RR955 - Pre-conditioning for success: Characteristics and factors ensuring a safe build for the Olympic Park
This research has looked to identify factors which have contributed to the London 2012 Olympic Park being delivered on time, on budget and with an exemplary health and safety record. Where other research has captured 'how' things were done, this research has explored 'why' and focused on the underpinning human and organisational interactions.
The research has tapped in to the close-out and lessons learnt activities for six of the venue and infrastructure projects. In addition interviews were conducted with executives from the Olympic Delivery Authority as client, their Delivery Partner and contractors. Emerging findings were triangulated with observations from other health and safety research teams and evidence from diverse aspects of the build programme contained in the London 2012 learning legacy publications.
Findings centre on the underpinning role of human characteristics like respect, trust, clarity, pre-emption, challenge, consistency, collaboration, motivation, empowerment, communication, open-ness, fairness and assurance. Their practical influence on approaches to, and effectiveness of, leadership, worker involvement, cultural change, communication systems, risk management, monitoring and assurance are brought out.
It is concluded that many of the principles offer potential benefits across a wide range of construction projects, with implementation scalable to suit the simplicity or complexity of the work. Corresponding recommendations are presented for different parties in the construction supply chain.
This report and the work it describes were funded by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Its contents, including any opinions and/or conclusions expressed, are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect HSE policy.
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