In the industrial construction projects, Erection is the last important stage of P.E.B product life cycle which deals with installation P.E.B products. This stage needs the fulfillment of previous stages such as design, fabrication, shipping to job sites. However, in the real erection job sites, especially the job sites in Vietnam, there are lots of problems happened in these stages that make erection stage being delay and can not be completed as expected.
As observation from industrial construction projects in Vietnam, the schedule delay currently becomes very popular. Among the causes of this issue, problems have occurred as a result of poor logistics supply chain network management such as:
1. Delay in delivery time of material , equipment , labor compare to plan
2. Materials were delivered inadequately.
3. Materials were delivered wrongly in type as well as differently from specification.
4. Raw materials for production main structures can not be provided enough for production.
5. Plan and schedule ineffectively that leads to inefficiency in arrangement of equipments and labor.
Mr. Le Khac Bao made a study on construction logistic for Pre Engineering Building construction where the integration of all process of designing, detailing, procurement, fabrication and delivery of finished products to job site for the accomplishment of erection work.
The objectives of his case study were to: (1) provide further insights into the arising problems from construction logistic process for erection job sites of P.E.B company as a real case study; and (2) develop specific recommendations for future improvements.
Conclusion
The results revealed that many causes come from the processes in Plant such as fabrication, purchasing or logistic deliveries, than other stages such as job site and office , and stage should be paid more effort to improve than the other ones . The office stage of engineering department could be seen as the best, but there are still more issues need to be solved.
Finally, no matter what the stage issues were in, all issues should be solved properly in order to implement the current logistic process for propose of success of P.E.B projects.
With objectives of continuous improvement, the implement of these improvements might lead to the needs of new improvements; the new similar studies will be made for implement them.
Recommendation
With the objectives of sustainable development of a new construction area - Steel structure in Vietnamese market, these recommendations should be carefully considered to maintain and improve for final result is the increasing of trade mark reputation and long term relation ship with the customers.
As above analysis, almost of issues of construction logistic process for erection are related closely with human factor, therefore , if something need to be recommended , I would like to recommend to improve which related to human factors. Hereafters are the characters might need to consider to success the purpose of improvement construction logistic for P.E.B projects:
1. Clear policy —Top management should take a leader role in commitment toward improvement. There should be clear policy from top management to support the implement process.
2. The term ‘Just-In-Time’ (JIT) — used for instance to describe the delivery of materials to a construction job site, suggests that materials will be brought to their location for final installation and be installed immediately upon arrival without incurring any delay due to storage in a lay down or staging area. The ultimate objective of JIT production is to supply the right materials at the right time and in the right amount at every step in the process.
3. Being responsible — Each people who involved into construction logistic process should be responsible to what they were assigned is to contribute their part to the success.
4. Honest — always be honest in every situation is the key to success in developing construction logistic.
5. Clear in scope of work — always make clear every thing to Customer Subcontractors as well as between internal departments to avoid unexpected conflict later.
6. By establishing a subcontractor database — we are able to know the information about subcontractors. It helps to have better understanding about sub contractors’ performance.
7. Flexible and Creation — apply the existing value and properties to increase maximum their effectiveness.
8. Looking ahead for sustainable development — doing in professional way for sustainability in development.
His thesis abstract is copied and posted.
Abstract
Erection is the last important stage of P.E.B product life cycle, to complete success this stage, it is requested the fulfillment of previous stages as the erection logistic stage. However, in the real erection job sites, especially the job sites in Vietnam, there a lot of problems happened in this stage that make erection stage can not be completed as expected, by analyzing to find out the root causes of these problems from the data, which are investigated from a real P.E.B company, base on key relevant theories, the Author would like to develop the solutions for future improvements.
Note : (P.E.B : Abbreviation of Pre-Engineering-Building )
Tuesday, 25 May 2010
Monday, 24 May 2010
New Urban Zone Infrastructure Development Project Risks
Risk and uncertainties comes from various sources. In new residential zone project, risk impact schedule of project implement, project quality, project finance and time of customers and government hand-over.
In recent years, many real estate companies have been establishing and many New Residential Zone Projects were established. Along Nguyen Van Linh highway and in HCMC many of new residential zone Infrastructure development projects have been being delayed and project cost over run due to many reason such as land compensation issues, lack of social agreement, insufficient of capital for buying the land, late in permitted from authority especially in master plan and architectural city design, poor in design and construction, water treat and environment issue and so on. In those projects managers could not deal with the risks and uncertainties which they met in project implementation process.
Project risk is an uncertain event or condition that, if it occurs, has a positive or a negative effect on at least one project objective, such as time, cost, scope, or quality (PMI, 2004). Additionally, Ahuja and Nandakumar (1985) demonstrated that a delay in project completion can cause a cost escalation at least equal to the sum of inflation, overhead cost, and addition interest cost for the period.
Furthermore, there is another actuality to be noted that even successful project have not been able to transfer their best performance and knowledge in the effectively and efficiently way to other projects. Consequently, realizing the list of factors contributing to reducing project time and cost is lacking.
Mr. Hoang Ngoc Anh made a study to find out the risks or uncertainties in new urban infrastructure development project in general and in particular An Phu Tay residential zone project of SADECO and to conduct a risk management to response to them. The objectives of his study were: (1) identifying the risk factors in the infrastructure development in new residential area project; and (2) propose strategies to effectively avoid or mitigate the negative impacts of major risks.
Conclusions
Risks and uncertainties come from various sources. Risk can not be eliminated, but can be minimized, transferred or retained. There are some ways of risk dealing such as transfers the risk to another party, avoiding the risk, reducing the negative effect of the risk, and accepting some or all of the consequences of a particular risk.
The process of taking a construction project in general as well as Development infrastructure for new residential project in particular from initial to completion and transfer is complex. Moreover, there are many organizations and partners who involved a construction project, especial in New urban zone Infrastructure Development project. These organizations involve land owners, client, designers, contractors and subcontractors, consultants, material suppliers, power and water suppliers, customers, public facility agencies, authorities and so on.
In new urban zone development project, risk impact schedule of project implement, project quality, project finance and time of customers and government hand-over. In order to deal with risks, it is essential to establish a strategy that can effectively and efficiently response. Thus, this project study tried to identify major risks and conducted a risk management study for New urban zone Infrastructure Development project. Besides it, the author proposed appropriate strategies to mitigate these major risks.
Identify major risks
Characters of New Urban Development Project as follow:
1. Land area of the project has to big enough over 20ha following Decree 02/ND-CP issued by VN Government. Thus, there are a lot of land owners at area that will be construction site.
2. There are various specialized design consultant organizations on engineering infrastructure joining in design.
3. There are many contractors different from specialized technology, constructing in the same site on surface and underground at the same time.
4. Running time for the project implementation is often long.
5. After engineering infrastructure construction completed, developers have to transfer them to Public Facility Agencies and Government for management.
These above characters related with risks and uncertainties occurring in the project. It is essential to understand project’s characters so that we can deal with risks occurring in the project.
According to data from An Phu Tay residential zone project, statistics of new urban zone development projects and the similar projects in HCMC and throughout VN recent, many major risks were identified and found out that the top three risks occurring in this project as follow:
1. Late in design approval by the authorities,
2. Late in site clearance in construction process, and
3. Construction cost increase because of delay and inflation.
Recommendations
The findings of this study are expected to contribute to identify major risks and more effective risk management process in project. This study proposes some recommendation:
1. When planning the Feasibility Study, it is necessary to study carefully on financial capacity of developers, size and implement time of the project, as well as inflation predictions.
2. Specialists of project planning have to master on engineering, get much working experience. They are to estimate scope of works in order to take project running time reasonably.
3. Feasibility Study Evaluation Authority needs to consider the reality to access project’s feasibility; especially, site clearance issue.
4. It is necessary to define clearly capital flow, option for partitioning investment and business in Feasibility Study. Besides, it is suggested to submit ideas to the Government on construction investment, engineering infrastructure constructions lying outside of fences of the project, connection point and so on.
5. To site clearance, developers need to have planning and schedule suitable to construction procedure of the project.
6. Clients must make timely and quickly decisions in negotiating costs with land owners and need to have good relationship with local authorities to get supports in compensation on site clearance. Beside, it is necessary to make arrangements for resettlement area or temporary residence zone for households living at construction region, so that can hand over site area sufficiently to contractor.
7. Choose experienced design companies; project leader of design team has experienced in design the same construction items.
8. Design contract has to be stipulated conditions on reward and punishment; especially, responsibilities on submission and approval at Public Facility Agencies.
9. Designers and consultants have to always update regulations and standards of Government and Public Facility Agency, and responsible for their acceptance and accept of contract based on their ability only.
10. Design costs are low following Vietnam Government’s regulation; therefore, developers should not recommend designers down expenses.
11. EPC contract should be applied on construction items transferred to Public Facility Agencies. EPC contracts will be signed with high-capable companies dealing with transferring products to Public Facility Agencies.
12. As planning construction schedule, it is necessary to study carefully overlapped building items; from then, take measures fitted with surface and underground engineering items building in the same lay-out.
13. Clients should know that high commitment of all people involved in all processes of project is very important to solve complex conflicts and problems occurring in project. In addition, developers have to set up a Project Management Unit (PMU) that owns a team of experienced and capable experts in order to manage and run the project. The PMU must have authority to make decisions quickly under delegation of developers.
14. Clients should make favorable conditions for staffs improving their knowledge, skills and to update new knowledge. On the other hand, to attract capable and experienced experts and engineers, developers should pay high salaries for them.
15. Building construction progress and program must be planned strictly. It should be taken care of items be able to overlapped. For example, as road contractors finish road foundation, contractors on water, electricity are to install uptime underground systems; avoiding that contractors on underground works excavate the roads accomplished to install underground systems; then, reconstruct them as happened to some projects in Vietnam. Besides, it is avoided damages for road contractors as stopping construction to wait for operation of contractors on underground systems.
His thesis abstract is copied and posted.
Abstract
Risks and uncertainties come from various sources. In New Urban Zone Infrastructure Development Project, risks related participants involving the project, impacted schedule of project implement, project quality, project finance and time of customers and government hand-over.
Risk management is an important part of the decision-making process of all construction companies. Risk and uncertainty can potentially have damaging consequences for some construction projects. Risk can be affect productivity, performance, quality, and the budget of the project. Risk can not be eliminated, but can be minimised, transferred or retained
Risk management is a systematic approach to managing unexpected related to a threat, through a sequence of human activities including: Risk identification, Risk classification, Risk analysis, Risk response, Risk evaluation.
In the organization, there are some ways of risk dealing such as transfers the risk to another party, avoiding the risk, reducing the negative effect of the risk, and accepting some or all of the consequences of a particular risk.
In recent years, many real estate companies have been establishing and many New Residential Zone Projects were established. Along Nguyen Van Linh highway and in HCMC many of new residential zone Infrastructure development projects have been being delayed and project cost over run due to many reason such as land compensation issues, lack of social agreement, insufficient of capital for buying the land, late in permitted from authority especially in master plan and architectural city design, poor in design and construction, water treat and environment issue and so on. In those projects managers could not deal with the risks and uncertainties which they met in project implementation process.
Project risk is an uncertain event or condition that, if it occurs, has a positive or a negative effect on at least one project objective, such as time, cost, scope, or quality (PMI, 2004). Additionally, Ahuja and Nandakumar (1985) demonstrated that a delay in project completion can cause a cost escalation at least equal to the sum of inflation, overhead cost, and addition interest cost for the period.
Furthermore, there is another actuality to be noted that even successful project have not been able to transfer their best performance and knowledge in the effectively and efficiently way to other projects. Consequently, realizing the list of factors contributing to reducing project time and cost is lacking.
Mr. Hoang Ngoc Anh made a study to find out the risks or uncertainties in new urban infrastructure development project in general and in particular An Phu Tay residential zone project of SADECO and to conduct a risk management to response to them. The objectives of his study were: (1) identifying the risk factors in the infrastructure development in new residential area project; and (2) propose strategies to effectively avoid or mitigate the negative impacts of major risks.
Conclusions
Risks and uncertainties come from various sources. Risk can not be eliminated, but can be minimized, transferred or retained. There are some ways of risk dealing such as transfers the risk to another party, avoiding the risk, reducing the negative effect of the risk, and accepting some or all of the consequences of a particular risk.
The process of taking a construction project in general as well as Development infrastructure for new residential project in particular from initial to completion and transfer is complex. Moreover, there are many organizations and partners who involved a construction project, especial in New urban zone Infrastructure Development project. These organizations involve land owners, client, designers, contractors and subcontractors, consultants, material suppliers, power and water suppliers, customers, public facility agencies, authorities and so on.
In new urban zone development project, risk impact schedule of project implement, project quality, project finance and time of customers and government hand-over. In order to deal with risks, it is essential to establish a strategy that can effectively and efficiently response. Thus, this project study tried to identify major risks and conducted a risk management study for New urban zone Infrastructure Development project. Besides it, the author proposed appropriate strategies to mitigate these major risks.
Identify major risks
Characters of New Urban Development Project as follow:
1. Land area of the project has to big enough over 20ha following Decree 02/ND-CP issued by VN Government. Thus, there are a lot of land owners at area that will be construction site.
2. There are various specialized design consultant organizations on engineering infrastructure joining in design.
3. There are many contractors different from specialized technology, constructing in the same site on surface and underground at the same time.
4. Running time for the project implementation is often long.
5. After engineering infrastructure construction completed, developers have to transfer them to Public Facility Agencies and Government for management.
These above characters related with risks and uncertainties occurring in the project. It is essential to understand project’s characters so that we can deal with risks occurring in the project.
According to data from An Phu Tay residential zone project, statistics of new urban zone development projects and the similar projects in HCMC and throughout VN recent, many major risks were identified and found out that the top three risks occurring in this project as follow:
1. Late in design approval by the authorities,
2. Late in site clearance in construction process, and
3. Construction cost increase because of delay and inflation.
Recommendations
The findings of this study are expected to contribute to identify major risks and more effective risk management process in project. This study proposes some recommendation:
1. When planning the Feasibility Study, it is necessary to study carefully on financial capacity of developers, size and implement time of the project, as well as inflation predictions.
2. Specialists of project planning have to master on engineering, get much working experience. They are to estimate scope of works in order to take project running time reasonably.
3. Feasibility Study Evaluation Authority needs to consider the reality to access project’s feasibility; especially, site clearance issue.
4. It is necessary to define clearly capital flow, option for partitioning investment and business in Feasibility Study. Besides, it is suggested to submit ideas to the Government on construction investment, engineering infrastructure constructions lying outside of fences of the project, connection point and so on.
5. To site clearance, developers need to have planning and schedule suitable to construction procedure of the project.
6. Clients must make timely and quickly decisions in negotiating costs with land owners and need to have good relationship with local authorities to get supports in compensation on site clearance. Beside, it is necessary to make arrangements for resettlement area or temporary residence zone for households living at construction region, so that can hand over site area sufficiently to contractor.
7. Choose experienced design companies; project leader of design team has experienced in design the same construction items.
8. Design contract has to be stipulated conditions on reward and punishment; especially, responsibilities on submission and approval at Public Facility Agencies.
9. Designers and consultants have to always update regulations and standards of Government and Public Facility Agency, and responsible for their acceptance and accept of contract based on their ability only.
10. Design costs are low following Vietnam Government’s regulation; therefore, developers should not recommend designers down expenses.
11. EPC contract should be applied on construction items transferred to Public Facility Agencies. EPC contracts will be signed with high-capable companies dealing with transferring products to Public Facility Agencies.
12. As planning construction schedule, it is necessary to study carefully overlapped building items; from then, take measures fitted with surface and underground engineering items building in the same lay-out.
13. Clients should know that high commitment of all people involved in all processes of project is very important to solve complex conflicts and problems occurring in project. In addition, developers have to set up a Project Management Unit (PMU) that owns a team of experienced and capable experts in order to manage and run the project. The PMU must have authority to make decisions quickly under delegation of developers.
14. Clients should make favorable conditions for staffs improving their knowledge, skills and to update new knowledge. On the other hand, to attract capable and experienced experts and engineers, developers should pay high salaries for them.
15. Building construction progress and program must be planned strictly. It should be taken care of items be able to overlapped. For example, as road contractors finish road foundation, contractors on water, electricity are to install uptime underground systems; avoiding that contractors on underground works excavate the roads accomplished to install underground systems; then, reconstruct them as happened to some projects in Vietnam. Besides, it is avoided damages for road contractors as stopping construction to wait for operation of contractors on underground systems.
His thesis abstract is copied and posted.
Abstract
Risks and uncertainties come from various sources. In New Urban Zone Infrastructure Development Project, risks related participants involving the project, impacted schedule of project implement, project quality, project finance and time of customers and government hand-over.
Risk management is an important part of the decision-making process of all construction companies. Risk and uncertainty can potentially have damaging consequences for some construction projects. Risk can be affect productivity, performance, quality, and the budget of the project. Risk can not be eliminated, but can be minimised, transferred or retained
Risk management is a systematic approach to managing unexpected related to a threat, through a sequence of human activities including: Risk identification, Risk classification, Risk analysis, Risk response, Risk evaluation.
In the organization, there are some ways of risk dealing such as transfers the risk to another party, avoiding the risk, reducing the negative effect of the risk, and accepting some or all of the consequences of a particular risk.
Friday, 21 May 2010
Safety Management In Steel Structure Fabrication And Erection
Safety in Construction is considered the success of project. In developed countries, safety is the always concern and closely controlled whereas in developing countries, in order to reduce expenses, this work seems unconcerned in many projects which results in many accidents that really affect the project seriously.
Safety in the fabrication and erection steel structure has always been a major problem. Steel construction is found to be one of the most dangerous on safety and health criteria, particularly in developing countries with a lot of accidents. Though much improvement in steel construction safety has been achieved, the steel structure fabrication and erection still continues to lag behind most other activities with regard to safety.
In Vietnam steel construction industry, safety accident rate is very high. This is due a lot of causes such as lack of workers’ awareness on safety, lack of safety training for workers to implement in the project, lack of PPE for workers, substandard construction equipments, lack of safety policy, safety plan, and so on.
The company-TT Construction has set the safety management system and it has been implemented in the GREEN STAR projects. In construction stage, some minor accidents and one major accident happened.
Mr. Bui Giang Nam wanted to assess the project safety plan and the safety management system of the project so we have information and experience for other projects in analyzing accidents happened in his company. His study focused on the specific objectives as follows:
1. Analyze the typical accident in the steel structure project;
2. Assess the project safety plan and safety management system; and
3. Propose recommendations for improvements safety management system
Conclusion
Most of the construction companies in Vietnam emphasize more on quality and productivity in terms of output. However, safety is one of the key measurements of good productivity which the people seldom realize. Through the analyzing of some accidents happened on the Green Start Project, the Safety plan was lack of some articles . The characteristic of ironworks are different and more dangerous from other works in construction . TT company should establish some procedures on the safety plan in future project
Following the Accident/Incident theory: Management of TT Company does not establish a comprehensive safety policy. Responsibility and authority with regard to safety are not clearly defined. Safety procedures such as measurement, inspection, correction, and investigation are ignored or given insufficient attention. Employees do not receive proper orientation. Employees are not given sufficient safety training or persons were trained on hazards and safe work procedures but not follow when performing the task.
Some problems of the Safety management system of TT Company :
- Unadequate commitment of top management
- Lack of Human resources for SMS
- Lack of Incentive and Reward
There are some key elements that can be the examples for other companies especially construction companies in Vietnam has written job description for each safety personnel on company and on site, provide safety training and record keeping which can be used as the document for safety measurement. Furthermore, there are written rules and regulations for each site personnel, safety committees to ensure the deployment of the safety plan, policy and programs.
Recommendation
TT Company should has some adjustments with their Safety management system such as:
1. Top manager should has commitment to supporting OH&S
2. Top manager commit to support OH&S. Establishing a Safety Management Organization with defined responsibilities of management staff as overall co-ordination and implementation of the Policy and the Safety Management System in the project
Besides financial supporting adequacy, top management staff have to realize their roles to play in safety. They should appreciate the communication between them and the frontline workers, which could impress the workers and thus improve the workers’ risk-taking mindset.
- Ensure that human resource is adequate for implementing and maintaining Safety Management System
TT company should recruit safety managers and safety supervisors for other projects in the future. The supervisor should provide the means to ensure that all workers are adequately instructed and trained , ensure that workers doing dangerous work have adequate training, experience and other qualities to carry out the work safely.
- Establish the incentive programme in order to motivate workers doing their jobs safely
• Behaviors required to achieve a safety reward should be specified and perceived as achievable by participants
• Everyone who meets behavioral criteria should be rewarded
• It is better for many participants to receive small rewards than for one person to receive a large reward
• Rewards should be displayable and represent safety achievement (I.e., coffee mugs, t-shirts, hats or jackets with a safety message)
• Contests should not reward one group at the expense of others
• Groups should not be penalized (lose rewards) for failure by individuals
• Progress towards achieving a safety reward should be systematically monitored and publicly posted
TT Company should also conducts Job Hazard Analysis which includes hazard identification and risk assessment to anticipate the hazard on site, the harshness of the consequences and the probability to happen. Moreover, TT company should also implement PPE program, accident investigation to reduce the probability of re-happening, emergency preparedness, safety promotion to induce the workers to work safely, evaluation of the subcontractor, health and welfare, security control, equipment inspection and waste material movement plan.
There are some key provisions of steel fabrication and erection when setting procedures for ironworks like: Cold stress; Heat stress; Lead exposure; Site Layout and Construction Sequence; Site-Specific Erection Plan; Hoisting and Rigging; Structural Steel Assembly; Column Anchorage; Beams and Columns; Open-Web Steel Joists; Systems-Engineered Metal Buildings; Falling Object Protection; and Training
Besides establishing appropriate safety procedures related with steel fabrication and erection Safety Policies of TT company should include:
1. The commitment of the top management to support OH&S. Ensure adequate supporting for implementing, maintaining and improving the SMS. To give Safety to be the highest priority and to inject safety consideration into every aspect of the Project
2. To recognize employees are the most important assets and to enrich their safety awareness by ways of Interactive Safety Training, Safety Promotion, Safety Meeting and Counseling.
3. To regular review, not least than once per year, the Policy, the Safety Management System for its efficiency and effectiveness by way of Management Inspection and Review and Safety Audit conducted by Senior Management Staff,
4. To maintain a high standard of safety performance and to the satisfaction of the Client at all time and also a progressively improvement in the standard achieved by continue monitoring and regular review.
His Thesis abstract is copied and posted.
Abstract
Safety in the fabrication and erection steel structure has always been a major issue. Wherever reliable records are available, steel construction is found to be one of the most dangerous on safety and health criteria, particularly in developing countries. Though much improvement in steel construction safety has been achieved, the erection steel structure still continues to lag behind most other activities with regard to safety. In developing countries, safety in fabrication and erection rules usually do not exist; if any exist, the regulatory authority is usually very weak in implementing such rules effectively. Further, work hazards at the construction workplace are either not perceived at all, or perceived to be less dangerous than what they actually are.
Most steel companies can give many good reasons why they want to implement management safety system. A well-designed safety management system can help to reduce injuries and illnesses and prevent risks and hazards. In addition, a good management system can increase efficiency, improve productivity and quality of services.
Through the assessment of some typical accident cases in steel construction of one project in LONG AN- The Green Star Factory, I want to assess the project safety plan and the safety management system of TT Company. Furthermore, I want to improve the existing safety management system of the company in order to prevent the accident happening in the future.
Safety in the fabrication and erection steel structure has always been a major problem. Steel construction is found to be one of the most dangerous on safety and health criteria, particularly in developing countries with a lot of accidents. Though much improvement in steel construction safety has been achieved, the steel structure fabrication and erection still continues to lag behind most other activities with regard to safety.
In Vietnam steel construction industry, safety accident rate is very high. This is due a lot of causes such as lack of workers’ awareness on safety, lack of safety training for workers to implement in the project, lack of PPE for workers, substandard construction equipments, lack of safety policy, safety plan, and so on.
The company-TT Construction has set the safety management system and it has been implemented in the GREEN STAR projects. In construction stage, some minor accidents and one major accident happened.
Mr. Bui Giang Nam wanted to assess the project safety plan and the safety management system of the project so we have information and experience for other projects in analyzing accidents happened in his company. His study focused on the specific objectives as follows:
1. Analyze the typical accident in the steel structure project;
2. Assess the project safety plan and safety management system; and
3. Propose recommendations for improvements safety management system
Conclusion
Most of the construction companies in Vietnam emphasize more on quality and productivity in terms of output. However, safety is one of the key measurements of good productivity which the people seldom realize. Through the analyzing of some accidents happened on the Green Start Project, the Safety plan was lack of some articles . The characteristic of ironworks are different and more dangerous from other works in construction . TT company should establish some procedures on the safety plan in future project
Following the Accident/Incident theory: Management of TT Company does not establish a comprehensive safety policy. Responsibility and authority with regard to safety are not clearly defined. Safety procedures such as measurement, inspection, correction, and investigation are ignored or given insufficient attention. Employees do not receive proper orientation. Employees are not given sufficient safety training or persons were trained on hazards and safe work procedures but not follow when performing the task.
Some problems of the Safety management system of TT Company :
- Unadequate commitment of top management
- Lack of Human resources for SMS
- Lack of Incentive and Reward
There are some key elements that can be the examples for other companies especially construction companies in Vietnam has written job description for each safety personnel on company and on site, provide safety training and record keeping which can be used as the document for safety measurement. Furthermore, there are written rules and regulations for each site personnel, safety committees to ensure the deployment of the safety plan, policy and programs.
Recommendation
TT Company should has some adjustments with their Safety management system such as:
1. Top manager should has commitment to supporting OH&S
2. Top manager commit to support OH&S. Establishing a Safety Management Organization with defined responsibilities of management staff as overall co-ordination and implementation of the Policy and the Safety Management System in the project
Besides financial supporting adequacy, top management staff have to realize their roles to play in safety. They should appreciate the communication between them and the frontline workers, which could impress the workers and thus improve the workers’ risk-taking mindset.
- Ensure that human resource is adequate for implementing and maintaining Safety Management System
TT company should recruit safety managers and safety supervisors for other projects in the future. The supervisor should provide the means to ensure that all workers are adequately instructed and trained , ensure that workers doing dangerous work have adequate training, experience and other qualities to carry out the work safely.
- Establish the incentive programme in order to motivate workers doing their jobs safely
• Behaviors required to achieve a safety reward should be specified and perceived as achievable by participants
• Everyone who meets behavioral criteria should be rewarded
• It is better for many participants to receive small rewards than for one person to receive a large reward
• Rewards should be displayable and represent safety achievement (I.e., coffee mugs, t-shirts, hats or jackets with a safety message)
• Contests should not reward one group at the expense of others
• Groups should not be penalized (lose rewards) for failure by individuals
• Progress towards achieving a safety reward should be systematically monitored and publicly posted
TT Company should also conducts Job Hazard Analysis which includes hazard identification and risk assessment to anticipate the hazard on site, the harshness of the consequences and the probability to happen. Moreover, TT company should also implement PPE program, accident investigation to reduce the probability of re-happening, emergency preparedness, safety promotion to induce the workers to work safely, evaluation of the subcontractor, health and welfare, security control, equipment inspection and waste material movement plan.
There are some key provisions of steel fabrication and erection when setting procedures for ironworks like: Cold stress; Heat stress; Lead exposure; Site Layout and Construction Sequence; Site-Specific Erection Plan; Hoisting and Rigging; Structural Steel Assembly; Column Anchorage; Beams and Columns; Open-Web Steel Joists; Systems-Engineered Metal Buildings; Falling Object Protection; and Training
Besides establishing appropriate safety procedures related with steel fabrication and erection Safety Policies of TT company should include:
1. The commitment of the top management to support OH&S. Ensure adequate supporting for implementing, maintaining and improving the SMS. To give Safety to be the highest priority and to inject safety consideration into every aspect of the Project
2. To recognize employees are the most important assets and to enrich their safety awareness by ways of Interactive Safety Training, Safety Promotion, Safety Meeting and Counseling.
3. To regular review, not least than once per year, the Policy, the Safety Management System for its efficiency and effectiveness by way of Management Inspection and Review and Safety Audit conducted by Senior Management Staff,
4. To maintain a high standard of safety performance and to the satisfaction of the Client at all time and also a progressively improvement in the standard achieved by continue monitoring and regular review.
His Thesis abstract is copied and posted.
Abstract
Safety in the fabrication and erection steel structure has always been a major issue. Wherever reliable records are available, steel construction is found to be one of the most dangerous on safety and health criteria, particularly in developing countries. Though much improvement in steel construction safety has been achieved, the erection steel structure still continues to lag behind most other activities with regard to safety. In developing countries, safety in fabrication and erection rules usually do not exist; if any exist, the regulatory authority is usually very weak in implementing such rules effectively. Further, work hazards at the construction workplace are either not perceived at all, or perceived to be less dangerous than what they actually are.
Most steel companies can give many good reasons why they want to implement management safety system. A well-designed safety management system can help to reduce injuries and illnesses and prevent risks and hazards. In addition, a good management system can increase efficiency, improve productivity and quality of services.
Through the assessment of some typical accident cases in steel construction of one project in LONG AN- The Green Star Factory, I want to assess the project safety plan and the safety management system of TT Company. Furthermore, I want to improve the existing safety management system of the company in order to prevent the accident happening in the future.
Thursday, 20 May 2010
SET Industry Day in HCM, 29 May 2010
ENGINEER FOR FUTURE - TECHNOLOGY AND APPLICATION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
SOFITEL HOTEL, HCM
29 MAY 2010
Wednesday, 19 May 2010
SET/CEIM opens first batch of MPM in Cantho City
The Professional Master in Project Management Specialized in Construction was launched in Can Tho City on May 7, 2010. The opening ceremony was attended by Dr. Amrit Bart, AIT-CV Director; Ms. Nguyen Thi Bich Hoa, AIT-CV Deputy Director; Dr. Nitin Vasant Afzulfurkar, Associate Professor and Dean of School of Engineering and Technology; Dr. B. H. W. Hadikusumo, Associate Professor and Coordinator for Construction Engineering and Infrastructure Management and Master in Project Management (Professional); Ms. Nguyen Le Tuong, Local Program Coordinator for AIT-CV; Ms. Kieu Phu Ly, SET Secretary-Hanoi; and Ms. Bui Thuy Nga, SET Secretary-Ho Chi Minh City.
Twenty students enrolled in the MPM program for May (2010) Semester intake. Below is the complete list.
Full name Organization
1 Mr. Nguyễn Hoàng Đạo, Can Tho Department of Transportation
2 Mr. Hồ Chí Linh, College of Engineering Technology - CanTho University, Campus II
3 Mr. Tạ Chí Nhân, Can Tho Department of Construction
4 Mr. Lê Minh Nhựt, Hoa Binh Company
5 Mr. Lê Thành Phiêu, College of Engineering Technology - CanTho University, Campus II
6 Mr. Đặng Thái Sơn, TKN Kajima-Nippon steel
7 Mr. Huỳnh Thanh Sử, Can Tho Housing Development and Trading Company
8 Mr. Nguyễn Tiến Thực, Board of management of development and investment project - Thoi Lai district, Can Tho city
9 Mr. Nguyễn Thanh Trong, Soc Trang Department of Construction
10 Mr. Phạm Thành Trung, Constexim Holdings Projects
11 Mr. Phùng Quang Hiệp, PVSWG ( Petro Vietnam South West Gas )
12 Mr. Phạm Văn Hùng, PVSWG ( Petro Vietnam South West Gas )
13 Mr. Phạm Bình Lâm, PVSWG ( Petro Vietnam South West Gas )
14 Mr. Lê Quang Sơn, PVSWG ( Petro Vietnam South West Gas )
15 Mr. Lê Anh Thông Long Phu, Song Hau Petroleum Power Project Management Board
16 Mr. Nguyễn Viết Hiến, PVC (Petro Vietnam construction joint stock Corporation)
17 Mr. Hoàng Duy Phước, PVC (Petro Vietnam construction joint stock Corporation)
18 Mr. Lưu Hồng Linh, PVF Can Tho
19 Mr. Nguyễn Thanh Hải, PVF Can Tho
20 Ms. Lê Trương Mai Hoàng, PVF Can Tho
Photos during the opening ceremony.
Thursday, 13 May 2010
Wednesday, 12 May 2010
Construction Work Performance Under Bovis Lend Lease Safety Program
Throughout the construction projects starting from the design phase till the end of construction execution phase, numerous project management actions are deployed i.e. planning, quality assurance, communication system, and so forth (Chan et. al, 2004). Safety issues action is also included in order to execute the project safely. This is because if the accident occurs during execution, particularly major accidents, it leads to many disadvantages for company such as cost incurred from medical treatment, interrupting construction schedule, and impairing the reputation of firms.
Consequently, each company has established its own safety program for preventing the occurrence of accidents, as many companies have recognized the potential impacts of accidents. But do they ever review “What are the impacts of such safety program”, or in other words whether the program positively or negatively affected their execution. NOHSC (National Occupational Health & Safety Commission) has stated that most of companies have traditionally focused only on outcome measures of performance, for example, the accident records.
Systematic reviewing of performance is the key to successful management as stated in Holt (2001) since it reflects the actual conditions of the operation. Thus it will enable the re-development and modification of the strategy.
Therefore, these problems have arisen in Mr. Thanapat Leingtong’s study. His study focused in two aspects for reviewing the actual position. The first aspect is, for example, under their safety program, do they know that:
• Whether the root causes of accidents still exist or were eliminated – according to Holt (2001), the root causes of accidents are primarily referred to unsafe activities and conditions.
• Whether project participants satisfied the program.
• How does such safety program contribute to improving or declining the project work performances?
The second aspect is, whether their situation is superior or inferior to other companies that applied different programs.
According to the first aspect, the research has developed three significant issues in terms of effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction in order to determine the impact of safety implementation. To this effect, Bovis Lend Lease Company has been selected as a case study and also it has been compared with other Non-BLL companies to study the second aspect of this study.
The study aimed to investigate the actual construction work performances under safety operation of Case Study Company i.e. Bovis Lend Lease Company. The main objectives of the study were enumerated as follows:
1. To study the Environment Health & safety program under Bovis Lend Lease Company
2. To study the impacts of Bovis Lend Lease EH&S program and safety management on construction work performances in terms of effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction.
Conclusions
Similar with finance, production or sales, the companies also need to measure and study the impact of their health and safety performances in order to find out if they are being successful. They need to know: where they are; and what’s the difference –and why. Therefore, the safety performance measurements are taken into account in order to answer these questions and provide related information as well as facilitate the management in decision making. Measures of safety performance are intended to give an indication of how a company is performing. The above mentioned questions such as where they are, what’s the difference and why, can be answered by conducting the safety performances measurement and making comparisons against a company’s past performances, industry standard, or other companies. Since this study undertakes to capture safety performances of Bovis Lend Lease Company, which is the case study company, the comparisons against other companies approach was selected in order to identify where BLL is and also the difference between BLL and Non-BLL Company.
After having determined the approach to track the company performances, the next problem was what should be measured to make comparisons. The reviews of past researches on the various types of safety performance measures showed that different types of information are provided by different measures. Therefore, the study has employed various effective measures, which are both positive and negative indicators, and reasonably measured the process, output, and outcome of each company for making comparisons against other companies.
Commencing from “input”, the study controlled the samples by selecting same scale and type of comparative companies, therefore, the uncontrolled hazards are not much of difference. In addition, comparative companies must have safety management system and its implementation during execution. Next, the measurement of “process” is conducted to see the differences and adequacy of system. Subsequently, the “output” and “outcome” are measured and compared to identify the differences in effectiveness and satisfaction of safety implementation in all aspects. Furthermore, the study of efficiency and productivity of workers are also included in this research to identify the labor productivity of each project i.e. if they have the same or different proportion of productivity when the site conditions are different.
His thesis abstract is copied and posted.
Abstract
Similar with finance, production or sales, the companies also need to measure the impact of their health and safety performances to analyze if they are being successful. Therefore, safety performance measurements are considered to provide information and facilitate management in decision-making relevant to re-evaluation and development of strategy. This study is concerned with the systematic reviewing of safety performance in terms of effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction. Study has been carried out with an aim to examine safety performances of BLL and Non-BLL Company. In order to compare BLL against Non-BLL Company, the study has employed various effective measures, both positive and negative indicators. The study has also reasonably measured the process, output, and outcome of the companies for making comparisons and in order to identify the current status of BLL and their differences with the Non-BLL in terms of safety management. The study indicated that BLL has better safety management than Non-BLL. Moreover, BLL’s performances are statistically better in terms of site conditions and employee satisfaction. But unsafe acts performed, worker satisfaction, and proportion of productivity are not statistically different. Strengths of BLL are comprehensive safety management, clear safety roles and responsibilities, systematic hazard control, well-organized safety training, high commitment, regularly conduct self-inspection, and employed full-time safety manager. Weaknesses of BLL are negligence, numerous subcontractors, and team conflicts.
Consequently, each company has established its own safety program for preventing the occurrence of accidents, as many companies have recognized the potential impacts of accidents. But do they ever review “What are the impacts of such safety program”, or in other words whether the program positively or negatively affected their execution. NOHSC (National Occupational Health & Safety Commission) has stated that most of companies have traditionally focused only on outcome measures of performance, for example, the accident records.
Systematic reviewing of performance is the key to successful management as stated in Holt (2001) since it reflects the actual conditions of the operation. Thus it will enable the re-development and modification of the strategy.
Therefore, these problems have arisen in Mr. Thanapat Leingtong’s study. His study focused in two aspects for reviewing the actual position. The first aspect is, for example, under their safety program, do they know that:
• Whether the root causes of accidents still exist or were eliminated – according to Holt (2001), the root causes of accidents are primarily referred to unsafe activities and conditions.
• Whether project participants satisfied the program.
• How does such safety program contribute to improving or declining the project work performances?
The second aspect is, whether their situation is superior or inferior to other companies that applied different programs.
According to the first aspect, the research has developed three significant issues in terms of effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction in order to determine the impact of safety implementation. To this effect, Bovis Lend Lease Company has been selected as a case study and also it has been compared with other Non-BLL companies to study the second aspect of this study.
The study aimed to investigate the actual construction work performances under safety operation of Case Study Company i.e. Bovis Lend Lease Company. The main objectives of the study were enumerated as follows:
1. To study the Environment Health & safety program under Bovis Lend Lease Company
2. To study the impacts of Bovis Lend Lease EH&S program and safety management on construction work performances in terms of effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction.
Conclusions
Similar with finance, production or sales, the companies also need to measure and study the impact of their health and safety performances in order to find out if they are being successful. They need to know: where they are; and what’s the difference –and why. Therefore, the safety performance measurements are taken into account in order to answer these questions and provide related information as well as facilitate the management in decision making. Measures of safety performance are intended to give an indication of how a company is performing. The above mentioned questions such as where they are, what’s the difference and why, can be answered by conducting the safety performances measurement and making comparisons against a company’s past performances, industry standard, or other companies. Since this study undertakes to capture safety performances of Bovis Lend Lease Company, which is the case study company, the comparisons against other companies approach was selected in order to identify where BLL is and also the difference between BLL and Non-BLL Company.
After having determined the approach to track the company performances, the next problem was what should be measured to make comparisons. The reviews of past researches on the various types of safety performance measures showed that different types of information are provided by different measures. Therefore, the study has employed various effective measures, which are both positive and negative indicators, and reasonably measured the process, output, and outcome of each company for making comparisons against other companies.
Commencing from “input”, the study controlled the samples by selecting same scale and type of comparative companies, therefore, the uncontrolled hazards are not much of difference. In addition, comparative companies must have safety management system and its implementation during execution. Next, the measurement of “process” is conducted to see the differences and adequacy of system. Subsequently, the “output” and “outcome” are measured and compared to identify the differences in effectiveness and satisfaction of safety implementation in all aspects. Furthermore, the study of efficiency and productivity of workers are also included in this research to identify the labor productivity of each project i.e. if they have the same or different proportion of productivity when the site conditions are different.
His thesis abstract is copied and posted.
Abstract
Similar with finance, production or sales, the companies also need to measure the impact of their health and safety performances to analyze if they are being successful. Therefore, safety performance measurements are considered to provide information and facilitate management in decision-making relevant to re-evaluation and development of strategy. This study is concerned with the systematic reviewing of safety performance in terms of effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction. Study has been carried out with an aim to examine safety performances of BLL and Non-BLL Company. In order to compare BLL against Non-BLL Company, the study has employed various effective measures, both positive and negative indicators. The study has also reasonably measured the process, output, and outcome of the companies for making comparisons and in order to identify the current status of BLL and their differences with the Non-BLL in terms of safety management. The study indicated that BLL has better safety management than Non-BLL. Moreover, BLL’s performances are statistically better in terms of site conditions and employee satisfaction. But unsafe acts performed, worker satisfaction, and proportion of productivity are not statistically different. Strengths of BLL are comprehensive safety management, clear safety roles and responsibilities, systematic hazard control, well-organized safety training, high commitment, regularly conduct self-inspection, and employed full-time safety manager. Weaknesses of BLL are negligence, numerous subcontractors, and team conflicts.
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