Planning deliveries on a tight site
At 07:10 a flatbed of steel studs stops in the curb lane outside a downtown site, with a drywall truck right behind it. The site has one gate, the forklift is moving formwork, and the lane closure is booked for the afternoon. Neither delivery is on anyone's list.
On a tight site the gate, the unloading space and the lifting equipment are shared, and an unannounced truck takes them from someone else. Unloading from the street brings in the city's rules: Toronto, for example, requires a street occupation permit to use the area beyond your property line to store materials and equipment or to hoist with a mobile crane or boom truck. Traffic control is regulated too; British Columbia requires effective traffic control whenever traffic could be hazardous to a worker.
- Run one booking list: every supplier and trade books a time window with one person at least a day ahead, and unbooked trucks wait off site.
- Confirm the truck and the load: type and length, how the load is packed, the heaviest piece, and whether it has its own boom or forklift.
- Match the unloading method to the load. A crane or boom-truck lift follows your jurisdiction's crane rules and any lift plan. In British Columbia, for example, work must be arranged, where practicable, so loads do not pass over anyone, and no worker may stand or pass under a suspended load.
- Check overhead power lines where a boom will be raised. British Columbia sets minimum approach distances to exposed electrical conductors and requires the power system owner's written assurance when they cannot be kept.
- Ready the space and the crew: the laydown area on the site logistics plan cleared, dunnage down, a receiver ready to check the load, and enough hands.
- Control the street end: permits in hand, signs and cones placed, and trained traffic control persons where your rules call for them.
- Post the day's deliveries at the morning huddle, and update the list when a supplier calls.
Common mistakes
- Accepting "sometime in the morning" as a delivery time.
- Booking two large deliveries into one window.
- Finding out at the curb that the boom cannot reach the laydown.
- Letting a truck wait in a live traffic lane while space is cleared.
Checklist
Before you confirm a delivery
- A time window, not "in the morning"
- Truck type, length and unloading method confirmed
- Heaviest piece matched to the lifting equipment
- Overhead lines checked where a boom will be raised
- Laydown space, receiver and crew named
- Permits and traffic control ready for street unloading
Check your understanding
A supplier says the truck will come "sometime Tuesday morning". What do you need before you accept?
