The Summer Prevent Defense: Mid-Season On-The-Job Tips

Ah, the harsh realities of mid-summer.  For most contractors, June, July, and August represent heavy working months.  The same months, for many parts of the country, represent summer heat, which means summer mistakes made because guys are not thinking, planning, and executing as sharply as they were in the spring.

After being a contractor and then working with contractors for a combined 35 years, I’ve lived with and observed those companies with crews that appeared to make mistakes in June through August, that they would not have made in the spring months.  Many of these mistakes are due to mental exhaustion that is tied to the physical toll that the summer heat can have on leaders and workers.

While we pray for good dry days to work, the dry or humid days with upper nineties, and temperatures busting the one-hundred-degree register, can bring many potential problems with it.  Tools are not loaded at the end of the day and never recovered, the extra needed component gets overlooked by those individuals stocking the trucks, and of course, when another hour could have finished out the project, the foreman decides to call it a day.  Yep, more costs incurred for the simplest of reasons can be realized during the hot summer months than just about any other series of months.

What is needed, and rarely executed, is to enact a “summer prevent defense.”  Something that will delay the biggest mistakes from being made, maybe even preventing them altogether.

In the game of football, a “prevent defense” is usually applied by a winning team toward the end of the first half or second half of play.  Its purpose is to protect the winning team’s lead, to safe-guard the field by spreading out the defensive players to prevent the opposing team from throwing a long pass for a touchdown.  It’s not the normal defense played at other times of the ball game, but reserved for these special moments.

The same theory is behind my introduction of the “Summer Prevent Defense,” or, SPD.  Let me share a few ideas that contractors can use to prevent a total “melt-down” due to hot conditions that can try the patience and professionalism of our leaders, workers, and customers.

• Call a field “time-out” once every two or three weeks.  Have the guys/gals come in early one day and have some cold watermelon, ice cream, etc. back at the yard or office and just engage your people.
• Celebrate more wins, as they occur.
• When issues arise, don’t OVER-REACT…just go to the parties involved; assess, fix, and re-teach.
• Slow down your pre-start to insure clarity, accuracy, planning, resources, are all available and executed…don’t allow any crew to begin their day without all the needed info, tools, equipment, etc.
• Over-emphasize hydrating…follow the safety rules “plus” when the heat is literally turned up; no second changes with heat exhaustion.
• Invest in some sun-protective helmet nets for guys to keep sun off their necks if crew works outside.
• Have the senior leaders, especially the “head” of the leadership team, make more visible appearances to sites and with guys in the morning or afternoon as the guys are returning.
• Have senior leaders make site visits with greater frequency; make such visits educational but also giving encouragement.
• Spend more time with your front-line leaders, your Supervisors, Superintendents, Foremen, and Project Managers to insure they are prepared and ready for each new project and day.  They too can tire and lose their way a little when the heat is turned up

One or more of the above ideas may just do the trick for you but rest assured, keeping your teams engaged and at their performing best is no trick.  It takes hard work and even the best construction companies I know experience the “mid-summer blues,” working hard to prevent every mistake whenever possible. 

While a contractor and construction leaders never want to make playing “defense” their number one strategy, sometimes all a company can do is to give their crews some extra effort, keeping them distracted to stay project focused rather than focusing on their hot bodies, sore muscles, and a feeling that need to stay home. 

And one more thought.  This article isn’t about buying more ice-cream or being soft on your work crews.  Construction isn’t easier in the fall or spring than the summer.  It’s tough all the time…BUT…the summer heat, for most contractors, due tend to incur more potential heat related safety incidents, little and often stupid decisions, made by some of your best people.  And always, equipment always tends to break down during busy times.

Tempers, anger, and worse emotions can surface during the summer months.  Work hard to prevent as much of the mental nonsense that can develop through leaders and workers not staying as sharp and sensitive to field issues…before they grow into full-fledged problems.

Here’s to improving your prevent defense!