Kronos is the Greek God of Time. But he could just as easily be the unofficial God of Construction as so much of the industry falls under his existing jurisdiction.
Virtually every aspect of demolition and construction is managed or carried out according to a pre-determined schedule. And there is a schedule for EVERYTHING.
Even before work commences, tenders are required to be submitted by a certain date. When the winning contractor is awarded the contract, they are given an official start date and a completion date. Failure to abide by either or both can result in potentially stiff financial penalties set in place to ensure that the project remains on track and on time.
Individual workers are required to arrive at work by a certain time; sub-contractors, materials and equipment likewise. The components that go into the making of that vital equipment arrives with the machine manufacturer on a just-in-time basis.
Throughout the construction or demolition process, progress meetings are held to ensure that all necessary key performance indicators are being met. And the key KPI is, once again, time: Will the project be ready for handover to the next skill or trade on time; are there any pinch-points or obstacles along the way that might prevent the project from completing on time.
There are exceptions, of course. Anyone that knows construction knows that there are certain high-profile and publicly-funded projects for which time is little more than a construct. Even when the agreed completion date is years and even decades in the future and even before a spade has been driven into the ground, those within the industry know that the deadline will be pushed back multiple times. Projects like HS2 and Hinckley Point C twist and bend time like Doc Brown in the Back to the Future movie series. And when they’re done bending time, they transform from vital construction project to political football to be kicked around by the incumbent Government and the permanently-disgruntled party opposite.
There is, however, another aspect of demolition and construction for which time and its passage have no meaning. It is not governed by deadlines; it has no KPIs to speak of; and it is seemingly beyond political criticism. (If you have been reading this column for a while, you probably know where this is going).
Accident investigations, particularly those involving one or more fatalities, are not bound by the rules of space and time. They exist in their own private and parallel universe where, like astronauts, they age more slowly than those of us on Earth.
Here in the real world, time passes by the second, the minute, the hour, day, month and year. In the world of accident investigations, it is forever Groundhog Day. The commitment they gave to deliver a swift resolution remains unchanged the day after the accident, a week after, a month after and eight years after; even while they continually fail to deliver on their promises.
Accident investigations are like “The Fallen” lamented in the famous Laurence Binyon poem: “Age shall not weary them”. But make no mistake. The years DO condemn.
