One of the key requirements for any construction project regardless of its type, size or location is to have a Project HSE Management Plan (PHSEMP) document that will define the project’s health, safety, and environmental policies, procedures, criteria, and areas of application, and responsibilities and accountabilities.
The successful implementation of the HSE management plan will help in providing a safe and healthy workplace; Integrating environmentally sound practices into all processes; Complying with applicable laws, regulations, policies, and standards; Conserving natural resources and energy; Providing necessary resources to support the environment, health, and safety goals and objectives; and Integrating environment, health, and safety goals and objectives with an overall business strategy.
Today, organizations cannot afford to continue implementing the many requirements of an HSE management plan using old techniques that prevent reaping the many benefits of the best practices of lean construction management, transparency, accountability, paperless, knowledge management, and real-time single version of the truth performance reporting. Those organizations who continue to manage the hundreds of HSE processes manually or semi-manually using MS Word and MS Excel, are not only wasting their project team’s valuable effort and knowledge in capturing, sharing, and accumulating the everyday HSE-related information but also making it difficult for senior management and other stakeholders to visualize and understand the extent of achieved HSE compliance on projects being executed.
Using Project Management Information Systems (PMIS) like PMWeb, the organization can implement common sense to achieve the best practices of lean construction management, transparency, accountability, paperless and knowledge management as well as provide a real-time single version of truth monitoring and evaluation of the project’s Health, Safety and Environment performance.
Achieving Lean Construction Management by Automating HSE Management Processes
PMWeb allows the organization to automate hundreds of HSE management processes in five steps. The first step is by having input from each HSE management process to capture the needed information by the designated project team member. The second step is to attach documents and pictures that are relevant to each form. Step number three is the submission of the form using the assigned workflow to submit, review and approve the form. The fourth step is the generation of the output form in the desired form and format which can be either printed or saved as a PDF file. The last step is the register of every transaction which can be designed in the desired form and format.
Achieving Transparency by Standardizing HSE Forms
PMWeb allows the organization to have a single web-enabled platform to standardize all the many forms needed by the HSE management plan. PMWeb comes ready with many of the HSE forms including the project directory, meeting minutes, safety incidents, organization chart, and HSE resource requirements. In addition, PMWeb custom form builder allows the creation of many other forms like work permits, and gate passes. HSE audit checklist, H&S self-assessment, and HSE risk register among others. All those forms will include fields that will have predefined values to select a form to ensure consistency and efficiency in completing the forms. Access to those forms and access to fields within each form can be restricted by the HSE management plan.
Achieving Accountability by Enforcing Workflows
PMWeb allows the organization to enforce accountability when it comes to submitting, reviewing, and approving the different HSE management processes. PMWeb visual workflow allows defining the steps to be followed in reviewing and approving each submitted HSE process. For each step, the duration, actions for resubmitting or returning, who should be informed, and possible actions to approve or reject the process. The workflow could include conditions to comply with the HSE management plan approval authority levels. PMWeb will automatically generate a workflow report to detail the status of each process. The report can be designed in any desired form or format to include colors to indicate delayed actions (red), due actions (yellow), and not due actions (green).
Achieving Paperless Environment by Having Soft Copies of HSE Forms and Electronic Registers of Each Process
PMWeb allows the organization to promote having a paperless environment by sharing a soft copy of each HSE form. PMWeb report writer allows the organization to design each HSE form in the desired form and format. Those forms can be saved in a PDF file format where they can be digitally signed if needed. The form will have hyperlinks to the documents and pictures attached to each form which will be stored in the PMWeb document management repository. Those PDF forms can be emailed and shared with PMWeb users as well as with no PMWeb users.
In addition, PMWeb report writer or third-party reporting tools like MS Power BI will be used to create the registers for each HSE management process in the desired form and format. The registers could include visuals to summarize the details of each HSE process. In addition, the report table will include the list of HSE process transactions which will be hyperlinked to the transaction PDF form so it can be viewed when needed.
Achieving Knowledge Management by Capturing the Data from all HSE Processes Across the Complete Projects’ Portfolio
PMWeb allows the organization to manage all of its projects’ portfolios. This will enable the organization to aggregate the HSE processes data captured at each project to analyze the data, identify trends and generate lessons learned to continuously improve the organization’s HSE practice. The organization can use this knowledge to create risk registers that will detail all the risks and hazards associated with construction work. The register will detail all those risks, assessment of their likelihood and impact, and how they will be controlled. Safety risks categories include fire, hazardous chemicals, working at heights, dust, and light vehicles among others. The risk register will also include the control response actions to reduce the risk level.
Real-Time Single Version of Truth Monitoring and Evaluation of the Project’s Health, Safety, and Environment Performance
Since all information and documents associated with every HSE management process are located on the same PMWeb web-enabled platform, the organization can design the desired dashboards and reports to enable them to monitor, evaluate and report real-time single version of the truth of each project’s health, safety and environment performance. Those dashboards and reports can be viewed anywhere, anytime using any web browser on any device including smart mobile devices.
About the Author
Bassam Samman, PMP, PSP, EVP, GPM is a Senior Project Management Consultant with more than 35-year service record providing project management and control services to over 100 projects with a total value of over US $5 Billion. Those projects included Commercial, Residential, Education, and Healthcare Buildings and Infrastructure, Entertainment and Shopping Malls, Oil and Gas Plants and Refineries, Telecommunication, and Information Technology projects. He is thoroughly experienced in complete project management including project management control systems, computerized project control software, claims analysis/prevention, risk analysis/management (contingency planning), design, supervision, training, and business development.
Bassam is a frequent speaker on topics relating to Project Management, Strategic Project Management, and Project Management Personal Skills. Over the past 35 years, he has lectured at more than 350 events and courses at different locations in the Middle East, North Africa, Europe, and South America. He has written more than 250 articles on project management and information systems featured in international and regional magazines and newspapers. He is a co-founder of the Project Management Institute- Arabian Gulf Chapter (PMI-AGC) and has served on its board of directors for more than 6 years. He is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) from the Project Management Institute (PMI), a certified Planning and Scheduling Professional (PSP), and Earned Value Professional (EVP) from the American Association of Cost Engineers (AACE) and Green Project Management (GPM).
Bassam holds a Masters in Engineering Administration (Construction Management) with Faculty Commendation, George Washington University, Washington, D.C., USA, Bachelor in Civil Engineering – Kuwait University, Kuwait and has attended many executive management programs at Harvard Business School, Boston, USA, and London Business School, London, UK.