This past Sunday, I was walking with my wife and son.
A construction site.
My son loves them.
They were dismantling a big crane.
Right next to our house.
I was telling my wife… “For less than that, I shut down an entire work front on my last project.”
There was a worker walking along the crane, without a harness.
“He should be wearing a harness… Actually, he shouldn’t even be up there.”
“Well,” my wife said, “That guy over there isn’t wearing one either, maybe they don’t need them.”
“He should be wearing one too.”
I look at my son.
He’s fascinated.
“Daddy, daddy, the crane!”
Suddenly, I hear a noise.
The man who was on top of the crane... is no longer there.
He’s on the ground.
Flat on his back.
It was clear.
I shout to the workers.
I point at him.
They’re running around like headless chickens.
Back and forth.
“We need to call an ambulance.” said my wife.
We call.

I could keep telling the story, but I’m sure you don’t want to hear it.

This happens all the time on big projects.
All the time.
And not just in health and safety.
No.
In every area.
Commercial, legal, scheduling.

You see the train coming.
Its lights speeding toward you.
And there you are, like a rabbit frozen in the glow of two headlights.
And it runs you over.

Bad culture.
Bad practice.
No sense of risk or how to do things right.

It’s been hard to stop thinking about that worker.
I was right there.
It wasn’t my site, but what he was doing wrong was obvious.
I could see it. And I knew what could happen.

That’s exactly how I feel when I see an RFQ, an RFP, a project team.
Years of watching. Years of experience, stories…
It’s like riding a bike.
I was a cyclist as a kid and teenager, for many years, and I only need 30 seconds to spot every bolt that’s not right on a bike.
It’s the same with large infrastructure projects.

When I arrived at P2Wk in New Zealand, I saw a lot right away.
I saw the danger and what wouldn’t go well…

I could tell you much, much more… but if you're interested, the link below has some great stories.

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