A lost-time log by cause: the minutes crews lose each day, counted by what caused them
The pellet-plant superintendent reads four hours beside access on the millwright log. It is unclear whether one worker waited four hours, six workers waited together or several delays were combined. A second lift has been suggested, but the record cannot yet support its cost comparison.
Keep a small daily log that records the waiting event, its location, people affected and duration. Use a few consistent cause categories, then total person-hours by cause for the weekly conversation. The point is to choose and test a useful change. This is a management measure, not automatic evidence of a compensable claim, and a rough recollection should not be presented as precisely observed minutes.
Count the lost effort without inflating it
- Agree the categories and boundary. Start with materials, information, access, equipment, inspection and other trades. Allow an unresolved explanation to remain unresolved. Define waiting separately from ordinary task effort, breaks or planned preparation so foremen record comparable events.
- Log the event while it is fresh. Record time, location, affected task, people and the observed duration. Add a brief explanation and identify estimates as estimates. Keep supporting daily records available without asking every worker to narrate the whole shift.
- Separate elapsed and person time. Multiply the waiting minutes by the people actually affected, then divide by sixty for person-hours. If some workers move to useful work, count only their actual waiting period. Keep the elapsed duration too because it describes a different scheduling question.
- Check overlaps and cause labels. Reconcile repeated entries with the foremen before adding totals. One delay should not appear in full under both access and equipment merely because it involved a lift. Retain a primary category and explanatory note while any underlying cause is investigated.
- Select one owned intervention. Read the largest recurring loss alongside its actual cause, cost and consequences. Confirm equipment, access and safety decisions with responsible people rather than assuming another resource is suitable. Issues needing immediate response go through their normal process without waiting for this weekly review.
- Compare the next period honestly. Record the change's full cost and whether comparable waiting fell. Include new constraints and displaced delays. Keep or revise the action on that evidence, and retain the original log instead of treating a purchase order as proof of improvement.
Common mistakes
- Calling elapsed crew time person-hours without multiplying headcount.
- Counting workers who were reassigned productively.
- Adding the same delay under several cause codes.
- Assuming a resource purchase proves the cause disappeared.
Checklist
A weekly loss summary worth acting on
- Located event and task.
- People, duration and measurement confidence.
- Elapsed time and person-hours labelled.
- Non-overlapping cause totals.
- Owned and appropriately assessed change.
- Complete cost and comparable follow-up.
Check your understanding
Six workers wait twenty minutes, but two leave after ten minutes for productive work. How many person-minutes were lost?
