Creating a Safe Work Environment to Avoid Problems and Injuries

Creating a Safe Work Environment to Avoid Problems and Injuries

Running a successful business isn’t just about creating the right marketing strategy or producing the best product; it also involves the office environment you are creating for your employees. Those who work within safe and welcoming work environments often stay longer and produce higher quality work. Therefore, make sure you adhere to the list of tips posted below to begin steering your office environment towards the right path.

Establish Safety Guidelines

The first thing that you need to do for your business to begin promoting a safe environment is to establish a few safety guidelines. By establishing safety guidelines for the workplace, you can create a better working atmosphere, prevent common workplace injuries, and reduce the risk of serious issues from happening. These guidelines must be looked over every couple of months, combined with a refresher meeting with your entire staff in order to assure that the information remains relevant.

Remove Hazards

After you’ve established guidelines, the next step is to remove all current and potential hazards from your office space. People want to come to a job where they are safe and secure. This cannot be possible if constant tripping and fire hazards are the norms. This can be accomplished by conducting a full audit of your office space. You can either do it yourself or hire a professional team to come in and conduct the safety audit for you. Either way, this is a great move on your part in order to diminish the possibility of injuries and liability issues.

Open Line of Communication

Finally, the most important thing that you can do to improve workplace safety is to create an open line of communication between you and your employees. If the staff feels like they can come to you at any time, that only serves to enhance all the other areas of your safety program. This can be accomplished through monthly town hall meetings where employees ask you questions or through one on one quick meetings with your staff. There are plenty of options when it comes to implementing this into your business. Open communication can bring up emergent issues and prevent later serious problems or safety violations.

As you know, it is incredibly important to maintain a safe work environment for your staff, both to enhance morale and to prevent serious accidents. By being proactive and establishing the right course of action, you can help to make sure your business is a safe workplace.

Essential Features that Your Construction Project Management Software Should Have

Essential Features that Your Construction Project Management Software Should Have

No matter what sort of structure your construction company is building, organization brings a higher level of efficiency. By keeping your operations meticulously streamlined, many problems can be avoided. One of the best ways to accomplish this is through the use of a software management program that tracks all relevant data, allowing managers to make informed decisions that benefit the company. However, not all software is created equal. Here are a few of the things to look for when making your choice.

Project Scheduling and Estimating

Any good program should have a scheduling page that keeps close track of all jobs to be done and when they are to be done. Without this, it is much harder for the management staff to get a clear sense of the roles that each worker will play. As for estimation, this is equally important if you wish to prevent cost overruns.

Document Management

There are a lot of documents involved in a construction project. There are permits, work orders, supply lists, and a whole lot more. Before computers came along, this required specific people to manage files and folders. Now, it can be automated. With so many documents to keep track of, you really can’t afford not to have this feature.

Many of the documents you need are filed with the American Institute Of Architects. As such, it is imperative for documentation and forms to be accurate; otherwise, if they are completed incorrectly, forms will be rejected. AIA software ensures that form submission goes smoothly and documents are filled out properly, so make sure that your program is AIA-compliant.

Automatic Reminders

No one can remember everything at all times. Even the most professional of managers can still benefit from a system that keeps them informed of all relevant deadlines. Many programs will include a calendar program with the option to set various reminders.

Integration with Existing Software

Thanks to the internet, very few computer systems are isolated from one another. Thus, it is essential that your management software does not cause any conflicts with the software used by others. For instance, if one of your employees takes their work home, they should be able to use the program on their home computers with no problem. For this reason, it is good to try and find a program that offers Windows, Mac, and Linux versions.

Good Customer Support

In a piece of complex software that is designed to do many things at once, there is little doubt that customer support will be needed to some extent. Make sure that the company you buy your software from has a good record for customer service and a helpful attitude when contacted. You may even consider faking a problem just so that you can gauge the service of the company. It may sound shady, but it does no harm and also helps to let you know what kind of service to expect. You should also research the company’s history of defect removal.

Make sure you look for all these qualities when shopping around for your construction management software program. Each of them is essential if you are to get the maximum benefit for your money.

If you need help, guidance, or are looking for full service construction management, then Pride One Construction is there for you.

5 Ways To Manage Your Worksite Better

5 Ways To Manage Your Worksite Better

Since even the smallest construction projects involve numerous people and details, it’s important for managers to make full use of the various tools and technology available to them. From keeping employees safe to paying bills, these and other details are encountered in a typical day. Nearly three million nonfatal work-related accidents were reported to the federal government in 2012 alone, and nearly half of those required the injured employee to miss at least one day of work (source). To learn how to effectively manage these tasks, here are five ways you can properly manage even the busiest construction site.

Preventing Accidents and Injuries

When someone goes to work, the last thing that they expect to come home with is an injury. According to one personal injury lawyer, some jobs are more dangerous than others, and the risk of an injury for an employee is higher. However, if a site is properly managed, the chances of injuries occurring is very low. Eric Ramos suggests that proper site management and injury prevention includes (among other measures) always maintain safety and building codes, and ensure workers are using necessary safety equipment such as protective helmets, goggles, and harnesses. In addition to this, make sure anyone operating equipment has been trained and certified to do so since a failure in this area could lead to serious penalties from OSHA.

Inspect the Site Daily

As explained in this article, most construction contracts require daily inspections, make this a top priority. By doing so, you can inspect materials and equipment for damage, and also make sure nothing has been stolen. Make sure you have everything you need to protect your equipment. Safety mats are essential for extending your equipment life and should be on the ground and ready for your machines. Remember, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure

Coordinate Delivery Schedules

To keep a job running on schedule and on budget, coordinate delivery schedules of materials, tools, and equipment with various tradespeople on the site, such as electricians, plumbers, HVAC technicians, and others. By doing so, you’ll avoid unnecessary delays.

Project Management Software

To take some stress off of yourself and those working for you, always utilize state-of-the-art project management software. Very beneficial to small companies, this software can continuously track the progress of the project, letting you know if you’re under or over your budget. And since this software usually has reactive technology, it can constantly update figures based on what’s been done, making its data very accurate and reliable.

Monitor Inspections and Licensing

As a project progresses, various inspections are performed by local, state, and federal agencies. Along with this, new types of licensing are often required with each new phase of a project. Therefore, always monitor inspections and licensing carefully, since failing to do so can sometimes lead to fines or even the possibility of losing the contract, as talked about in this article.

By incorporating these steps into your worksite management plan, chances are you will have a project that comes in under budget, on time, and produces a very satisfied client.

Have more questions about how to manage your construction site, or are looking for the best in commercial construction? Contact us now, and let our experience work for you!

3 Project Management Practices That Pay Off

3 Project Management Practices That Pay Off

Construction projects aren’t easy, and their significance comes from factors, they will be apartments or offices – important places And they need to make a statement. The competitive pressures and economic constraints have made effective management of your project more critical than ever. Tweak the performance of your teams and their projects by using the following tips.

Define Projects

Create a project definition document before anyone goes to work. This will help everyone involved understand the purpose of the project and their role in it. Your project definition should include an overview of the project and its scope, as well as its underlying assumptions and risks. Understanding risks and safety on the worksite is particularly important for those working the project. By planning ahead and instituting safety measures early on, you can minimize the risk of people getting hurt and filing workers’ compensation claims.

Additionally, define the organization that will support and execute the project. You should also include estimates for the effort, time, and money required to complete the project. Be sure to firmly establish lien expectations so that your subcontractors and mechanics know exactly how and when they’ll get paid. Finally, make sure all stakeholders sign-off on your project definition. You can dispel many misunderstandings by merely having proof of their approval. Though, you can look at many different ways to build up and define projects, such as taking a peak at the four phases of project management.

Use Software

What types of construction businesses benefit most from ERP software? Usually, hardware, materials, and equipment manufacturers and distributors are among those that stand to benefit the most from ERP software. Modern technology can give you the tools needed to maintain tight control over your projects and ensure accountability. For example, ERP construction management software can take information from numerous internal process to provide managers with the analyses and reports needed to support effective decision making.

Although ERP software usually has a noticeable price tag, the efficiencies it can introduce can result in the reduction of redundancy and waste. In other words, when you have the right software supporting your project, it can quickly pay for itself. In addition to ERP construction management software, a variety of targeted ERP exists to support every type of business.

Avoid Scope Creep

Assembling teams and getting projects off the ground requires a lot of effort. So does monitoring your project for schedule and budget compliance. When you have things running well, you may soon encounter your greatest threat: scope creep. Just what is scope creep? Scope creep is when you have a plan, but then that outline doesn’t really go the way that you planned – the project takes a different path that may affect your budget and deadline.

When stakeholders see a well-managed project, they often make ancillary requests that you can seemingly assimilate. However, these small changes accumulate and can become game changers if you fail to implement rigid scope-change procedures. Your results will help to explain to everyone involved why you run your project “by-the-book.”

The above tips may seem simple, but they can go a long way to making your projects run more efficiently. Respond right away by insisting on having a completed, approved project definition before starting work. Also, spend as much time as necessary to make sure that you and your teams have the right software for the job.

Finally, identify and eliminate scope creep by running all changes through proper channels. Ultimately, you will have a successful project and boost your career.