SITE MANAGEMENT PRACTICES

Group Members
Thennakoon T.M.V.A. 110571J
Tissera P.M.R. 110582T
Udugama U.D.C.A. 110590P
Wickramage H.S. 110619P
Wickramanayake N.W.S.S. 110620K
1. Human Resource Management

Importance-
Construction is inherently a labour based industry specially in developing countries such as Sri
Lanka. Thus labour can be considered to be one of if not the most important aspect of any
project. With increasing demands for salary increases and more opportunities for experienced
workers throughout Sri Lanka with the boom of the construction industry, it is more important
than ever before to manage the labour resources in a proper manner. With this background in
mind we will now consider how the labour management process is handled in the site we visited,
ie the Maxen Residency project with the client Maxen Residents constructed by Sanken.

Categories-
When considering the human resources in the project, there are various people involved with the
project, including the consultant and the client. While all of them can be considered to be human
resources in the general sense, here we will only be considering about the parties involved in the
construction of the project. As Marslow has stated, there is a hierarchy of needs. It can be seen
that Sanken has identified this and have motivated the different levels of employees by different
methods.
The Site Engineer has a separate table and is granted a significant amount of powers over the
work in the site as he requires a higher level of need. The other engineers too have their separate
work spaces which addresses their needs as well. Furthermore, all of them have been provided
with various degrees of powers over matters such as finance, material etc. This sense of respect
and trust placed on them motivates them to work even better.
In addition to the engineers, there are two kinds of labourers. Those that work directly for
Sanken and those that are working under contract basis. For example, those responsible for site
cleaning and maintenance are directly working for Sanken, while a majority of the carpenters,
and other labourers are contracted.
The labourers working for Sanken are provided accomodation at billets close to the site. Once
the building has been built to a certain degree, the labourers will be given a section of the
buidling to live in. The fact that the organisation looks into the welfare of the workers enhances
their morale. Also, unlike some sites, the workers have the ability to move in and out of the site
without checks or restrictions. This enhances the feeling that they are being trusted and hence
improves the motivation.

The labourers who are working under contracts are contracted from reputed labour
subcontractors such as Pathum, SN and Osanda. The management of these labourers is done in a
different way to those who are directly working in Sanken. Another main difference with respect
to these two types of labour is the hierarchy to which they report. Direct workers of Sanken
report to their line supervisors, while the contract workers have supervisors from their
organisations. Thus, the engineers and other managers at the site do not have complete control
over the contract staff brought from labour subcontractors.
It is also a requirement for the contractor to ensure that the work at the site has the adequate
number of workers at all times. While on normal days this would not be an issue, it has been
identified that there is a tendency among workers to take a holiday on the day after they get their
wages. In order to avoid a site shutdown due to inadequacy of labourers, Sanken pays the
labourers on the site in a staggered manner. So that only half of the workers get the salary on the
same day. This ensures that work at the site will carry on undisturbed.
Labour Planning-
Any kind of management requires a certain degree of planning. Human Resource management
too just like any other management requires planning. It may be stated that the planning required
with regards to human resources is more than that of any other planning since humans are
unpredictable. The labour planning at the site is done in a whole to part method. This is specially
required here since there is a strict deadline of 450 days to complete the work.
First, the work that needs to be completed is broken down into small parts and deadlines are
established for each type of work. Then these small deadlines are further broken down into daily
targets when a particular work is about to start. Since different engineers are in charge of
different tasks, in order to get a combined requirement, each engineer calculates the number of
labourers that he needs for the next day in order to achieve the daily targets. This is known as
tomorrow works. These requirements are then taken to the site engineer who must approve it.
This approved requirement list is in the form of a document called the labor request form, which
is in an ISO format.
These requirments are then sent to the respective sub-contractors before 3pm. Once this is
communicated, the labour subcontractor will provide the required labourers at the required time.
Though these labourers are paid according to the work they complete, there are exceptions if any
unforeseen delays take place. For example, when we visited the site on the 23
rd
of August, we
got to know that no work had taken place on the 22
nd
due to incessant rains. In that sort of a
situation, the contractor (Sanken) had to pay these labourers even though no work had taken
place.
To the benefit of Sanken however, such delays can be informed to the client and the consultant
and an extension for the completion date can be obtained. In order to properly manage this, a
weather report chart is updated daily and is kept at the site. This is required to ensure that the
contractor will not be penalized for delays due to weather that he cannot control.

Bad weather is not the only reason that can require Sanken to pay the contract labour even
without obtaining any output. If the labourers are present but the conditions are not conducive
for them to work still Sanken has to pay the contract price. For example there may be occasions
where an important piece of machinery is not present at the site or when the labourers are
expected to work at night, the lighting may not have been supplied. In order to reduce such
situations, and for many other reasons, site meetings are conducted.


2. Site Security and protection
Site security and protection is one of the main aspect that we should consider when managing a
construction site. Especially the security and protection of the construction site is challenging
area due to professional thieves and loss of equipment, materials due to stealing. And because of
that we have to put some money to recover that materials and equipment.
So therefore to overcome this problem it is better to have proper security plan for the
construction site. For that there are few things that we can practice to achieve good security and
protection at the site.
Appoint a security officer for the site is important and he is the person who consults with the
police on site security issues and he is the responsible person for security at the construction site.
Develop a proper security plan is also very important. The site security plan should be created
before starting the construction project. And according to that we can plan all the related security
aspects, where the security hut should located, types of security equipment (like lightings, CCTV
cameras, remote alarms , locks etc.) needed and where those should place.
And other thing is perimeter protection of the site. For that site boundaries best thing is having
proper fencing around the perimeter of the site. And it should be strong and high enough to
ensure the protection.
And the site should have only one entrance, and comings and goings from the construction site
should be clearly visible to the security hut to ensure the good security at the site.


In our site visit, we found some improvements that can be done. First thing is the security hut
was located away from the main entrance and therefore the visibility problem was there. As an
improvement it is better to shift the security hut near to the entrance. But the problem was the
space is limited at the site.
And all the three sides of the building was bounded by surround buildings and also having fence
Security hut - situated away from the entrance
(about 2.5m high) for necessary side including front side. Because of that the perimeter
protection of the site is ensured.
And lighting at the site should be established and it is better to have standby generator to
maintain site lighting.

Comments about security
Site security can be considered one of the most important control aspects of construction
management. A proper security plan ensures that there is no loss of equipment, material etc due
to stealing or negligence, while ensuring that productivity is not lost due to unnecessary security
measures and demotivation.
There was a site security officer and a security hut at the site in order to ensure site security.
There was also only one entrance, so the safety would be further ensured. The fact that the
security hut had a good view of the entrance was also a good sign.
POINTS FOR IMPROVEMENT
The security hut was situated away from the entrance, thereby reducing the visibility of the
security officer. Thus if this could be moved to the entrance, it would have been ideal. However,
according to the contractor, the security hut had to be placed at the current location due to lack of
space with the current excavations and once the building comes up to a certain degree, the
security hut would be relocated close to the entrance.
While the ability to move in and out of the site at will enhances the motivation of the workers, it
may be considered to be a security liability. However, since this is a small site and the amount of
equipment and material at the site is minimal, any attempts to steal may be seen quite easily.

3. Operating hours, noise and vibration control
Operating hours, noise and vibration control are very much related to the location of the
construction site, because it is the reason for many related problems and difficulties. The
construction site we have visited is by the side of the Gall road, in Bambalapitiya as shown in the
map extracted from Google Maps. As we can see, the site is located between the Bagathale Road
and Alfred House Gardens and any heavy vehicle we are to bring to the site will has to face the
high congestion conditions during day time especially during school/office hours. Hence, the
idea of bringing any heavy machinery during day time will be a start to many unwanted stressful
problems. And also according to the police order, the site is prohibited in using road to park
heavy vehicles under any circumstance. Also, the environmental police has a regulation that the
road and the newly constructed pavement should be cleaned after every work that will violate the
clean, pleasing condition.
The heavy vehicles are to be used for mainly concreting purposes such as transporting and
pumping. Hence, the site management has decided to do concreting work at night time,
specifically from 10.00 pm to 5.00 am on the next day. And also, after every such work, they
bring a water bowser to clean the road and the pavement on the early morning before 5.00 am.
And make sure the road is back to normal condition.
The site is scheduled to be operated from 8.00 am to 5.00 pm over the whole week except on
Sundays, but due to the schedule updates and the unexpected delays due to weather and such
reasons, the site is operating after 5.00 pm and even on the Sundays when it comes to catch up
the missed progress. On extending the working hours, the site management achieves to be within
the schedule with negligible deviations, but this solution brings along with some other problems.
There is a house just behind the construction site. Concreting work makes a lot of noises and
during the night time,
it will be a real
nuisance when the
site keeps going for a
particular time period.
(As scheduled, 450
days) Due to this, the
site management has
talked to the
respective house
owner and explained
the situation and they
Maxons
Residencies
have been able to come to an understanding point to continue with the work.
Like such, the problems arising with the start of the project has been solved by the site
management with their experiences and adoptable nature.
With the continuation of the site work, during the excavating period, the nearby buildings
(especially the TNT Building) has shown cracks increasing. Then the site management again has
to go for a solution to stop further development of cracks.
They have done a photographic survey in the beginning of the project in the nearby buildings
and insured the damages. With the development of the cracks, they have started to use chemical
pressure grouting where they inject cement grout with some chemicals through narrow drilled
holes with pressure guns. This is a technique that is used all over the world by construction
engineers as
a solution to
settlement
problems
arising due to
various
reasons. On
the site we
have visited,
the pressure
grouting has
been used
especially
over the
perimeter. A
floor where
the pressure grouting has been carried out is shown in the picture.
Speaking directly about noise and vibration preventing the steps that the site has been taken are
more managerial than technical. As seen on the site, we also think those are the cost effective,
easy to implement methods with respect to the site and the construction work. But in general and
even in this particular project as it goes on, the management may consider following techniques
to prevent/reduce the noise and vibration generated from onsite work.
The project layout planning can be allocated so that the movement of heavy machinery
are away from the residential units
Reduce/refrain from using earth moving machinery if possible
Allocating demolition, soil compacting works in to different phases if possible
With using these techniques and others which are appropriate, the construction process will go
smoothly with less distractions and this will ultimately lead the construction company to obtain
good will and also the certificates related to environmental friendliness of the project and the
construction firm.

4. Air and dust management
On the construction site we have visited, the air pollution and dust emitting do not seemed to be
an issue because there were no such work going on. The surrounding was much wet due to the
rainy weather conditions. And also, much of the foundation work has been finished and so the
ground that was open were very much limited.
But, on the other hand, when the project proceeds there will be some tasks that will cause these
problems. The best example is the cleaning of formwork to make it free of any alien material
after finishing the fixing of reinforcement using compressed air. During this process, there will
be dust going away and as the building proceeds it will become a problem to the surrounding
people and institutions. As a basic solution, setting up the protective net can be suggested. Other
than that, with simple steps like making the employees aware of the problem and asking them to
work so that the problem will be minimum will be successful. Other than that, regular cleaning
and following acceptable working procedures will also be solutions for the problem of
controlling dust.

5. Waste management
Waste management is an issue that have to be addressed at the construction management. Main
expectation of waste management is to reduce the amount of waste discarded from industrial
sites. That means reusing the waste as much as it can be used until it cannot use again in a useful
way. Main problem in Srilankan legislation is there are no specific laws or regulations
addressing industrial waste management. Even there are few laws they are free of considerable
penalties. So addressing this issue in a legislative manner is so week. And construction agencies
also do not pay much attention on these issues.
In our site visit we could have less information about waste management. Because that site is
ongoing in its primary stages at the same time that land also a barren land prior to the
construction. So there is not much constructional waste to be rehabilitated. But there are some
steps they are taking in order to have a good working environment. Normally they do a site
cleanup in every Sunday which is obviously a closing day of the site. Since there is only one
entrance point to the site which is facing the gall road, they are managing their waste in a
controlled manner. They normally dump their industrial waste near the entrance inside the site.
Although this creates an untidy and unsafe conditions inside the site, they have to do it with the
limited space.
Industrial waste can be divided in to various categories. They are solid waste and fluid waste.
This fluid waste is consists of liquids and gases. In the site we visited there was not much fluid
wastes. And in solid waste also they were managing them to minimize them. As an example they
were using ready mix concrete in their construction. And it helps them to have environment free
with empty cement bags and remaining bulks of sand and aggregate here and there. And we
could see reinforcement also using in economical way as to reduce the wastage by using
remaining steel pieces in curtailments.
Waste management play a crucial role in construction management. Because it helps to carry out
the project more economically and efficiently. Even though construction industry do not pay
much attention on waste rehabilitation considering its economy, it is a good way for preserve
environment with reduction of direct material usage.

6. Traffic management
Traffic management is also a very important aspect when managing the construction site. It
directly affect the efficiency of workers and construction. By maintaining good traffic
management level efficiency will increase due to reducing unnecessary delays during providing
materials and due to improving travel path and distances. Finally the cost and time will save
during the construction process.
Traffic management is totally depend on site layout planning and it is a one task that can be
listed under site layout planning. Accessibility inside the construction site, arrangements of walk
ways and paths, material handling and equipment controlling will be improved by site layout
planning and it will helps to managing traffic.
When workers are traveling and transporting the materials through the access paths in the site
there should be arrange those paths such that the travel time is low and comfortable enough to
travel with heavy loads of materials and the access paths should be without disturbances to travel
easily. And other thing is width of the walkway or the paths should be enough to accommodate
the exchange for both ways.
When handling materials and equipment, they should be well planned to avoid unnecessary
delays and waiting until finish the task of other equipment.
In our visited construction site, traffic management is not good. Major reason for that is lack of
space. Walk ways are too narrow and not enough even to travel one person. It is difficult to
exchange two peoples traveling different sides through the walk way and one person has to be
stay side until others are travel.
Therefore traffic management of that site should be further improved to ensure the performance
of the construction site.



Traffic due to narrow walkways
Labor Supervisor Engineer
Store
Keeper
Labor
7. Material procurement management & storage
Material procurement was done at the site using two main forms.
Common Material
Common material such as cement, sand, coarse aggregate, reinforcement, blocks and bricks were
purchased by the stores at the site. This is directly done under the procurement department of the
site. Stores maintains a buffer stocks in order to avoid any delays in providing materials to the
construction activities. All the invoice will be collected by the quantity surveyor of the site.
Special Material
When a special material is needed for a construction activity, the method of purchasing is
different from the method used for common materials. The required special material will be
informed to supervisor (In-charge for relevant construction activity) by the sub-contractor or
labors. Then supervisor should enter the required special material with the required quantity, in
the MATERIAL ORDER BOOK at the stores, in advance to the construction. Then the
stores will purchase the material and issue it to necessary party at the required time.

Every material comes to the site will be accepted by the stores and then issued to the labors.
Every worker of the site has to follow a formal procedure to release required material for the
construction, from the stores. The procedure follows to issue any material for the construction
work has mentioned below.











The site visit was done at the initial stage of the project. Hence only the foundation has begun
when our team went to visit the site. With the scarcity of the space at the site premises, lot of
material such as sand, blocks and reinforcements were spread everywhere in the site. There
wasnt much organization of the material storage at the site. However there was a storage
container as the main store unit and one storekeeper was there. Some of the construction
equipment, electrical items (bulbs, wires etc.) and few materials were stored at the storage
container. Documentation of the material requisition and purchasing was done at the store
(container) by the store-keeper.
According to the site manager of the site, once the first floor is finished there will be a separate
space for the stores at the first floor. Once that space is constructed, material could be properly
Labor or sub-
contractor will
inform the
requirement of
the materials
Supervisor will
forward the
Material
Requisition (MR)
to Engineer
Engineer will sign
the MR and give
the note to
Stores
Stores will
release the
material to
construction and
send the MR to
QS officer
stored without any problem. Separate space will provide for reinforcement storage and cement
storage at the new stores.

Suggestions
Material procurement method and the issuing method at the site can be consider as good case
practices in this site. It allows site quantity surveyor to have a proper control over the
procurement costs. The method used for special material purchasing will minimize the wastage
of the material. But the time taken for making the material requisition may delay the construction
activity and in a situation where material is needed instantly the current process may not be
practical.
Storage of the site has not been satisfactory. It can cause several adverse effect on the continuity
of the project.
Since labors of the site can go out of the site and come back without any problem, the
probability of stealing the material may increase.
Accidents can be increased by disorganized storage of the material. Hence safety of
the site can be adversely affected.
Wastage can also be high due to improper storing. Therefore total cost of materials
can increase.
Even though the space is scared at the site it is necessary to optimized it for proper storing of the
materials. It is necessary to give proper learning for the site labors about the proper material
storage and moving them to construction activities. Material can be damaged or loss during the
transportation from the storage to place of constructing. Therefore proper equipment such as
wheel barrows should be used to transport the materials. Workers should be given proper safety
wears such as gloves and boots. These practices will minimize the above mentioned adverse
effects on the project.

8. Site meetings

Site meetings are meetings carried out with the parties of different stakeholders in order to
achieve different goals.
Daily Meetings
As mentioned before, (under the human resource management section) there are various
activities taking place in parallel at the site. As such, there is a requirement for all the
stakeholders in the site to be brought to one page regarding the activities taking place in the site.
This objective is achieved by having daily meetings, towards the end of the day.
These meetings are generally headed by the site engineer. However, if there are any important
announcements to be made regarding the progress of work or any major activity is close to
atking place, the project manager heads the meeting. All the supervisors, store keeper, a member
of the electrical department etc take part in these meetings.
OBJECTIVES-
To recap the dayswork :
In order for each stakeholder tobe updated about the current progress of the project, all the
relevant parties give their daily updates. This enables, the different supervisors to get an idea as
to whether their future targets can be achieved. For example, if the formwork laying in one
sector is delayed, it will affect the concreting of all sections not only of the delayed section.
To update targets :
Due to various external and internal reasons, the targets may need to be re assessed. This
can be done at the daily meetings. Major targets are not adjusted in these meetings. Only minor
adjustments are done.
Get the necessary equipment, material and services required for the next day:
In order to ensure that incidents like not having the required equipment, material or
conditions not being present at the site the next day, Each supervisor will speak about what will
happen during the next day and what is required for him to do his work. For example, if there is
work to be done after nightfall the next day, he will request the electrical department to
illuminate the required area.

Meetings with client/consultant
As mentioned earlier, the contractor is only one major stakeholder of the project. In order
to update the consultant about the project and any changes etc a meeting with the consultant is
held weekly.
POINTS FOR IMPROVEMENT
While as a whole, there were not many points that we could address, maybe if the daily meetings
would address the situation of the project for 2or 3 days forward, rather than only the next day, it
may reduce the last minute hectic work of getting down unique pieces of machinery eg
compressor
However, since there was no mention of difficulties in getting down material and equipment, it
can be assumed that their already exists such a method.

10. Health, safety and welfare
Building construction is a vast area that deals with various subjects with man power
management. Man power management is also a vast subject which flows with different varieties.
Building construction is all about managing man power, equipment and material in a given time
frame. When this management process is going on there are different ways that have to follow in
man power managing. Because working with people is way different from working with
equipment and material. Not like machines and material people must have some sort of welfare
facilities, safety requirements, health caring etc. And to have a maximum efficiency from
working forces they must be given a friendly environment to work with. Because man power
efficiency will directly affect the success of the project.
Health, safety and welfare are fundamental issues to be granted in man power management.
Because most of them are related with the lives of the people. Under working environment a
good safety precautions have to be taken to guarantee the safety of the workers.
Even though construction management is about handling billions of rupees human life cannot be
tolerated by money under any circumstance. So health of the workers at the site has to be in a
good condition. In construction sites there are various health hazards that workers have to deal
with. Lots of health issues would arise to workers because of the conditions at work place. Dusty
conditions, humid conditions, exposure to high thermal conditions, exposure to dangerous
chemicals are few of the unhealthy environmental conditions which workers have to face. And
there are various illnesses related with these bad conditions. Chronic obstructive pulmonary
disease, occupational asthma, silicosis are only few examples related with construction industry.
And these unhealthy environmental conditions can be created in various ways. When in our site
visit also we could notice some of such activities and situations at that place. At the same time
we could see some safety precautions they have taken to prevent such situations. In the site there
is a unique officer who deals with safety matters of the site. That safety officer always check
with the site conditions with safety.
We could see lots of notices displayed at the site reminding the workers about safety. And there
were some ethics and rules maintaining at the site in order to maintain the site safety. We could
see every worker at the site wearing head gear to cover up their heads from hazard. And relevant
people who are working with hard tools were wearing gloves. And we could see some workers
without a proper foot wear too.
As a safety practice this site is not allowed to enter any outsiders without any kind of a pre
request. Major problem about this site is the space problem. They have to do all the construction
work in a small area. And that site didnt have proper space to travel here and there. So that
could also cause to some injuries. And we could see some workers working in some dangerous
places as well. But any way there is some sort of a risk that everyone in the site has to take. That
is a normal situation in every site. They cant provide a perfect hazard free environment, but they
are trying to have such an environment as much as they can.
This construction site is a twelve story building which is constructing on raft foundations. At the
time were visiting the site, its form work has done to some extent in raft foundations. So in
order to have a raft foundation, they had to do about 5 meters of excavation. At the same time the
construction site is bordered by few high story buildings. So when the excavations are done they
had to do some safety measurements to prevent settlements of the surrounding buildings. And
they are maintaining a good concentration about their settlements by continuous surveying. And
they have given the allowable tilt of the retaining walls as 100mms. And these walls were well
secured using steel compression beams. And they are maintaining a good communication with
surrounding people about any cracks appearing on their walls. Those steps can be identified as
good safety precautions in order to prevent a huge catastrophe.
To improve the safety level of the site they could add some more steps and features to the site.
They can educate the labors about safety. And they can implement a new rule to wear shoes
inside the site premises. And they can educate them how to give first aid to a person who is
having an injury. And they can maintain a record of day today accidents happening at the site
and take necessary actions to prevent those happening again at the site. If they can improve the
lightening system at the site in night time it will create more safety environment for people who
are working at the night time as well.

When considering about the welfare that is given to the laborers. People at the site were provided
few facilities regarding their welfare. All laborers are insured by the contractor. So in case of an
accident or any kind of a death of a worker they will claim them on behalf of his family or
himself. There are safety regulations introduced on the construction company which guarantee
the labor safety. And when the company is granting ISO standards also they have to complete
some facts regarding labor safety. There they have stated to have an insurance coverage on every
person at the site to have their standards on the site.
All the laborers and workers have being provided the accommodation by the company. They
normally give accommodations for them in nearby places to the site in primary stages of the site.
And after some time if there is enough room in the construction site to give them
accommodation at the site itself, they will be provided accommodation that way. Some days
workers may have to work until mid-night to complete their work. So those days its not easy to
travel to their places. And its quite necessary to give them such a welfare service to them. And it
will improve their resting time after hard day of working at the same time it will ensure their
arrival at the site at the right time.
In addition to those welfare services they are given daily meal and tea at respective time periods.
And all the sanitary facilities also provided in a good way. And there is a separate laborer to
handle all the sanitary work for other construction laborers at the site. Good drinking water
facilities are also provided to the laborers at the site.
In addition to all those welfare services provided to the laborers all other people at the site also
have all those facilities and a good working area. They have a well maintained site office to work
with. It is air conditioned and inside it is well managed in order to have a good working
environment.
Even though this site is in a small plot of land, they have maintained to give them all these
facilities to all the workers. And we could see a good management practice is going on at the site
to achieve construction targets while maintaining healthy and safe working environment. And we
could see site officers are also dealing friendly with the laborers. And they are having a good
relationship between themselves. That is also an important aspect in construction management.
Because good communication has to be maintained at each level to have an efficient construction
project.