Delivering HS2's GIRI strategy

6 Jun 24

HS2 Ltd is working with its supply chain to embed its right-first-time approach through GIRI principles to achieve improvements in a consistent way, the organisation’s head of quality an IMS Richard Strugnell told GIRI members at the summer meeting. Key to this is changing the culture around non-conformance reports (NCRs) to encourage reporting and reap the benefits of lessons learned.

HS2 is the largest national infrastructure investment in the railways since the Victorian era, said Richard, impacting a huge number of stakeholders and natural habitat along its route, making it vital to get it right. HS2 Ltd is the client organisation, and the programme is delivered by contractors, including some of the biggest UK construction businesses working in joint ventures. “It is our responsibility as the client to guide and oversee the works and ensure these are carried out in compliance with our requirements.”

HS2’s southern phase includes 140 miles of track, four new stations, two depots, and 32 miles of tunnels. Richard updated on the progress of works, including the Colne Valley Viaduct, which once completed will be the largest viaduct in the UK. “However, HS2 will be judged not only on what we deliver, but also on how we deliver.” This includes its communication with stakeholders and the public, managing the environmental impact of the project, and its economic impact.

Right first time

“HS2 already has a right-first-time approach internally, looking at how we can improve ourselves and support our supply chain in delivering the programme. We are using GIRI to influence the supply chain. These are all well-established organisations with their own processes for improvements, but it is about how we bring these together holistically to make those improvements.”

GIRI’s initial research into the cost of error in construction estimated that the direct costs of avoidable errors are around 5% of project value. Richard explained that HS2 is focusing on these direct costs as the mechanisms already exist within the supply chain for capture and reporting.

The first step was the development of a GIRI strategy which was divided into three stages: insight (creating a baseline for error, monitoring root causes and reporting on cost); embed (understanding the initiative, training, and knowledge sharing); and implementation (delivery plan for priority root causes, embedding the approach across the programme, and monitoring the impact). “The aim is to get the supply chain working together to address the priority root causes and for GIRI approaches to become business as usual for HS2.”

Pilot projects

This strategy has been published and communicated across the organisation, including engagement with senior leadership, and two pilots have been run on two different asset groups: a station and civils. “These focused on working with the supply chain with a view to rolling out a consistent approach that works across the programme.”

Richard explained that the insights and lessons learned from these first pilots have been fed back into the improvement process and guidance that is provided to the supply chain. “We are also feeding it into the next two pilots that are about to begin. We have used the 17 GIRI root causes as a guide and when you log into our incident management system, you have to select one of these root causes. Our knowledge hub that will be a source of lessons learned is well underway, and we have also set up a senior leadership steering group to ensure the programme is aligned with the strategic needs of the organisation.”

The pilots required the supply chain to capture and cost NCRs and defects, and data from the pilots revealed spikes related to the occurrence of HiPos – high potential quality events – which have a significant impact on cost, schedule or safety. The pilots also revealed an unexpected trend in root causes, with the most common being inadequate trade skills and the highest value being poor supervision. “This isn’t what we expect to see and may require more training around root cause analysis to ensure the correct ones are recorded,” said Richard.

Data challenges

He also highlighted challenges around capturing cost data, including a failure to capture the cost of in-process rework, and underreporting of NCRs stemming from a reluctance to admit to mistakes. Other challenges include the complexity of calculating costs and a lack of clarity around what constitutes a direct cost, leading to a lack of consistency in assessment between contractors.

“Our next steps include looking at our procedures and providing clarification on direct costs, training around root cause identification, investigating how to capture in-process error correction, and forecasting costings for open quality HiPos. We must also surmount the challenge we face as an industry of how we change perceptions of error and remove the negative connotations around reporting NCRs. We need to create a culture that makes it ok to admit you have done something wrong.”

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