Planning around absences so the critical work keeps moving
At 6:20 on a Monday, the steel foreman learns that the welder on the arena's handrails will be off all week. Only a qualified welder may make those welds, and the inspection of the stands is booked for Friday. Whether the week is lost depends on what the foreman did three weeks ago.
The critical work keeps moving only if someone else already holds the absent person's skills and tickets, and the rest of the crew has ready work to go to. Before anyone is absent, list the skills and tickets the coming weeks' critical work depends on, give each a second holder, and agree a short routine for the morning someone does not come. Losing one of eight labourers slows a task; losing the only qualified person stops it. Some qualifications must be in place first: in Canada, welders on certain buildings and structures must be qualified by the Canadian Welding Bureau for the process and position they were tested in.
Prepare, then replan
- Make a skills matrix: the crew's names down the side and, across the top, the skills and tickets the next four weeks' critical work needs, with expiry dates.
- Circle every skill only one person holds. For the project-wide list, see single points of failure.
- Qualify a second person before the work starts: pair them on the task and book the test or course in time.
- Keep a ready list of work that can absorb people: prefabrication, cleanup, areas with no open constraints.
- Check before the huddle each morning: who is here, which critical task each absent person held, who covers it and what moves to the ready list.
- Tell the people affected that morning, note the change in the daily report, and replan the week in the weekly labour plan if the absence lasts.
Common mistakes
- Keeping who holds which ticket, and until when, in one person's head.
- Putting someone without the required ticket on a task because the schedule is tight.
- Learning who is missing at the huddle, when the replan should already be done.
Checklist
Your absence plan
- A skills matrix with expiry dates
- A second holder for each critical skill
- Tests and courses booked early
- A ready list of work
- A headcount check before the huddle
- The people affected told that morning
Check your understanding
Two of your eight labourers and your only telehandler operator are absent. Which absence do you plan around first?
