Blog: Health, Safety and Wellbeing SECBE Awards 2019 finalist - Mace

16 May 2019

sponsored by Day Aggregates

Mace

A major key to the success of Mace Infrastructure and Aviation Business Unit (IABU) is the aim to never stand still, always striving for continual improvement and looking for innovative solutions to move forward – and they project this aim across all aspects of the business.

Due to the unique nature of work in the Airport environment, Mace IABU have developed bespoke procedures to provide the high airport standards required by DfT and CAA regulatory bodies.

Project locations include: adjacent to live airfields, terminal roofs, and within live terminals - all offering differing constraints. Restricted working hours on some projects (22:00-04:00), security checks for workers/equipment, and F.O.D (foreign object debris) are just some issues faced. Non-compliance could prompt a major operational impact to the airport.  There are tight permit controls for access, lifting, working at height, electrical work and the many buried services.

Early and continued engagement with stakeholders is maintained to ensure combined/fully integrated programmes are developed, ensuring that all works can be delivered safely and monitored continually to see if any aspect can be improved upon. This engagement during all works allows any operational problems or safety concerns to be immediately reviewed, investigated and addressed with the lessons learned applied to the next project. Significant efforts are taken to challenge methodologies, aiming for improvements on following projects. Complacency is not allowed to take hold.

The root cause of all incidents is identified and the lessons learned shared with the wider business, the client and other contractors to ensure incidents are not repeated. Examples include - reviewing and enhancing their service clearance procedures following a permit inconsistency, and a new and safer tethering process adopted on all scaffolds. Their enhanced standards ensure consistency in delivery and a clear understanding of implementing best practice.

Mace ‘Safety first. Second nature’ training is modified to suit the works and the nature of the risk associated and delivered to all project personnel. The Myind Buddies, mental health first aiders, wellbeing ambassador, wellbeing initiatives and structured wellbeing plan ensure they continually look to improve the health and wellbeing of their staff.

Mace's series of KPIs are set to monitor and act upon the measures they believe to be important. These are annually reviewed to meet the ever-changing demands of the business. These provide an ever-increased proactive improvement culture to ensure a true reflection of numbers achieved.

Via a monthly performance matrix, suppliers self-score on approximately 25 questions including: leadership, standards, engagement, behaviour, work environment, SFSN training, and environmental. They also award bonus points for best practice. League tables are then published and presented by the Construction Director at the monthly IABU Principals meeting. Linking these KPIs to workload has driven a better adherence/importance with those in the GREEN receiving more work than those in the RED.

Projects provide a score out of 88, which is then reviewed by a Mace Project Director unconnected with the job. At the monthly IABU Project Manager/Construction Manager Forum, chaired by the Construction Director, the league table is highlighted and those below 85% benchmark are given some coaching and the best performing team recognised. This prompts everyone to want to keep pro-actively moving forward.

Highlights:

• The number of incidents remained relatively constant between 2014 and 2017 against an ever growing turnover and 2018 saw an even greater improvement with a 49% decrease in the number of incidents against a 31% increase in turnover from that of 2014
• 7.91m man hours without a construction work-related RIDDOR incident
• Mini health checks – it’s likely, without the free mini health checks, a number of supply chain operatives' potentially life threatening symptoms would have gone undetected. 11 operatives were sent for medical referrals

For more details:

Visit Mace

The SECBE 2019 Health, Safety and Wellbeing Award is sponsored by Day Aggregates.