The first advice which I would give to those reviewing the regulations is that they should not approach the regulations from a biased attitude that the regulations are outdated. There may be some sections of the regulations which may be still applicable in the current construction industry. Those reviewing the regulations should review all the regulations one at a time giving deep consideration, thought and analysis onto each regulation. After analyzing each regulation they should then try to relate the regulation with the current construction industry. If the regulation can still apply, they should consider recommending that the regulation should be retained.
Each participant in the project should have clearly defined roles. Lack of a clear definition in roles leads frequent frictions between various departments in the project. The designers should know their duties and obligations in the project. They should not involve themselves in the duties of coordinators or any other person in the project.
Those reviewing the regulations should consider putting into place new regulations which avoid situations where the project owners end up becoming the project supervisors. They are not trained to do the job. Thy therefore will compromise the quality of the project either willingly or unwillingly. It is also likely that the project owners will try to engage in acts or omissions which lead to a reduction of the project’s cost. This will further compromise the quality of the project. Designers or contractors should be made the project heads if no other person(s) have been officially given the responsibility. Once a project owner has hired contractors for a project, he should leave the project professionals to complete the project as directed. Interferences from project owners create anxiety to contractors and coordinators of the project.
For projects with more than one contractor, there should be put rules into place that ensure that the projects have coordinators. The coordinators ensure that contractors work in coordination with each other. Time wastage is avoided and predictions about the project can be easily done by the coordinators. However, I recommend that the coordinators should be deeply familiarized with the requirements and objectives of the project as well as the roles of each contractor. Without a clear knowledge about the roles of each contractor, the coordinators may end up creating confusion in the execution of the whole project. The contractors may implement phases of the project which are only supposed to be implemented in coordination with the activities of the second contractor.
Contractors, project contractors and all those who are directly involved in projects should be consulted in the process of drafting legislations which are meant to address the minimum requirements related to health and safety of projects. According to TMCS Directive (92/157/EEC), it’s the member states which are required to come up with legislations addressing the minimum requirements related to construction health and safety. By involving all the people and professionals who are directly involved in projects, various States will be able to come up with effective and detailed minimum requirements which relate to construction health and safety.
The new regulations should provide for a clear method of communication between the participants in a project. Effective communication will play a great role in improving construction health and safety. Without clearly defined communication paths, each participant in the project engages in activities which are not in coordination with the rest of the project. This poses grave danger to those who are involved in a project and the project itself.
Emphasis on the importance of timely presence of project participants in their areas of duty is important. Designers, project coordinators and supervisors should always be within their areas of duty on time. This will enable them to create timely effective impacts in their areas of duty. Lateness to report to work leads to project delay. Things which could have been done at some specific time have to be postponed for a later day or time. Lateness among project heads and supervisors also leads to poor morale among employees. In all projects, a timely presence of the supervisor leads to increased morale of the employees.
References:
TAYLOR, B., & DOW, W. (2013). Project management communications bible. Hoboken, N.J., Wiley. http://rbdigital.oneclickdigital.com.
CAMPBELL, G. M. (2009). Communications skills for project managers. New York, AMACOM. http://www.books24x7.com/marc.asp?bookid=30543.
GRANSBERG, D. D., KOCH, J. A., & MOLENAAR, K. R. (2006). Preparing for design-build projects: a primer for owners, engineers, and contractors. Reston, Va, American Society of Civil Engineers.
POELMAN, W. A., & KEYSON, D. V. (2008). Design processes: what architects & industrial designers can teach each other about managing the design process. Amsterdam, IOS Press.
