Production, Safety, and Quality

Production, Safety, and Quality. One cannot be had without the other. All 3 must work together to have the most productive, safe job site with a quality end-product. Production and safety should equal each other with a focus on safety being the end goal. Producing a quality product at the end of the day is the result of putting production and safety together.

Production

Production in the construction industry is a key part of making money at the end of the day. The more work that is done by quitting time, the more money the company gets to put in their pocket to pay it’s employees as well as pay the bills. So, what happens with production that causes it to be dangerous? Boss man can and will call and tell the foreman that he, the foreman is losing money on the job. This causes the foreman to push his crew harder and faster. What the foreman isn’t pushing is safety. The faster his crew works the more likely an accident can occur. There must be a level of safety issued with the sense of urgency.

Safety

Safety is the goal at the end of the day. Everyone needs to go home with all their fingers and toes still attached. Safety is achieved starting with upper management. Upper management will commit themselves to safety. They will then give lower management, i.e. superintendents and foremen the tools they need to do their tasks safely. What are these tools? This starts with a well written safety program with policies that are specific to the line of work the company is doing. This program also illustrates upper management’s support of the safety culture they want to build. The other tools supplied to lower management can be PPE, quality hand tools, rigging equipment that when damaged they are replaced, good fall protection methods, training, etc. When crews are given the proper tools for the job they will produce more because they feel safe. If an employee is worried about falling while he or she is tying rebar on a shear wall, they will not produce. Safety equals more production with a quality end-product.

Quality

Without production and safety, quality does not exist. Quality comes from being productive on the jobsite and doing the job with the proper tools needed to do that job safely. When the proper safety tools are not given to employees, production can increase, but this can cause a higher risk of an accident. This creates poor quality. When an accident occurs, crew moral goes down which can cause quality to suffer along with production.

Conclusion

Production, safety, and quality must work together to create the most productive, safe jobsite with a quality end-product. Achieving that perfect amount of the three will lower incident rates, which lowers costs, as well as lowering the companies Mod rate. What does this do for the company at the end of the day? The company will be able to bid for more jobs. The company will get a great reputation in the industry, which will give the company more work. All of this will give the company’s employee’s more work and a steady paycheck.