Hard Hats and Hard Truths: Top 5 Lessons Learned for 2024
As we close out 2024, it’s an ideal time to reflect on the challenges, triumphs, and lessons that have shaped our projects this year. Demolition and construction are dynamic industries where adaptability is crucial, but success ultimately hinges on our ability to manage change, balance stakeholder needs, and maintain clear communication. This year has highlighted five core lessons that will guide us as we move forward into 2025.
Management of Change
Change is inevitable in demolition and construction projects. Even with well-thought-out methodologies and risk assessments tailored to each site, unforeseen conditions can arise. Whether it's unexpected underground utilities, structural variances, or hazardous materials, deviations from the original plan often become necessary.
However, incidents frequently occur when changes are made without consultation or without implementing new controls to replace the ones no longer applicable.
Key Strategies to Manage Change Effectively:
Consult Before Implementing Changes: When a change is required, always involve management, clients, and site teams before moving forward. This ensures all parties are aware and agree on the new approach.
Document New Controls: If existing safety controls cannot be followed, document and confirm replacement controls before proceeding.
Communication Channels: Maintain open and consistent communication pathways, so that any deviations or adjustments are quickly and effectively shared with all relevant parties.
Review and Approval: Formalise the process of reviewing and approving changes to avoid misunderstandings and ensure all safety, quality, and environmental considerations are met.
By prioritising consultation and thorough communication, we can minimise risks associated with unexpected changes and maintain the integrity of our projects.
Separating Client vs Worker Needs
Balancing the expectations of clients with the practical needs of workers on-site can be challenging. Under the Health & Safety at Work Act, clients have a duty to ensure health and safety risks are managed by their contractors. This often leads to comprehensive prequalification processes and requirements for detailed documentation.
While thorough documentation helps reassure clients, it can overwhelm on-site teams if the information is not relevant to day-to-day operations.
Streamlining Safety Documentation:
Focus on Immediate Relevance: Ensure the Site-Specific Safety Plan (SSSP) contains only the critical information needed for on-site tasks.
Provide Digital Access: Supplement essential documents with links, apps, or cloud storage for additional resources like policies, risk registers, and training logs. This allows workers to access supplementary information without overloading the primary documentation.
Maximise Usability: Simplified and focused documents help teams stay on task and ensure safety procedures are understood and followed effectively.
This approach ensures clients meet their legal obligations while providing site teams with practical, usable documentation that enhances safety and efficiency.
Pros and Cons of Short Deadlines
Managing workload in a project-driven industry like demolition often means balancing multiple jobs simultaneously. Short deadlines can put additional strain on resources, leading to potential inefficiencies and increased costs. However, they can also drive innovation and force teams to find creative solutions.
Challenges of Short Deadlines:
Resource Constraints: Immediate starts often require reshuffling teams or hiring additional labour, which may come at higher costs and with varying levels of skill.
Impact on Quality: Frequent handovers and changes can result in miscommunications and errors, affecting the quality of the work.
Increased Costs: Acceleration often means overtime pay, nigh-shift allowances, equipment rentals, or reliance on unskilled labour, which can strain budgets.
Opportunities for Growth:
Encouraging Innovation: Tight timeframes can lead to the development of new methodologies or creative use of machinery to achieve objectives efficiently.
Efficiency Improvements: Teams may identify new processes or workflows that improve overall productivity, even if initially driven by necessity.
Flexibility and Adaptability: Successfully managing short deadlines demonstrates the resilience and capability of the team, which can strengthen client relationships and company reputation.
Balancing these challenges and opportunities requires careful planning, clear communication, and flexibility in resource allocation.
Internal Handovers
Projects pass through multiple stages, from initial pricing and contract terms to execution and completion. Each stage typically involves different teams or individuals, increasing the risk of key details being lost or misinterpreted.
Steps for Effective Internal Handovers:
Document Everything Clearly: Create comprehensive handover documents that capture essential details, including project scope, client requirements, risks, and controls.
Consistent Communication: Ensure the handover process includes direct communication between teams to clarify any ambiguities or concerns.
Accessible Information: Store handover documents in a centralised system where all relevant parties can easily access them.
Checklists and Templates: Standardised templates or checklists help ensure that no critical information is missed during the handover process.
Effective handovers reduce errors, maintain project consistency, and ensure teams are aligned with client expectations and safety standards.
Role of Information
The success of a project often hinges on having the right information at the right time. In 2024, we encountered both extremes: overwhelming amounts of irrelevant data and a lack of essential details.
Information Challenges:
Overload: Excessive documentation, such as lengthy reports or hundreds of pages of site drawings, can obscure the critical details needed for specific tasks.
Gaps in Information: On the other hand, incomplete information — such as a single photo of asbestos without a survey or map — can lead to dangerous assumptions and inefficiencies.
Unclear Revisions: When revised documents are provided without clear indications of changes, valuable time is wasted identifying what has been updated.
Best Practices for Managing Information:
Focus on Relevance: Provide only the critical information needed for each project stage. For example:
For demolition projects, share the specific sections of the site plan relevant to demolition, not the entire set of drawings.
For asbestos removal, include detailed surveys, maps, and quantities, not just photos or addresses.
Highlight Changes: When revisions occur, clearly mark what has changed to avoid confusion.
Early Delivery: Provide complete and accurate information as early as possible to reduce the need for assumptions or last-minute adjustments.
Providing the right information in a timely and clear manner enables teams to work efficiently and safely, avoiding unnecessary risks and delays.
The Common Theme: Consultation and Communication
Reflecting on these lessons, the core message is clear: consultation and communication are the foundation of successful projects. Whether managing change, balancing stakeholder needs, dealing with tight deadlines, ensuring smooth handovers, or handling project information, effective communication ensures everyone is aligned and prepared.
Key Takeaways for 2025:
Communicate Changes Clearly: Engage all relevant parties when deviations arise and confirm new controls before proceeding.
Streamline Safety Documentation: Provide only essential information for on-site tasks and use digital tools for additional resources.
Plan for Deadlines Thoughtfully: Balance resource allocation and embrace opportunities for innovation where possible.
Standardise Handovers: Ensure vital information is consistently communicated and documented.
Share Relevant Information: Focus on delivering what’s needed and highlight changes clearly to avoid confusion.
By embedding these practices into our projects, we can navigate challenges, improve efficiency, and continue to achieve successful outcomes in the coming year.
