Permits and Possessions
Bianca Millar, BAM Nuttall’s Digital Construction Lead, explains the Paperless Construction app was used to resolve the administrative burdens of paper-based systems on some of their Rail South Projects incl Oxted Viaduct.
PTWs, or Permits to Work, are issued to authorised personnel who are required to work in a high-risk area, allowing them to carry out tasks at specified times set out in the permit or in referenced documents. Possessions are the site owner’s permission for a contractor to take over the site, once a contract has been signed, until the work has been completed, and on high-risk sites, such as railways, possessions were only granted once the power was switched off.
BAM Nuttall, working as a contractor for Network Rail, did a lot of possessions for their client, and permits were not issued to their personnel until it was established that they had the required competencies for the tasks they were assigned and that they had been fully briefed – and that they had signed the briefing papers that had outlined their tasks. It was necessary to confirm that the briefing had been carried out to satisfy clients apt to appear on the sites to perform spot checks.
That involves a lot of paperwork, especially where jobs were contracted with little notice, or were of short duration which are typical of the rail industry. Project teams spent a lot of time printing out briefing papers, inductions and permits, and briefing team members using physical documents, or referring to paper personnel records for each employee to check their qualifications and applicability. Huge packs of stapled briefing documents were produced for each job, growing in size as each new team member joined, a task which was frequently confounded by the employees themselves who frequently lost, made mistakes or otherwise misused the documents.
This was the environment that Bianca Millar, BAM Nuttall’s Digital Construction Manager for Rail South wanted to avoid on the Oxted Viaduct project – a 140 years old railway viaduct that carries the railway line linking South Croydon to Uckfield across the River Eden and the A25. It needed maintenance and servicing to ensure passengers and freight could continue to move safely over it long into the future, and BAM Nuttall undertook the work as part of the CP6 framework on behalf of their client Network Rail.
The work on the viaduct started in the spring of 2020, and involved the steelwork being grit blasted back to bare metal and re-painted brickwork repairs and replacing the movable bearings that supported the weight of the bridge spans.
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Digital by Default
Bianca is passionate about digital construction, believing it should be built-in and not a bolt-on, and was scathing about the reliance on paper-based records of team members working on the project, pointing out the problems of storing training records, lost paperwork and access to H&S documents. This was exacerbated by GDPR rules which stated that whilst documents with people personal data on them had to be removed after a number of years, should you subsequently be asked by them to supply that information – you had to provide it!
What made Bianca’s role even more challenging was that prior to implementing the Paperless Construction app, some of the digital solutions that they looked at to handle administrative tasks couldn’t do permits – which meant that they would still have to be done physically. It was evident, however, that the Paperless Construction app delivered a solution that other software applications were not flexible enough to provide.
What made Bianca’s role even more challenging was that prior to implementing the Paperless Construction app, some of the digital solutions that they looked at to handle administrative tasks couldn’t do permits – which meant that they would still have to be done physically. It was evident, however, that the Paperless Construction app delivered a solution that other software applications were not flexible enough to provide.
It was evident, however, that the Paperless Construction app delivered a solution that other software applications were not flexible enough to provide.
As Bianca explained, "We did look at a few others, but a problem we had was that some of our projects only last a weekend or a few months, and it didn't make sense to set up a static and expensive system on each of those jobs for such a small timeframe. We needed something that was mobile, flexible and easy to use, and with Paperless, all you need is a tablet or a phone. All of our sites have iPads already, so it was an easy transition, considering the cost savings and [using] the hardware that we already had."
As Bianca explained, "We did look at a few others, but a problem we had was that some of our projects only last a weekend or a few months, and it didn't make sense to set up a static and expensive system on each of those jobs for such a small timeframe. We needed something that was mobile, flexible and easy to use, and with Paperless, all you need is a tablet or a phone. All of our sites have iPads already, so it was an easy transition, considering the cost savings and [using] the hardware that we already had."
Organisation Overview
The very first benefit that Bianca found was that she now had information available at Business Unit level – across all their projects and personnel level. It was all in the cloud, and the masses of physical paperwork that had to be stored, or got lost, were available with a few clicks on the screen. That also meant that supporting documentation was also available with the same ease of accessibility, including items like employee photographs to verify attendance at briefings.
Bianca also found the ‘permissions’ process much improved. Instead of being forced to add employees through a long and time-wasting on-boarding process, they could be added directly by authorised project administrators.
Implementing a Digital Strategy
The key to a successful implementation, though, was how it was perceived, and handled, by the people most affected – the team members. Moving people away from a paper-based system is always a challenge, as you have to change people’s behaviour and mindsets. For those already used to working with digital systems it was taken up immediately, but for those more used to the old system, it was not so easy. Bianca lauded Paperless for their high level of support, though. ’Once people were properly trained,’ she said. ‘there were few issues going forward’.
Initially, team members thought that the Paperless Construction app was just for access control and briefings, but it was soon realised that it is capable of handling many tasks, such as non-specific training – i.e., not related to that project’s briefings - and the recording of employee’s competencies. When clients came on site, therefore, they could quickly scan an individual’s QR codes and make sure they were qualified to do their job and had attended all the necessary briefings. If an emergency arose on site, it was also quick and easy to ‘check off’ who was on site and at the appropriate ‘muster point’.
With team members linked by the Paperless Construction app, communication was somewhat simplified and didn’t need the usual combination of emails, text and Whatsapp messages, and with all employee details in the cloud, individuals could be moved between projects along with their credentials.
Getting up to speed was just as simple, and needed no more, usually, than a 15minute call from Bianca to get them up and running, followed by a half-hour training session with Paperless.
Initially, team members thought that the Paperless Construction app was just for access control and briefings, but it was soon realised that it is capable of handling many tasks, such as non-specific training – i.e., not related to that project’s briefings - and the recording of employee’s competencies. When clients came on site, therefore, they could quickly scan an individual’s QR codes and make sure they were qualified to do their job and had attended all the necessary briefings. If an emergency arose on site, it was also quick and easy to ‘check off’ who was on site and at the appropriate ‘muster point’.
With team members linked by the Paperless Construction app, communication was somewhat simplified and didn’t need the usual combination of emails, text and Whatsapp messages, and with all employee details in the cloud, individuals could be moved between projects along with their credentials.
Getting up to speed was just as simple, and needed no more, usually, than a 15minute call from Bianca to get them up and running, followed by a half-hour training session with Paperless.
"The app was very intuitive, and Paperless also have very good guidance documentation, which also helps", Bianca said.
Overall, Bianca estimated that time saved by Paperless amounted to perhaps an hour a day per supervisor by not having to print and re-scan documents – and by a huge amount not having to search for lost papers. BAM Nuttall also claim that they made considerable savings in the number or forms they use in the business, enabling them to re-evaluate what they had and reduce the number they used. During the critical lockdown phases of the COVID-19 crisis, they were also able to implement a ‘contactless’ signing in solution from Paperless which Bianca claimed was ‘really good’; and which added features that enabled supervisors to sign people in and conduct ‘contactless’ briefing sessions.
When asked wat she liked best about the Paperless Construction app, Bianca said ‘What we like best about Paperless is that everything is in one place – access control, briefings, competencies, training, the ease of use, excellent training and support – and the dashboards are great to look at’. The training and support system was really good she added. ‘Once we decided we were going to use Paperless, support was available 24/7, which was important to us because we do work at night’.
She added that Paperless also supported BAM Nuttall’s key initiatives on sustainability, biodiversity and innovation saying that ‘Paperless have their own sustainability initiative where they will plant a tree for every project you have on the app’.
Overall, Bianca estimated that time saved by Paperless amounted to perhaps an hour a day per supervisor by not having to print and re-scan documents – and by a huge amount not having to search for lost papers. BAM Nuttall also claim that they made considerable savings in the number or forms they use in the business, enabling them to re-evaluate what they had and reduce the number they used. During the critical lockdown phases of the COVID-19 crisis, they were also able to implement a ‘contactless’ signing in solution from Paperless which Bianca claimed was ‘really good’; and which added features that enabled supervisors to sign people in and conduct ‘contactless’ briefing sessions.
When asked wat she liked best about the Paperless Construction app, Bianca said ‘What we like best about Paperless is that everything is in one place – access control, briefings, competencies, training, the ease of use, excellent training and support – and the dashboards are great to look at’. The training and support system was really good she added. ‘Once we decided we were going to use Paperless, support was available 24/7, which was important to us because we do work at night’.
She added that Paperless also supported BAM Nuttall’s key initiatives on sustainability, biodiversity and innovation saying that ‘Paperless have their own sustainability initiative where they will plant a tree for every project you have on the app’.
"I can see employees time keeping, competency and training matrix, any briefings that they've attended, and I can see who's currently on site. It's the best paperless digital tool out there, it does everything and it's easy to use – I would recommend anyone wanting to use it, to do it!""
Bianca Millar - Digital Construction Lead