One of the requirements for health, safety, and environmental (HSE) on construction projects is to ensure compliance with the organization’s environmental policy. This will be usually achieved by having a periodical inspection of how the contractor is complying and fulfilling the requirements of the policy. These could include requirements associated with Air Emissions, Nuisance Control, Resource/ Energy Conservation, Waste Management, Erosion/ Sediment Control, Soil Resources, Groundwater and Dewatering, Vehicle/Equipment Management, Fuel and Chemical Storage, Spill Management, Welfare/ Laydown, and Construction Materials.
Using a Project Management Information System (PMIS) like PMWeb, the Environmental Compliance Inspection process can be improved and better monitored and evaluated. PMWeb custom form builder will be used to create a detailed Environmental Inspection Checklist to capture all data needed to fulfill the inspection requirement. The checklist will have a predefined list of questions that will probe the inspection. Those questions will be grouped into 14 divisions: Air Emissions, Nuisance Control, Resource/ Energy Conservation, Waste Management, Erosion/ Sediment Control, Soil Resources, Groundwater and Dewatering, Vehicle/Equipment Management, Fuel and Chemical Storage, Spill Management, Welfare/ Laydown, and Construction Materials. For each inspected item, the inspector needs to provide the inspection compliance score which will be “10” for Full Compliance, “5” for Partial Compliance, “0” for No Compliance, and “NA” for Non-Applicable items. In addition, the inspector needs to describe needed corrective actions for partially compliant or non-compliant items, action risk rating, and the completion sign-off date. In addition, pictures and other supportive documents for items that need to correct or rectified can be attached to the Environmental Inspection Checklist form.
The attachment tab will be used to upload and attach pictures and other documents that are relevant to the completed environmental inspection. If a mobile device like an iPad or any other smart device was used to access PMWeb, the user will be automatically advised if he/she wants to take a picture or video when the add attachment button is selected. The PMWeb attachment tab also allows linking other relevant PMWeb records and imported emails to the inspection form.
A workflow will be assigned to the environmental inspection form to formalize the submission, review, and approval of the carried-out inspection. Should the inspection form has identified observations that need to be rectified, the form will be returned to the contractor where it will be resubmitted for approval after completing the required rectification items. It is also recommended as a best practice, to attach a picture of all completed rectification actions.
The environmental compliance inspection score for each category at the end of each period will be available to be reported. The percentage compliance per category is based on the actual compliance score achieved against each item, which could “10be ”, “5” or “0” divided by the total target compliance score for the category which will be based on achieving full compliance or “10” for each item. In addition, the report will provide the total compliance score for the period based on the sum of compliance scores achieved in all twelve (12) categories. The report will also show the observation actions that need to be rectified for each category. The report will provide a summary of all those due actions regardless of their risk rating as well as a summary of all due actions by the action risk ratings which could be Extreme, Maximum, Medium, and Low.
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 controls 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, and 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 project management information systems that were 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.