

Do clients have an influence on H&S?

When will the entry requirements for a developer be more than a

bag full of cash.

Worst of all are clients/leaders who refuse to change and who make

demands that are inconsistent with the overall effort.(many

consultants-tender process)-procurement policy

Health and Safety generally does not form a core ideology-tree

feller

And yet—AP Sloane said "Take my assets-but leave me my

organisation and in five years I will have it back”—people build the

building, construct the road and build the business.

Clients create / influence the market conditionsIs EHS a competitive advantage or disadvantage when tendering ---of

course it is---if you can cut it out totally your chances of winning the

tender are pretty good. The exception actually evaluates on EHS

• Should H&S be a competitive advantage,diffentiator or a

minimum req?

• An example of where the H&S safety playing field could be

levelled is the ‘two envelope’ tendering system. Contractors only

compete on price once requirement for H&S, Environment,

Quality, etc. in the first envelope are met.

• As a contractor—we have to be Chameleons—we have to

identify client requirements and adapt accordingly---but still stick

to our own value system and standards

The Client’s H&S Representative (Agent)

Most of the significant contributions to the contractors’ H&S are

made by the Client’s H&S Representative (Agent), not the

consultants, mostly positive, but sometimes also problematic;

• Positive: Knowledge sharing, add value to the construction team

by actively participating in accident prevention, best practice

sharing and training.(common goal, team awareness, team buy

in, proactive involvement, team celebration and saves lives)

• Problematic: Unrealistic request resulting in delays, not focused

on risk management but rather “to the letter” compliance.

• disconnect between the client and his/her agent

(cost,conflictual,ego driven,admin and record keeping driven and

does not save lives)

‘Cost of Buildings’How many land mark buildings do you know of that had a fatality

during its construction phase?

The “moral cost” of buildings is often forgotten once buildings are handed over to clients. Fragmented industry-so much

legislation-how do we change the value system which changes behaviour towards-”protection vs. abuse "of our people

The contractor is scarred for life – the client remembers the cost, the architecture and prominence and future income

stream

Other examples of Client contributions to Contractors’ H&SGood ideas, easy to implement and it makes a lot of sense.

The positive impact of Mining Industry , SOE’s

• Transfer of knowledge and skill,zero LTA/ETC celebrations

• Best Practise concepts like DSTI’s (Daily Safety Task Instructions);

Hazard Alerts, Display areas and site signage etc.

• Client must lead and influence the behaviour of his/her team as a

continual process –not as a once of event

Incentivise construction team/budget and allow for proper EHS

performance at procurement / tender stage

In Summary (future Client contributions to contractors’ H&S Clients have naturally had a big influence on the construction

industry performance and have contributed significantly to the

improvement in H&S on construction sites.(oil and gas

companies, mining companies vs. private developers/clients and

rural government projects—geographical areas

Future contributions by clients should be to make H&S non-

negotiable / the norm. (two envelope tendering system).

We have to change behaviour and not just the law

H&S Star Rating system for buildings (similar to the Green Star

Rating system.

How many private clients do you know of that had a fatality in the

past few years?

Thank you