Week 3 & 4: Training
Period Covered 23 Mar – 4 Apr 12
Summary: Training
A brilliantly frustrating 2 weeks which has been characterised by a whole host of training courses. On one hand this has been great as the courses have been really useful and have possibly inspired my second TMR topic but at the same time frustrating as they have come at a time when I was just establishing myself on site and I have just sat in a classroom for 9 Months (fear not PEW lecturers I did not give the Aus lecturers an easy time either).
During this period I have completed the following:
- Supervision of GMF ground work contractors – bulk and detailed excavation, pile cropping
- Set out and supervision of service pits in service tunnel
- Qaulity Assurance pentrometer testing
- Risk Assessment and Hazard Inspection Audit
- Programme co-ordination meetings
- Operational Safety Quality and Environmental Risk Management Course
- Louts Notes and Project Pack IT Training
- Working Safely at Heights course
- Reports and returns – Site Diary etc
As a result of all my training courses I do not have much to write about this week. As a result please see a shamelessly large number of photos.
Work on site. I have been impressed at the pace of work on site. The amount that has been achieved has been incredible. 120 x 20T trucks a day of spoil has been removed on site and the ground excavation is really progressing. This is beginning to open up the site and for a short time will alleviate the space shortage. The service tunnel to the West of the site is still the priority as this is the ONLY milestone in the programme less practical completion!!
Issues. A couple of issues to think about:
- How are tenders one? I have not yet had experience of the complete tendering process but I am beginning to understand how business is done; though a lot has been made about employing quality rather than the lowest bid, this has not been borne out by the earth works contractor, who I know was the cheapest tender by a considerable margin and in my opinion have bid to low for the job and are currently under a lot of pressure to minimise overheads. This creates a lot of day to day friction and from a managing contractor view means we can not capitalise on opportunities as GMF to do not have the resources to be flexible. On the other hand the concrete contractor, Crown, are falling over themselves to be proactive and helpful (and in my eyes professional) as they want to win the contract for the superstructure construction and as a result are desperate to impress. The earthworks contractor has no such incentive.
- Stopping in the Rain? Unbelievably we have had a few showers in Perth over the last week. I have been bemused by the immediate reaction to stop work as soon as it rain. It is a shame this safety culture does not extend to every practice on site!
My Experience. I am still having a really positive time on site but I have been frustrated by the number of times I have to tell someone to do something. This apparently is a normal frustration for attached officers according to my Works Package Manager who has worked with a few sappers before….why can’t civies do what they are told!!
Finally I undermined all my good first impressions by getting my UTE bogged down in a particularly soft patch of sand on site….
Further Work
- Continue on site as supervisor, deputise for site manager in his absence
- Hold Safety workshop with Safety Advisor to encourage UK best practice and culture (try to attend Strategic Safety Course which is focussed at culture change – possible TMR 2 Topic)
- Begin research on BIM for TMR 1
- I am currently all out of Thesis topics. I have been canvassing on site but the general impression is that building a concrete box on sand is not really that cutting edge, so I would be grateful for any help from anyone in the UK to focus my thesis thoughts!!
- Conitnue to train for Corporate 14km race in May…Charity appeal to follow
Holdfast Training Services Trial Blog 
Stephen
Choosing a thesis topic is an iterative process, the first stage of which is working out what blows your skirt up. Having read the amount of H&S stuff that you are experiencing issues with immediately catches my eye and could be spun on the basis of how to generate cultural change within the military, which obviously has a very unusual dynamic that it has to address when dealing with the assessment and mitigation of risk. But ultimately you have to be interested in it too. Take a look out the office window, what catches your eye? Then we (The Chatham Massif), can work on how to spin it into a subject.
Jim
PS Loving the slide show.
Steve, contractor selection based on quality and cost is always a tricky area. If a bid is considerably cheaper then, in my experience, it tends to be for one (or more) of four reasons: the contractor needs the work; he aims to make money through claims (and thinks he knows something about the contract that you don’t where he can claim heartily); he’s failed to read the question properly; he’s already mobilised on this or a nearby site. In any case one needs to be wary: if he needs the work there’s a danger he may slack off if he subsequently wins better paid work (or sacrifice the lost-leader in the case of your concrete contractor when he wins the bigger contract) or may underperform to drag the job out whilst waiting for said work; if he aims to claim then you need to make sure you thoroughly understand the contract and what he’s been contracted to do – be prepared for pain; if he’s failed to read the question (and still won the bid even though his proposed scope of work has been checked) then you need to balance holding his feet to the fire against breaking him, be prepared for pain again. Finally, the mobilised contractor – great but you always need to confirm he has the capacity (or can bring it in) for the extra work and isn’t going to spread himself too thinly over all the jobs (often happens on MOBs). On numerous occassions (in both civvi street and on ops) I’ve pursuaded the system to spend the extra cash on the second cheapest as a result of the concerns above.
Stopping work for rain – jessies! (When I were a lad… ) on my site attachment in Manchester we just got issued higher legged wellies when the mud got too deep!
Hi Steve
Very interesting to read about your adventures on site and in particular your comments about the subcontractor’s price. If it’s available (although commercial info is often kept away from sites) it might be worthwhile reading the tender analysis by JHG to see how they assessed the bids and what factors they considered important. I wonder too if they used a prequalification questionnaire or an online service such as Constructionline in the UK to sort out suitable tenderers.
Another major problem with a low bid is that the subbie might become insolvent, which would be bad news for all concerned. Does the contract contain a parent company guarantee or a performance bond provision which could be useful in such an eventuality?
Roy
Steve
Getting posh with the slides. You will be doing a video clip next – with voice over.
Do not forget that you should be using your TMRs to help towards CPR. Subjects such as H&S, contracts, sustainability are all good. Look at the required attributes and then choose a topic to help.
Remember to enjoy yourself. All the best (remember if you need to you can contact me on neil.painter@virgin.net
Kind Regards
Neil
Dull thud of tecchie.
I notice the presence of some fairly substantial structures behind your cantilevered retaining wall. My guess is that the principal design point for the embedded cantilevered wall is to limit the horizontal movements consequent on excavation of the front face.
I am sure that this is being monitored?
So a few thesis ideas:
Design method applied for cantilever wall design (limit state or soi-structure-interaction).
Method of assessment of lateral movement (reference to historical records, soil structure interaction); the influence of soil stiffness estimates on the estimates and the quality of assessment of the movement.
Ooops…Just in case anyone thought that the man from Widnes has suddenly got all cerebal……sorry to dissapoint…the previous comment was me…but I was logged-on as the old bloke from up North……
Thank you for all your input – really useful and certainly gives me some focused questions/research to do when I am back after Easter…no sign of any monitoring being done on site at the moment so this is an area I could exploit!! And as i see relations only getting worse with the bulk excavation contractor fully understanding how they got the job and how they are likely react in the near future will be a definite advantage.
Many thanks,