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AUSTRALIAN CONSTRUCTION’S HOURS CULTURE: TIME FOR CHANGE ROD SWEET MEETS THE MAVERICK BOSS PIONEERING A FIVE-DAY WEEK ON A SYDNEY HOSPITAL PROJECT
Like other countries, Australia has a problem with its construction culture. The sector needs 114,000 new workers by 2024 to deliver the pipeline of government infrastructure projects already awarded, but the industry’s harsh working environment – long hours, high pressure, adversarial behaviour – puts people off joining the industry, pushes people out of it early, especially women, and takes a heavy toll on those who stay. The statistics are shocking. The suicide rate is more than double the national average; construction workers are six times more likely to die of suicide than workplace accidents. Women leave the industry six times faster than men. The human cost of industry dysfunctions is estimated to be some A$6bn (£3.28bn) a year. Prompted by this state of affairs, the state governments of New South Wales (NSW) and Victoria have teamed up with the Australian Constructors Association, the trade body representing tier 1 contractors, to convene the Construction Industry Culture Taskforce (CICT).
Its job is to come up with new industry standards protecting mental health and family wellbeing, the goal being that compliance with the standards becomes a condition for winning public sector work. The CICT will pilot new ways of working that make the industry more humane for its people, accompanied by research quantifying the impact on wellbeing, project economics and productivity. Its flagship pilot is the A$341m first stage of the Concord Hospital Redevelopment in Sydney, involving the design and construction of a 44,000 sq m clinical services building. Unheard of in Australian construction, where a six- or even seven-day week is the traditional norm, contractor Roberts Co is delivering the project with a strict five-day working week, giving workers what most of us take for granted: a weekend to rest, recover and spend time with the family. The five-day pilot is the brainchild of Roberts Co chief executive Alison Mirams, who rose up through the ranks at Multiplex before taking the helm of Roberts Co in 2017 with a
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