Risk prevention

Many are still under the shock of the blaze that killed 58 people in a residential building in downtown Shanghai on November 15. The disaster is apparently blamed on unlicensed welders, poor supervision, cascading subcontracting – all of which are the rule, rather than the exception, in construction projects in China. Knowing that regulations exist but are seldom enforced, the municipal government has announced a crack-down on the “chaos and lack of order found in the city’s construction market”. Public support, stemming from this latest disaster (which, unlike the frequent mining accidents for example, anyone can relate to), will certainly help.

This tragedy coincides with a growing interest in a past few months for the risk prevention aspects of our own work. As someone recently remarked during one of my presentations: “what you are describing is more than maintenance; it is technical risk management”. In our view, this is precisely what maintenance is all about (although I do admit having a rather extensive definition of the word maintenance). When it comes more specifically to fire safety, where can we help?

In a previous newsletter we talked about our Fire Safety Panel to help companies monitor regulatory compliance in a simple manner (https://newsletter.bluebeecloud.com/en/newsletter/coswin-tips-tricks-diagrams-your-imagination-is-the-limit-coswin/). This can be coupled with our mobile solution to ensure that regular inspections of the fire safety system are actually been carried out. A key aspect of this approach is traceability, allowing management, third-party consultants and authorities to audit the systems (are records in compliance?) instead of relying solely on spot-checks on site (as Shanghai major rightly noted at a recent press conference: “many construction sites knew in advance when inspections were due to take place”). One of our largest customers, Changcheng Property Group is working that way and several other clients have recently inquired about such a solution.

In addition, whenever applicable, a strict permit-to-work system should be put in place, with a clear signatory/responsibility process, including mandatory check (and written confirmation) of certificates and professional licenses. Any accident, near-miss or non-compliance must be reported and analyzed, with clear corrective action reports. Everything is documented, computerized, for future follow-up. We have worked on infrastructure projects in China with joint ventures of GDF-Suez, where such a system was strictly enforced for all personnel on the construction site (including contractors).

For those who remember the deadly accident on metro construction sites a few years ago, we already recommended such an approach at that time (see article).

They are many other aspects of risk prevention that we cannot address so directly as part of our consulting business: companies’ top management, their EHS departments, individual project or site managers and of course government bodies will always play the major role. To list a few: mandatory involvement of third-party independent auditors; setup of your own compliance team, whose integrity is worth more than a few packs of cigarettes; strict control of multi-layer subcontracting, which is overly common; permanent education and signage campaign about safety.

Note that we are not advocating doing it “like in the West” – it is a constant theme at Siveco that we do not think importing Western practices as such works. On the contrary, I believe the great flexibility and speed of Chinese construction practice could be maintained, while raising quality and safety. This is not easy. Each of these items brings complexity of its own. It will take years; it will raise the cost of construction. And we can only hope that as many money-hungry parasites as possible will be crushed in the process.

Welcome to our November newsletter. In line with feedback received in the previous months, we tried to keep articles slightly shorter than usual and as practical as possible. The Reliability section presents our “enhanced maintenance contracts” with guaranteed year-to-year improvement. The Customer story features cable manufacturer Acome Xintai. Motorola, who supplies us with hand-held devices on which our mobile application bluebee^® runs, is our partner of the month. In Tips & Tricks, you will learn about the management of repairable and standby equipment in our CMMS COSWIN. Latest News links to some our latest deals (excellent business this quarter!) and company events. We hope you enjoy reading our newsletter.

Keep safe!

Bruno Lhopiteau
General Manager
Siveco China

Tags： safety、risk prevention