Use NEC to lever up health and safety

Many times I hear, health and safety is the number one priority. Yet many more times I hear that we still haven't got the O&M manuals, as-built drawings, training for my operatives to safely and properly use the new asset and so on, sometimes well after Completion (which begs the question why was Completion given!). So here's a thought - why not give this the proper attention it justifies. Define the state of Completion (assuming we are using NEC3 ECC) in the Works Information at time of tender stating exactly what you want to happen before Completion will occur - if you want all of those things then ask for them, don't budge and don't compromise on Completion or health and safety - let's actually ratchet up the importance of this through objectivity and explicit requirements.

Time risk allowance & float - NEC3 ECC programme

In NEC3 ECC there is a requirement for the Contractor to show on each submitted programme both float and time risk allowance. Is there a feeling these terms are generally understood and if not, apart from why not (!), what more can be done to help?

Using the 'iron triangle' to focus the team

If you recall Martin Barnes' really simple but effective time/cost/quality triangle, I can't think who showed me this but you can use this triangle to tease out where people think a particular project's emphasis is, according to the requirements of the client. Some clients want utopia (the project tomorrow, for free and outstanding quality!) but thankfully most have a realistic understanding that there are trade-offs in the 3 points. Martin wants quality to be substituted with performance, which makes absolute sense, so draw a good sized triangle with the 3 points of time, cost and performance on a flip chart. Then, with a marker pen, ask each person (in the workshop, meeting or whatever the environment) to mark on the triangle a single dot representing where they feel the client expects the emphasis of this project to be. You may be surprised with the outcome, but it gives an opportunity to address the lack of alignment, if it exists.

Have a go, let us know how you get on....

Like the new NEC3 'How to...' guides?

Hopefully most of you have had the chance to look over the new 'How to...' guides that were launched in April. Do you like them, would you like to see more and if so, on what topics? These are intended to be fairly concise but practical guides to help users better understand the particular topic in the guide, which so far concentrates on communications, BIM and writing the Scope/Works Information/Service Information. Do let us have some feedback.

Rob

The NEC jigsaw....

I recently read a comment telling how somebody had assembled all of the NEC pieces over time and had now understood how they all fit together. To me, that's a great way of thinking about NEC. There's no cross-referencing in an NEC Contract so you have to read it cover to cover and then appreciate how the pieces interact. NEC isn't exactly a 2 piece jigsaw, neither is it a 1000 piece work of complexity. Get your head around the key processes, learn how they work together, then you will see how the likes of early warnings have hardly any interaction with compensation events, despite users' perceptions, and so on.