Developing a pre-task plan for the Sri Lankan construction industry

Abstract

Earlier planning outputs a larger impact against unprecedented changes in construction projects. Pre-task planning (PTP) is a collaborative process that allied prior planning and safety together at the site in the daily basis. PTP allows task-based planning in the sense of associated hazard identification, mitigation and resource allocation. PTP starts with the task definition and moves with job hazard analysis while mandating the scheduling and a pre-job briefing. Therefore, the research was aimed at investigating the use of PTP in the construction projects in Sri Lanka. The study adopted a qualitative research approach. An extensive literature review was conducted and twelve, semistructured interviews involving project managers, safety engineers, site supervisors and site engineers were carried out to investigate the application of PTP in the construction industry, process of PTP, responsible parties to conduct pre-task planning and proposing a suitable format for a pre-task plan. The collected data through the expert interviews were then subjected to a content analysis. Findings confirmed that Construction industry of Sri Lanka is practicing the pre-task planning as safety and resource allocating technique. Further, tasks identification, recognition of potential hazards associated with the tasks, mitigation measures, record, and report were identified as key steps in the process of pre-task planning. Site supervisor was the key responsible party over others in conducting pre-task planning. Primary components that need to be included in the pre-task plan as emphasized by the respondents are; equipment, material, labour, personal protective equipment, work plan and hazards and precautions.