The amount of work that a medium sized construction company has at any given time is not fixed and that on occasion, the company has no direct contacts in place and works as a subcontractor only. In this instance, the profit margins are smaller and there is a tendency to try and save costs wherever possible. SHEQ (Safety, Health, Environment and Quality) systems management and training are among the first items that the construction company will scale down on in order to save costs.
At the same time, the company will be on the lookout for new contracts and will typically be responding to calls for proposals and submitting tender bids. A recent practice by many state and municipal entities is to evaluate the construction company’s SHEQ systems at the tendering phase. i.e. they will only consider bids from companies that can demonstrate that their SHEQ management systems comply with legal and ISO requirements.
SHEQ systems management is therefore grudgingly undertaken by contractors per contract with only minimum requirements being addressed. To make matters worse, requirements vary dramatically between different organs of state and sometimes even within an organisation such as Eskom, where SHEQ compliance requirements are different between different operating units.
Yet legislation is quite clear as to what is required by all organisations particularly in as far as Safety, Health and Environmental compliance are concerned. International Standards such as those guided by ISO on Quality, are less prescriptive but provide for agreements normally reduced to contracts that employers and contractors adhere to. Contravening legislation is essentially a criminal act that can result in criminal prosecution and deviations from contractual agreements can be viewed as breach of contract and result in civil prosecution.
The solution for medium sized construction companies is to be always ready to meet requirements for future work while maintaining compliance with all current work. This is achieved by being aware of what the legal requirements are, how they pertain to future and current projects and how compliance is maintained from one project to the next. A standard set of compliance documents for Safety, Health, and Environment and where applicable, Quality should be maintained for the company that are always used when compiling tender bids or entering into new contracts. Deviations between compliance requirements are thus much easier to manage when basic legal compliance is maintained.
