Automation is the buzzword of the moment, but perhaps with good reason.
The construction industry has been slow to uptake technological advances in workflow automation, but what’s the impact? Foundry’s survey in collaboration with QuickBase says inefficient and heavily manual workflows lower overall productivity, increase rework and even lead to non-compliance.
The industry is seeking change, and we explore securities part to play in introducing technology to automate and coordinate projects.
While the sector has been slow to uptake technology as a way of automating workflows, there are impacts to this reluctance.
A recent survey by Foundry, in collaboration with QuickBase, revealed that an ‘inefficient approach to workflow management can result in lower overall productivity, increased rework due to poor coordination, and, in extreme cases, even regulatory fines.’
Why Construction Automation Is Beneficial
Multi-million-pound construction projects are currently relying on excel sheets and other single-point solutions, which require predominantly manual input and upkeep.
In a bid to put a stop to the negative impacts of heavily manual workflows, the construction industry is seeking new ways to improve productivity, profitability, reporting and safety.
According to the Foundry survey, over a third of construction industry participants want a workflow management platform that:
- Easily integrates with existing systems
- Collects and presents real-time data
- Centralises and standardises data across multiple teams and sites
- Facilitates collaboration with real-time visibility
But what part does the security industry have to play?
Unpredictable costs and low productivity/extended project timelines were key concerns to construction firms, highlighted by 46% and 43% respectively.
The introduction of access-control turnstiles offers a simple and effective solution to these concerns and here, we explore how.
How Do Security Turnstiles Impact Construction Workflow Automation?
The budget has always been at the centre of construction projects and so unsurprisingly, it’s one of the main drivers for introducing automation to projects and understandably so, given the increasing material, fuel, and wage costs.
With an industry seeking high-value and immediate impact solutions, access-control turnstiles have proven to be a smooth introduction to workflow automation – from management to contractor.
Security turnstiles have an immediate impact on cost reduction and worker efficiency. The ability to eliminate the manual verification and sign-in of workers frees up a project coordinator to have an impact elsewhere on the project and increases contractors’ time on site with a quick and accurate signing-in process.
In addition, time and attendance software provide transparent subcontractor management with the ability to see the number of workers supplied by a contracting firm and their hours (even across multiple projects!). Not only allowing the ability to cross-reference and monitor cost but also providing better visibility on deadlines.
Advances in technology and a bit of lateral thinking led to innovative additions to access control functions, launching remote pre-enrolment of contractors via an enrolment link, minimising enrolment time on site.
With options to input bespoke induction documents and videos too, contractors arrive on site ready to work almost immediately. Not only increasing worker productivity but guaranteeing all contractors permitted onto the site are working safely in accordance with their induction creating sure and simple H&S compliance.
The Efficiencies Created Through Smarter Security Turnstiles:
- Completion of enrolment before arrival on site
- Inductions completed remotely
- Speedy verification of workers
- Time and attendance recording and reporting
- Automated monitoring of license expiries, such as CSCS Certification
- Custom fields to monitor things such as mileage claims
- Click-of-a-button reporting
- HSE Compliant automated fire muster reporting
- Networking of multiple sites.
Find out more about Secure Site UK’s range of access control turnstiles, here.
