In an article by Todd Bateson and John Komidar titled “Cutting Costs Now Can Lead to Much Higher Costs Later” the issue of cutting costs because of the economy is reexamined.  It is a double edged sword because contractors must find a way to cut back on expenses without unintentionally creating increased costs later down the road when they are less manageable.  There are three areas where cut backs may seem feasible, but in the end, could end up costing you much more:

Quality of Materials

• Costs make up a significant portion of the budget for any project.  Projects today now draw 10-15 bidders compared to about 6 in the past.  This competitiveness usually means the lowest bidder wins and quality is compromised.  For example, a contractor bought cheaper plumbing fittings from overseas.  The fittings were manufactured with substandard materials and six months later leaked throughout the whole project.  The contractor had to replace each at a far greater price than if he bought the higher quality materials in the first place.

Preventative Maintenance

• Due to the large variety of machinery used in each industry, there is no universal figure on how much a firm should spend on prevenative maintenance.
• Ignoring preventative maintenance can cause machine malfunctions, important equipment to breakdown and even injury to workers.

Safety Initiatives

• Construction can be a dangerous industry, as statistics show; there were 1,178 construction fatalities and 371,700 lost time injuries in 2007.

Cutting back on any of the three areas mentioned will cost contractors immensely.  It could be costs to fix low quality material or costs of legal implications.  When I think of preventative measures I think of how a nosing or stair tread can be easily retrofitted over existing stairs to incorporate safety.  If a company takes too long to take action there is a good chance that an accident could happen or stairs must be completely replaced for twice the cost.

Bateson, Todd. “Cutting Costs Now Can Lead To Much Higher Costs Later”. Constructor. May/June 2009: 69-70.

Filed under: Workplace Safety by Beth Faraci