Project Management Plan Cycle

Project Life Cycle has four phases:

·         Initiation

·         Planning

·         Execution; and

·         Closure

The Project Initiation is the 1st phase in the Project Management Life Cycle. The most common tools or methodologies used in the initiation stage are Project Review, Plan, Overview and Schedule Reviews. You can start a new by defining its objectives, scope, purpose and list of deliverable to be produced. Professionals and skilled project team also being selected in this stage by the appointed Manager.

The Project Planning is the 2nd part in the Project Management Life Cycle. The 2nd phase should include a detailed identification and assignment of each task until the end of the assignment. It should also include a Risk Analysis and a definition of criteria for the successful completion of each deliverable according to the Schedule prepared by the Planning Engineer. It involves creating of a set of plans to help guide your team through the execution and closure of the business assignment.

The project management plan template created during this section will help you to manage time, cost, quality, change orders/variation, risk factors and other issues. They will also help you to manage key personal and external vendors/suppliers, to ensure that you deliver the project on time and within schedule.

The Project Execution is the 3rd phase in the Project Management Life Cycle. The Project Execution is usually the longest phase in the project life cycle and it typically consumes the most energy and the most resources. You will build the physical deliverable and present them to your client for approval. The most important issue in this part is to ensure activities are properly executed and controlled. You will need to implement a range of management processes during this section. These processes help you to manage time, cost, quality, change orders/variation, risks factors and issues. They also help you to manage procurement, client approvals and communications.

The most common tools or methodologies used in the execution phase are an update of Risk Analysis Review, in addition to Project/Business Plan. The planned solution is implemented/incorporated to solve the problem specified in the business requirements.

The Project Closure is the 4th and last phase in the Project Management Life Cycle. In this last stage, the Project Manager must ensure that the Business Assignment is brought to its proper completion (according to contract).

The closure section is characterized by a written formal project review report contains of overall level of success to your sponsor in the phase. Project Closure involves handing over the deliverable to your client/customer, passing the documentation to the client/business development, demobilizing/releasing staff and equipment, and informing stakeholders of the closure of the business assignment. Between one and three months after the project has been closed and the business has begun to experience the benefits provided by the project, you also need to complete a Post Implementation Review.

This review allows the business to identify the level of success of the project and list any lessons learned for future projects. 

Safety Management Series - Make It Safe, And Legal

In my professional OHS consulting practice I often see clients who have become frustrated by "chasing the regulations." Their desire to comply with the legal requirements is honourable and a very wise business choice. It also pays to make our workplaces safe and healthy for our valuable employees. This is especially true in our day and age of diminishing workforce, increased world competition and challenging economic times. A contracting company needs to stay sharp to survive.

Wanting to have a safe work method statements and to comply isn't enough; we need a strategy to make it happen. Here's what's worked successfully for many who realize that making it safe is only half of the challenge and making it legal is the second half.

Trouble is in almost all jurisdictions that I'm aware of, this act of driving through an intersection against a red light is not legal. Our goal in business is to do both.

Let's start with a simple process.

1) Find the harmful energies (Hazard Assessment)

Find the harmful energies that could cause you grief. Electrical, mechanical, chemical, kinetic, gravitational and stored energies are some examples of energies that can all find a pathway to us unless we ensure they are controlled. Being hit with unwanted energy is a sure fire way to get hurt or damage our equipment.

2) Put barriers in place to stop the harmful energies (Hazard Control)

Once defined, these energies can be eliminated or in some cases you can put barriers in place to ensure the energies don't hit us. For example, if I need to work in a trench, I'm concerned about gravity working on the stored energy of the trench walls. If I go into an un-shored/protected trench then I'm putting myself in the way of energy. I can control that energy by barriers. These barriers don't have to be physical barriers. I can use the barrier of my knowledge not to enter the trench. I can also get training to know how to build safe shoring. Shoring is a great example of a barrier that effectively protects us from harmful energy. I can also use a trench cage to ensure that if the walls of the trench do collapse that I'm safely inside the cage unharmed by the release of the potentially harmful energy.

3) Check the applicable legislation for details of the prescribed hazard controls.

So once I've looked at either eliminating the harmful energies or the barriers I can put in place, I will probably have made it "safe". To follow our trenching example I could decide to shore the trench with lumber and screw-jacks. This could keep me safe from cave-in. I could guess the size of lumber I need and the number of screw-jacks but I could guess wrong. My shoring design may keep the walls of the trench from moving in on me, but may not meet the requirements of the local OHS laws. This is where I need to go to the web to check the regulations or look it up in my OHS regulation/code book.

4) Check your industry for best practices.

In my research I should also look for industry solutions to my safety challenges. Why re-invent a trench cage when I can just go buy or rent one? What are others doing to make it both safe and legal? Industry associations focused on safety are great sources of solutions to my safety challenges. Use them relentlessly.

5) Develop the safe work process to be used.

Now that I've decided on how I'm going to do the work, I need to develop a work process so that when I do this kind of work, I and my fellow workers are protected by the process used.

6) Educate and train those who need to comply with the work process.

We all need to know what is expected of us and we should be trained to do the work we're assigned. Learning how to shore using the company procedure is a barrier to me and my fellow workers from being injured or killed in a trench cave-in.

7) Observe that the work process is being followed.

Now that we have a plan to enter trenches we need to make sure that we always do it safely, Workplace inspections and observations tell us that we're doing it right. The old quality adage "Say what you do, do what you say and measure often" works really well in safety. Not only will you be ensuring you are following your own rules, but you will be meeting the legal requirements.

When we do it right we need to tell everyone that they've done a great job! If we need to adjust our processes, now is the time to do our improvements. Well there we have it, a simple process to make it safe...and to make it legal. Hopefully this will reduce any frustration you have around meeting the details of the OHS management plan regulations. Don't miss a step, your employees and your company's well-being is relying on it!

Tips for Personal Work Safety

There are a number of personal safety concerns that can be forgotten on the job site. These may not be life or death matters, but you should at least do what you can to make them non issues. It is generally a simple process that can be carried out at a low cost. Then again, the Internet has made just about everything possible at an affordable rate.

Let's start with safety from the sun. This is obviously not an issue for most serious office workers. Just don't let your employees stand in the window for 5 hours and make sure blinds are available. Those with work outside need something that's a little tougher on the sun's rays. The easiest way to protect them is by purchasing and outfitting them with individual sunscreen packets. These are exactly what they sound like, just little packets of sunscreen that can be broken out quickly, used, and then disposed of. They have a lot of benefits. Specifically, they are needed for most serious operations. A communal bottle of sunscreen may work for a family at the beach, but it will not work for most job sites. It will be lost or misplaced and a bunch of people will go home with sunburns. Factor in the increased risk for skin cancer and you have a problem. Just buy the packets and make sure that each worker has one.

Clothes are another issue for safety and general neatness. Working clothing needs to be given for many positions in factories and general care. You don't need someone wearing sneakers and street clothes while they're working on heavy machinery. You should make sure that your employees have appropriate boots and jumpsuits. The boots are pretty easy. The jumpsuits aren't much harder though. Just order some nice material sets from a supplier. It's hard to be specific. Some need heat resistant suits while others just need suits that are tough against oil. It's your call in the end.

Finally, you will want to ensure that safety glasses are available. There are a number of situations that require such glasses. Many chemicals are bad for the eyes and a stray splash could cause serious damage. Good safety glasses will shield the eyes and ensure that it's just a minor incident. Safety glasses also work to protect the eyes from debris, so any serious construction or manufacturing work will probably need these to be standard issue. Use this tips as a safe work method statements. I hope this works a lot on you.