"That's impossible!"

 

The other day I talked about the new crane standard and about the General Contractor’s duties and responsibilities in front of a bunch of project managers. I reviewed the overall responsibilities and preparation of ground conditions, actually performing JSA’s (horror!), power line safety and work control radius. The crane company representative said the safest way would be a 360 degree work radius clearance around the crane and adding an extra few feet to the radius to be on the safe side. One of the project managers immediately spoke up and said: “That’s IMPOSSIBLE!”  Really?

It seems there are always people who don’t get it. I realized that it was not enough to simply present the new standard and leave it at that. For the second overview session (for other project managers and superintendents) I approached one of the attendants of the first meeting and told him that I needed a “partner in crime”. After the overview, I will act as if I was a lawyer presenting a crane accident in court and will “pick” my partner, asking him (as well as the attending VP) a number of questions. Hopefully the group will understand that a good lawyer (which I am not pretending to be!!) will take them apart and crush them in a heartbeat and that the notion that safety is “impossible” is not an option.

Here are some questions I will ask:

1. How long have you been in the construction industry?
2. Are you aware of the new standard and the regulations and do you understand the provisions?
   Have you been informed about the responsibilities of the General Contractor?
3. Did you have a preconstruction meeting with the superintendent and the crane company to discuss the plans and conditions?
4. Where is the documentation?
5. Did you perform a JSA? Why not? Do you know how to perform a JSA?
   
6. Mr. VP, it is your responsibility to make sure that your employees follow the regulations. We have just heard that the employee stated that he understands the regulations and knows how to perform a JSA. Can you explain why – although project managers and superintendents have the tools and knowledge available and are aware of the regulations, the JSA was not performed, the work control radius was set up improperly, the sidewalk was not closed, the suspended load was swinging over the public sidewalk, injuring a pedestrian and a worker on the jobs site?
7. Mr. VP, to my knowledge you were a safety manager in one of your previous employments. Is that correct? How long have you been in that position?
8. Mr. VP, you stated before that you are part of the job site start up meetings. A pre-task risk assessment form is available. However, I do not see any documentation that you addressed job site specific hazards in general and crane safety in particular. In addition, I was informed that you visited the job site to review site safety, but you failed to point out the hazard.

 Ah – before you wonder whether I will still have a job after I am done with that session – the VP is part of the “game”….

 Meike Patten, MPSafetyTraining