Craig Clark, Safety Advisor
Safety Management Group
For those in the construction industry, the current economic slowdown isn’t some kind of academic concept or media hype. It’s very real, and it’s creating a variety of challenges.
Some of those challenges are obvious. For example, competing on public works and other projects where bidding is required is forcing contractors to sharpen their pencils like never before. The only way to land a project is to trim every possible cost to the bone. Every aspect of project management and construction cost is under the microscope.
But trimming costs so dramatically can have unintended consequences. Project safety is one area that often suffers. Companies that have long included safety professionals on their sites are now asking superintendents and foremen to wear two hats, taking on the role of the safety expert along with their normal supervisory tasks.
It’s not an illegal approach. After all, safety staffing clauses in most construction contracts require that the contractors have employees who have completed 30-hour OSHA training on the jobsite while work is in progress. In healthier times, the companies wouldn’t hesitate to hire a safety professional, but with money tight, many think, “Why pay for an extra person when our superintendent or foreman has his 30-hour, and he’s already onsite?” Forgoing a safety professional allows the company to reduce the bid.
Suppose that bid is successful, and the company lands the much-needed project. Things go well initially, but weather begins to get in the way of progress. After a few months, the project is far behind schedule, and the company is under pressure to get back on track. Crews begin to work double shifts and weekends, racking up 16 hours a day, seven days a week. Fatter paychecks limit any complaining.
With manpower stretched so thin, something has to give. Basic safety issues start to be neglected, because the supervisors are too busy to focus on them, or too shorthanded to spare workers to do things the right way. Facing the looming deadline, the superintendent and foremen are willing to overlook safety factors, because they’re more concerned with saving time. They may even look the other way as workers undertake tasks that are nothing short of dangerous.
Enter the conflict of interest. The superintendent and foremen have been charged with the responsibility of getting the job done safely. But now they’re also expected to get it done quickly, no matter what the cost. They understand the dangers involved, but can they afford to slow things down and miss the deadlines just to ensure that the site meets every safety requirement? If they prevent a worker from doing something hazardous, and that leads to a delay, will they create problems for themselves? And, worst of all, what will happen if there’s a serious injury or fatality on the site?
Putting supervisory personnel in that kind of conflict is inherently unfair and probably unethical. Reducing the emphasis on safety while putting workers in the stressful environment of being expected to do more in less time may increase the potential for injury and downtime, which will ultimately cut into the contractor’s profitability.
Some companies include the safety professional in the costs for a project, but that’s actually a shortsighted approach. In reality, safety professionals should be viewed as part of a company’s annual overhead budget, rather than being factored into project cost. That way, safety needs won’t be eliminated in an effort to win a bid.
Why? Consider the reporting relationship. A safety advisor usually reports to a corporate safety director, not a project manager or operations manager. After all, his or her sole responsibility is to ensure the safety of the company’s workers and any subcontractors on the site. In addition, safety professionals are not driven by project schedules. Their goal is to see that the project will be completed without incidents or injury and that all of their men and women will go home to their families every night.
Safety professionals can even improve productivity on a jobsite. Studies have repeatedly shown that workers who feel safer have higher levels of morale and productivity. Safety professionals may also know of safer methods or additional equipment that would allow employees to perform their tasks more quickly without sacrificing safety.
Cutting costs by cutting out safety staff may seem to make financial sense, but one injury or even a fatality could end up costing an employer far more than the safety professional’s time. As the old saying goes, it might be penny-wise, but it’s definitely pound-foolish.
Craig Clark (CraigClark@SafetyManagementGroup.com) is a Safety Advisor for Safety Management Group, an Indianapolis-based professional service organization that provides nationwide workplace safety consulting, training, staffing, program planning, and implementation. Information is available at www.safetymanagementgroup.com/pub or by calling 800.435.8850.