2020Case4KiernanStructuralSteelLimited

Contents Lean Construction Ireland Annual Book of Cases 2020 18 Case 4 Figure 1. Daily MEWP Inspections – Old Process Figure 2. MEWP Data used for Report Figure 3. Operative Using Phone to Scan QR Code had to be uploaded to a public library which meant anyone with the same app could access the template for their own use. That template, once downloaded by a teammate, could then be further altered which rendered document control meaningless, and therefore that programme was ruled out as a potential solution. Other apps were trialled with similar results and/or lim- itations, until we discovered the GoFormz app. Following an initial trial of this app, we felt that many of the features needed were available in it, and so we proceeded to seek out examples of documents to demonstrate the potential time and effort savings. We created several templates for simple and commonly- occurring checklists that were in regular use across all proj- ects such as a ‘Weekly Lifting Equipment Checklist’ form and a ‘Plant Safety Inspection’ checklist, and uploaded these to the app. A meeting was arranged with members of the safety department where the app was debuted and its output analysed. Several members of the team agreed to pilot the system on their projects, and subsequent amendments were made to the templates to improve functionality and speed up com- pletion. The templates were designed so that typing would be minimal due to the small nature of the devices being used (phones and tablets), and so as much as possible the checklists contained tick-box fields and drop-down menus. The app allowed for the introduction of automatically-pop- ulating data fields, direct inputting of images and sketches, and signature fields. When the templates were finalised, the trial began properly. Throughout this improvement initiative, we followed the Kotter Change Model, particularly the steps such as ‘create a vision for change’ and ‘create quick wins’, and incorporated Ulrich’s recommended steps of beginning any change with asking Who, Why, What, How. As a starting point, we focused on Daily MEWP Inspection to determine the current state of reporting within the organisation. A standard template had been developed for capturing this information on projects, but it was in a WORD format that was freely adapted across each project. These forms were issued to the operators of the MEWPs (Mobile Elevated Work Platforms), who then had to fill in the forms by hand daily. These forms would then be collected by the Safety Team, and a report compiled. A process flow chart for the completion of a Daily MEWP Inspection was created using information recorded during site visits (Figure 1). Weekly meetings were scheduled to discuss the adoption of the forms across projects and the potential for new documents to develop. These meetings then moved to a monthly Skype call as the system became embedded. After completing the scoping exercise as outlined, we prepared and uploaded to GoFormz for completion of ‘Daily MEWP Inspection’. A QR Code was also generated that linked to this form and for all users to access via their phones. Once the template was uploaded, we ran a training course with members of the Safety Team to demonstrate how the form was to be used on site. Following on from this meeting, the template was amended following discussion to include additional information and automated workflows were set up to email the completed reports directly from the phone or tablet to selected person- nel, as well as automatically generating an Excel report for administration staff. The discussions during this training also covered items such as the types of fields to be contained in the forms for rapid preparation of reports, such as drop-down menus, autofill dates, and checkboxes. The further development of the system with the team moved towards the utilisation of the data source functionality within the system, which led to greatly reduced opportunities for error as one field could be used to populate the information in a consistent manner in many other fields and thus removing the potential for misspelling serial numbers as well as speed- ing up the entire process. A list of the specific details of each of the MEWPs on a pilot site were collected, as well as details of the different operators and their Safety Harness details.