Page 33 - IEC Insights May-June21_PAGES

TRUE COST
FEATURE

THE

MINOR DISTRACTIONS

OF

Including a Look at Their

Impact on Job Site Safety

BY PHIL NIMMO & DR.
HEATHER MOORE, MCA, INC

O

Often contractors are so heavily focused
on the big picture, the things that they can
see and touch, that the little nuisances and
inconveniences of daily construction work
become an accepted norm. This can only
be regarded as a form of complacency
that leads directly to lost productivity and
increased risk. These little distractions that
the field deals with day in and day out are
too little individually to grab our attention,
until something big happens. There are
two scientific elements at play in this and
both apply with profound implications.

The actual math and science are irrelevant,
what matters is that you and your field
installers can recognize the signs of
looming, or mounting, trouble. From
Statistical Process Control, or SPC, we
know that our distractions can be grouped
into two categories, common cause,
and special cause. Or put into far more
practical terminology, these are the little
things that are common every day or the
big things that get special attention. The
focus of this article is those little things.
Even though we see them, and we see
them frequently, they are so common

www.ieci.org | May/June 2021 | Insights Magazine 31