Holdfast Training Services Trial Blog

ICE Attribute 8 Interpersonal Skills and Communication. Obviously an important attribute towards being an effective engineer and ultimately chartering otherwise it wouldn’t be on the list. Going through the sequencing of the infamous starburst today I hit a bump in the road with a senior site manager. I thought I would share today’s experience to see if anyone else has had similar. This is what happened…..

Having actually paid attention to John and his picture method statements, sequencing, logical bite sized chunks of a single activity to communicate a plan in its simplest form, I decided to query part of the staging breakdown for the construction of the starburst. To read you in: we had Stage 2 – installing a temporary cantilevered deck, followed by Stage 3 – craning and installing screens to the temporary platform paired with the pouring of a concrete slab – completely unrelated tasks, completed by different subcontractors, and not done concurrently.   Suggesting that the screens could potentially be a separate stage in itself nearly induced a heart attack; so the suggestion that stage 2 – the installation of 4 x 2.8m deep trusses topped with secondary steel and ply decking, may require breaking down a bit further didn’t fair much better; so I steered towards grouping the installation of the deck and screens together – done by the same subcontractor, both temporary works, both require the crane – seemed logical to me. Now, the actual sequence of works was not under debate, just the sequence breakdown into stages, which is ultimately how this will be communicated. For something that will be constructed 220m in the air, cantilevering 9+m off the superstructure, I think it’s important to remove any form of ambiguity and confusion. Putting two unrelated activities by different subcontractors into the same stage, I think, treads the line of ambiguity and confusion. Especially when the two people planning this thing, will not be there to see it constructed. This is at least what I told myself when I chose to challenge the plan and was shot down– or was it just a red flag to a bull when the response which finally ended the conversation after a bit of discussion, was ‘I’ve done this for over 20 years, I know what works, and this just works’? No further explanation required/offered.  I’ve got my own answer to that question.

Maybe I need to work on my communication skills!

On the same vain as Rich; spot the obvious mistake in this budget E&M installation. It amuses me every day as I walk to work (whenever it rains).