How circular engagement can help ensure compliance

Workforce competency is essential for compliance with standards in the steel bridge sector, said Henry Beaver, chair of the British Constructional Steelwork Association (BCSA) Bridgework Committee, at the GIRI spring members’ meeting. 

The BCSA is a subgroup of steel fabricators specialising in bridge structures. Henry explained that the sector is heavily regulated and works to strict controls within an ecosystem of standards and compliance, all embedded together. “If you follow the standards and have compliance at the heart of your operation - if you have the right information at the correct point in the process - then you will achieve a safe, compliant bridge, on programme and on budget.”

He added that engaging with the supply chain is the most important aspect of getting it right first time. “It is important to understand buildability and the challenges around installation, lifting, and logistics, etc. There are many considerations to successfully deliver bridges in all environments across the UK. There are lots of standards and codes that make up the ecosystem of compliance, and we are at the heart of it at the BCSA.”

Workforce competence

Henry also explored the behavioural aspect of compliance, which requires that the right skills, knowledge, abilities and behaviours are in place to ensure that everyone can fulfil their tasks efficiently and accurately. “Everyone is working to a programme. They all want to get on and do their jobs, but you have to have the experience and the correct decisions makers in the right place to make this possible, whether this on the shop floor, on the road, or on site.”

He argued that it is not simply a matter of training and competence but also of engagement. “Engagement is what makes the difference. A risk assessment doesn’t make you safe. What makes you safe is engagement and understanding the risk as well as being trained and competent to fulfil your role.”

Henry highlighted a few of the common errors that occur during steel bridge construction. These include fabrication errors such as weld defects or misaligned bridge components; incorrect bolt placements; protective coating failures leading to corrosion; tolerance issues that stack up during bridge erection; and inspection oversights. “Independent inspectors also need to be engaged and understand what they are doing.”

Information flow

Henry explained that the information flow is vital for avoiding errors – making sure the right people have the right information at the right time. “It sounds so obvious, but in the real world, when you have businesses operating on many sites across the UK, working with different fabrication yards and with people out on site everywhere, getting that information flow right is not easy.”

Sharing a diagram showing the information flow in a series of embedded processes, Dean Morcom, deputy chair of the BCSA Bridgework Committee, argued that effectively identifying information gaps is about having a robust system in place. 

“If you follow this process from start to finish, you will begin to understand what is not there. It could be something that is missing from the designer, for example. And the beauty of this is that you will find the errors that will impact your programme, because once you get to the point where you have that circular engagement with the designers, you can extract all the information you need to deliver the project. If you don’t do that – if you don’t engage with the engineers – you won’t stay within your contract, and you will make errors.”

Circular engagement

Dean went on to share a series of case studies demonstrating the importance of both circular engagement and ensuring the accuracy of the process. In one example of a footbridge in Cornwall, he highlighted the importance of working with the fabricator to ensure that the bridge can actually be delivered to the site. For the bridge in question, to get around transport issues, the fabricator designed the bridge in four quarters as otherwise it would have been too tall and wide to deliver as one. 

“You need to talk to fabricators early on about logistics,” said Dean. “There’s no point designing a bridge then going out to the fabricator and asking them to build it if the fabricator can’t deliver it because you haven’t thought about how you will get it to site. Every site is different. We might need to float the bridge on a barge or deliver it to a rural location. We might even need to launch it, and if this is the case, it must be designed for launching. This is something that can get missed on projects.

“Successful projects are all about engagement, about the right people and following standards and embedding them in your business. Plan from the start and talk to the fabrication community. If we can’t do a project, we can tell you someone who can, and we might save you some money along the way.”