Inductions and Intros
Period Covered: 12 -15 Mar 12
Summary: Initial Induction, training and project awareness.
This week has been focused on introduction and inductions as I establish myself within John Holland and the project team. I have been overwhelmed by the professionalism and drive of the company and the enthusiasm of the people who work here.
I have yet to get to site, as I have had to complete the safety training and site induction, and am currently situated in the project office. With the view that I will complete my site induction on Monday and then begin work on site as a supervising engineer from then on.
128 Hay Street – The Project Office or as we would know it Battlegroup Main, with Architects, Designers and JH under one roof. Many of the Engineer Planners will move to site once construction is at full pace as Works Package Managers. (The site is 10mins away).
This week I have achieved the following:
- Completed 1 day John Holland Induction day.
- Completed Project Office Induction and Administration
- Completed online Safety in Construction White Card training, similar to CSCS.
- Initial meeting with construction manager, development objective plan set.
- BIM Training
Observations
Project scope/structure and details to follow in a separate blog but I have made some initial thoughts and observations from my first 4 days working as a civilian:
- Safety. This is the top priority for the company and the “No Harm” message is enforced by everything and everyone in the company. The JGH see it as the life blood of its business and the key to future commercial success. They believe is that if they can drive safety rates to lower than there competitors they will win more tenders than they can could cope with and as a result safety is well resourced and managed.
- Sustainability. From a project perspective sustainability and environmental management has significant importance but from a corporate strategy perspective the company is aligning itself with the Australian perspective and is expanding its fossil fuel infrastructure arm. This attitude is directly opposed to the UK perspective of sustainable energy and development.
- Doctrine. John Holland has more manuals and procedure than the Army!! These are rigorously used and standards and quality are maintained by company policy, procedures, manuals and plans. I have spent a couple of days reviewing a number of these and it will be a continuous job to familiarise myself with as many as possible. These give the company structure and I believe have been vital in allowing the company to expand rapidly over the last 5 years. There was 16 people at the weekly John Holland Induction and most people working on the project are new to JH. Oh Note the management plans etc map across well with the APMP philosophy which has been reassuring.
- IT Systems. Use of IT systems is overwhelming. Lotus Notes is the predominant system to communicate and share information within the project and Aconex is used to communicate with all external stakeholders. Along with all the doctrine I have been impressed by the value the company puts into document control. The project is all making full use of BIM and believe the project is the flagship for its use in Australia.
Holdfast Training Services Trial Blog 
Stephen
It is definately worth bearing in mind the BIM system’s potential for making a good TMR subject. You could do a fairly easy to research pros and cons paper with regard to traditional methods of document managment and then compare the theoretical benefits with what is actually being realised on the project. Cheers for now.
Jim
Steve, I’ve had a slightly different experience when comparing to the APMP philosophy, particularly when it comes to heirarchy and the levels of project/programme management. This may be due to the complexity of the GLNG job. I’ll have to give it a bit longer before making a more informed judgement.
I also agree about the IT. I have only just got my laptop and prior to that I was redundant as everything is managed electronically. still finding my feet with the lotus system!
Thank you for your comments: I am already a convert to BIM so will definetley see if i can make a TMR title from it – the uniques of this project is the asspiration to use the BIM information to link with all asset and faciltiies management. Interestingly though the technology is there and the project team is keen, it may be put on hold for political reasons. i.e it will do the job of people already employed and there maybe union or contractural problems!!
Roy – Glad all going well with you, I can understand your APMP view…I would imagine its easier for me working within Western Region (The project works directly to the Region (programme)). I haven’t quite got my head around how the Region structure meshes with the Sector structure (Energy, Water, Rail, M&I Etc).
Steve,
170 has not yet got its head round BIM and I recently introduced the Cabinet Office lead to 170’s IM/IX SO3 to begin moving it forward. A TMR on this subject would be good as an insight as to where we may go. One area to consider may be the threshold at which BIM becomes of value (i.e. what level of project complexity) which again could shape relevance to 170 and the RSME.