Grading and Excavation Contractor

Little Time-Wasters Equal Big Money

By Daniel C. Brown

If you can improve the physical productivity of your workers, you’ll see a direct and proportional reduction in the risk of injury, says Brian Roberts, director of ergonomic services for CNA insurance companies. Roberts oversees CNA’s ergonomic programs, and he offers training for the company’s insured contractors in ways to improve ergonomic productivity.

“Nearly three years ago we started looking at construction, at how we can reduce risk and improve quality and efficiency,” says Roberts. “We went to construction companies with ergonomists and did detailed testing and job-function analyses. And we started developing best practices.” Roberts gave a presentation on the subject at the 16th Annual Construction Safety Conference and Exposition, held last year in Chicago and sponsored by the Construction Safety Council.

Wasting Time
A study from the University of Texas revealed that, on average, construction workers spend only 34% of their day performing fully productive work. The rest was spent in indirect operations and ineffective and miscellaneous activities.

For example, Roberts found one excavating contractor in Atlanta who had staged his pipe 0.5 mile away from the trench. A wheel loader had to travel back and forth, 1 mile round-trip, to deliver pipe joints to the trench. “Had we staged the pipe correctly, we could have saved a lot of time,” says Roberts.

When workers bend over to pick up materials or tools, it places a high strain on their backs. Workers bend over an average of 25,000 times per year, Roberts says. If it takes three seconds to bend down and come back up, that’s 21 hours a year. Multiplied by the number of your workers, that’s a lot of collective back trauma.

“The construction work force is getting older,” says Roberts. “The number-one cause of injury in construction is manual material handling.”

So if you can reduce bending, you can reduce the risk of injury. “Strap four pallets together and get your materials up at waist height,” says Roberts. Another solution: Build a little platform on your sawhorses to hold your electric saw. Then you don’t have to bend to the ground to pick it up.

Long distances to the portable potty create a time-waster. Roberts says CNA had one insured who had located the bathroom 800 feet from the worksite. “On a bridge job it was costing his workers $35,000 a year to go to the bathroom,” says Roberts.

On another project a fiber optic cable installer would pile his crew into the pickup truck and spend 40 minutes, three times a day, to take workers to the bathroom. “I said, ‘Why don’t you get a porta-potty and pull it around with a trailer?’” Roberts says, and the man followed his recommendation.

Walking between places is another time-waster, Roberts says. “We like to see materials placed within 25 feet of where they’re needed,” he asserts. “If you can get it down to 50 feet, that’s good. We’ve got to get superintendents and foremen to recognize things like this.”

Success With Contractors
CNA is having success by consulting with its insured contractors and teaching them to improve productivity, Roberts says. “We go in and talk to top management and get them to buy into the program,” he explains. “Our presentation is specific to the type of contractor they are, whether it’s a roofer or an excavating contractor. Then we identify one manager, a champion for these changes.

“Next, we observe a project,” Roberts says. “How much time do people spend walking? We measure certain times to accomplish things, and set some benchmarks. Then we say we’re going to make some changes. After the changes, we measure the times again. Pretty soon, the company begins to integrate more efficient methods into its business. Usually, it takes six months to a year for that to happen.”

Roberts says too much walking causes fatigue. If walking can be reduced to 1 mile a day from 2 miles, the worker will not be as tired and will be more productive. “My goal is to increase your efficiency by just 2% to 5%,” says Roberts. “By the end of the year, that will add up to a lot of money.”

Brian Roberts agreed to answer phone calls inquiring about this article. You can phone him in Dallas at 214-220-5807.

OSHA Cites Three for Trench Safety Violations
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recently cracked down on three contractors for a range of violations of federal trench-safety standards. No fatalities occurred in these cases. The three contractors, one from Wisconsin and two from New Hampshire, were cited and issued proposed fines as follows:

OSHA proposed fines of $112,250 against Kautza Excavation LLC, doing business in Antigo, WI, for four alleged serious violations and three alleged willful violations.

R.S. Audley Inc. of Bow, NH, faces a total of $50,000 in proposed fines for seven alleged repeat and serious violations of safety standards following OSHA inspections last year.

Powershot Utility Construction Services LLC of Nashua, NH, faces $64,700 in proposed fines from OSHA for alleged cave-in hazards at a North Conway, NH, worksite.

In Kautza’s case, OSHA says the contractor exposed workers to potential cave-in hazards inside a 12-foot-deep trench, failed to provide a safe means of egress from the excavation, and failed to keep the spoil 2 feet back from the edge of the trench.

In New Hampshire, OSHA inspected two Audley work sites—one in North Conway and one in Pembroke—and found employees working in unprotected trenches ranging from 5.8 feet to 9.9 feet in depth. OSHA issued repeat citations because the agency had cited Audley in August 2005 and September 2003 for similar hazards at two other sites in the state.

“A cave-in can crush and bury workers within seconds, leaving them no chance to escape,” said Rosemarie Ohar, OSHA’s area director for New Hampshire. “The hazard is so severe that OSHA inspectors will stop and open an inspection on the spot any time they observe employees working in unprotected trenches.

In the other New Hampshire case, OSHA proposes penalties against Powershot because inspectors found employees working in a 9-foot-deep trench that lacked protection against a collapse. OSHA regulations call for all excavations 5 feet deep or more in certain soil types to be protected by shoring, shielding, or sloping.

Daniel C. Brown owns Technicomm, a communications business in Illinois.

GEC - May 2007

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