Automated Skills Tracking Makes for Safe, Profitable Projects

Managers must know what each crew or individual member brings to the job in terms of skills, training, and experience. Yet, a 2018 survey published by PlanGrid and FMI Corporation show how much revenue is lost each year to not doing just that. The survey looked at how teams spend their time on construction sites, communicate during projects, and leverage their technology investments. Results indicate that time spent on non-optimal activities such as fixing mistakes, looking for project data, and managing conflict resolution accounts for $177.5 billion in labor costs per year in the U.S. alone. The study also found that rework caused by miscommunication and inaccurate and inaccessible information will cost the U.S. construction industry more than $31 billion in 2018 and lose nearly two full working days each week, solving problems and trying to find information.

The majority of lost revenue and time is avoidable when the right people with the right combination of job strengths can be assigned to the right task. Information with that level of detail is hard for any human to keep in their head, much less transfer from job to job or project to project. However, a new digital reporting tool IReportSource.com tracks workers and their skills, helping leaders, managers and supervisors chart a course for successful project outcomes.

Working with iReportSource Inc., Crane Industry Services, LLC (CIS) is helping to define the  manpower puzzle by customizing the daily online reporting tool. “Every success on a project comes out of who has the knowledge, skills, and abilities to do the job right. The details, the project planning, daily reporting, online system, are all driven by iReportsource.com,” says Debbie Dickinson, CEO of CIS. California-based ELA Consulting, a longtime CIS partner, facilitated the collaboration between iReportSource and CIS. ELA is providing the strategy and executive leadership portion of the tool. All three organizations are focused on safety and know that doing a job well is the foundation of safety.

Started by Christi Brown as a solution for tracking safety incidents and identify the root causes, ireportsource.com helps companies understand why workplace accidents happen. The collaboration of iReportSource, CIS and ELA will take that a step further to identify issues related to timelines, budgets, resources and most importantly to prevent incidents. “Large databases and paper, reports get lost, incidents sometimes don’t get filed, and when one person is responsible for tracking, the process becomes very strenuous. iReportSource puts everything in one place, and at the same time empowers employees to get involved in the process,” says Bryce Maynard, product marketing manager for iReportSource. Because CIS needed job specifics and role specifics within the iReportSource program, the two organizations are working together to customize a reporting tool for ELA and CIS clients.

iReportSource integrates all the pieces of project planning—resources and skills needed, schedules, and staffing capabilities—into a daily report. “It is easy to use from anywhere via mobile devices and is customizable for our specific goals,” says Dickinson.

In a recent article she authored for Incident Prevention magazine, Dickinson explains that the goal is “to build a base of knowledge for every task for every job title that is a part of the crew. Have a plan, have a schedule, and set ideal performance as the goal for every person, machine and job.” She recommends conducting input with frontline individuals to gain tactical info on how jobs ought to be performed and how to define optimal performance. “You have the cream of the crop setting the ideals of how you want the job done right.”

Except in the case of a catastrophic incident, projects get off track a little at a time. “It’s the devil in the details that put a project at risk,” explains Dickinson. “It’s the culmination of hundreds little things that causes rework to happen.” She explains that iReportSource helps project managers remain proactive.

For the system to work, the user first must know the details of the individual, starting with his or her job title and job responsibility. The user takes those details and constantly refreshes the info for the projects the company is working on now. “Did we get done what we set out to do this day or this month? With iReportSource, we can track that. The system was designed to focus on safety and that’s one of the things I loved about it. But the reality is people will be safe if they’re doing their jobs the right way,” said Dickinson.

The records could then be transferred for the client, but CIS has the capability of maintaining records for their clients, and integrating NCCER certifications and credentials, making iReportSource a very powerful tool. “You’ve got to put money and work into it up front, but you recoup both quickly. As a result, your company is more profitable, safer, and more adept at knowing what kind of knowledge, skills and ability you need, and what machinery gets the job done right. All those elements get corralled for you so that you can access the info on a daily basis.”