Now with the restrictions of COVID-19 in the workplace, construction teams around the country are facing a future of social distancing practices to keep people safe. If your site teams need to operate as truly remote teams, it’s essential to find new ways to collaborate and administrate your projects to work through the COVID-19 pandemic.
This sudden shift to a hyper-vigilant state of ensuring your team and clients are not exposed to COVID-19 is introducing a raft of challenges for businesses. The good news is construction management software can provide the central system you need to store the information you and your teams rely on. The plans, safety lists, tenders and transmittals and more are easy to find and can be accessed from anyone – anywhere and anytime.
Helping keep the team safe and connected are some of the numerous benefits Procore, a construction management solution, has delivered for Benmax in Australia and New Zealand (ANZ). The company focuses on designing, building and maintaining specialised mechanical HVAC&R (heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration) for commercial and industrial facilities throughout ANZ.
Benmax has multiple sites and multiple teams that need ways of working due to COVID-19.
From the Physical to the Virtual
Physically working side by side with clients and colleagues delivers the visibility and contact projects teams are familiar with. However, moving toward technology helps companies like Benmax navigate through daily work and ensure the safety of its workers.
With Procore a single source of information integrates with other cloud-based solutions, like business accounting programs, to deliver the resources needed to continue working.
General Manager Construction ACT for Benmax, Steve Watt, tells Jobsite that by replacing manual systems with Procore, the company has streamlined how it collaborates and introduces a new set of response mechanisms for COVID-19 and site safety.
Benmax trusts Procore to deliver consistency across projects and teams. It has implemented Procore project management, quality and safety, equipment management and project financials – and is currently rolling out analytics.
“We have adopted a new use of toolbox tools to replace manual systems with digital document templates and video. We now have writeable PDF documents that can easily be updated on any type of device,” says Watt.
Meeting Changing Health Safety Needs
The new approach to quality and safety with Procore has provided a huge benefit to the company. Benmax has replaced a manual system with a single electronic form which has centralised information on each incident or potential incident. This has helped the team address each issue and be better prepared in the future – proving particularly beneficial with COVID-19 and site safety.
“The health of our team is so vitally important at this time. We are replacing the need to fill in forms and physically use pens provided by other people to sign documents with new-look digital and video reports. This gives us the coverage we need for any issues and keeps each one of our staff on their own device. It gives us greater peace of mind,” he confided.
Planning for the Future
With social restrictions in place for the foreseeable future due to COVID-19 across ANZ, collaborating with remote teams will continue to pose challenges for construction companies – and this will be heightened if you are used to working from the office together or visiting a mix of offices and site locations.
With a construction management platform delivering the capability to analyse Benmax business plans, challenges and long-term goals, the company has implemented a new approach to “secure its business continuity”.
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