Construction Industry Incident Report: Submission and Discovery Instructions

1. Submit on Blackboard in Word format.

2. Research:One news-worthy construction industry incident (something bad that happened) of your choice. Must be centered in the north-east United States, but can be current or historical. News-worthy defined here as an event covered by at least two real news organizations (newspaper, trade magazine like ENR, or broadcast news).

 

3. Find at least three sources:on this incident (acceptable: local or national newspapers, tv news video, OSHA, DOB, magazine or similar. Not acceptable: online-only blogs, Wikipedia, online dictionaries, etc. Blog exceptions: Curbed, Brownstoner, Architect’s Newspaper, Gothamist)

 

4. Find three or more imagesor videos: of the incident from any source.

 

5. Identify and research:to the extent possible any project ownership, any contractors involved on site or vendors supplying equipment used, any insurance companies involved.

6. Sizing: Submit as a single Word document. Size to 8.5 x 11 (portrait). Include a cover page with your full name, class information, date, project image, and project title.

 

7. Section title: For every section identified below. Even if a section is only images, ALWAYS include 1-2 sentences of introduction for what you are showing and why.

 

8. Caption all images: Use MS Word caption function (right click and select Insert Caption) and always include an informative title and the source of the image.

 

9. Insert images: Where they are appropriate, not at the end of the report.

 

10. Single space all text: No double spacing.

 

11.Identification: Make sure your name, date, and report titleappear on every page. Use headers or footers to achieve this.

Figure1 below is a sample of a stock photo image inserted into a document with a correct and informative caption. These two sentences are a sample of introductory text that should come before any image.

1. For the incident of your choosing, create a report with recommendations for an interested third-party audience (think: legislators, researchers, DOB officials, or similar). It should contain the following sections

 

2. Introduction: A 2-3 paragraph summary of the incident.

 

3. Org chart: showing the different known companies involved. If you know someone was involved (e.g. the crane vendor) but don’t know the company name, include a bubble for them with “company unknown” or similar designation.

 

4. Pareto chart: this must be a new graphic completed by you based on your understanding of some aspect of the incident. It can be about any kind of data from the incident at all. It can contain data and assumptions but you must make a list of notes under the chart summarizing the source of the data and what assumptions you have made. This will be worth 1/3 of the points available on this assignment.

 

5. Communication: In 2-3 paragraphs summarize what you know or suspect about breakdowns in communication that may have led to the incident in question. Topics to consider (may include others and not all are necessary – feel free to write in depth if one topic is most relevant):

Transparency

 

a. Lies or half-truths

 

b. Chain of command

 

c. Document control

 

6. Recommendations: 2-3 sentences of introduction with five bullet point recommendations for improving construction communication to avoid similar future incidents. Each bullet point should have a leading phrase with 3-4 sentences of explanation, similar to the list under Content Instructions. These must be the most important communication takeaways from the incident!

 

7. References: Numbered list.