Learning from experience

Experience is one of the most valuable resources you can have in business (and in life) – and it’s not always earned the easy way! Trial and error is a well-worn route to experience, but it’s what you learn from your mistakes that often shapes future success.

Of course, valuable lessons can also be learned from others’ experiences – which is why we started the Builders’ Business column in Under Construction. It’s a space for you to share with your peers how you are handling situations common to the wider industry, or within a particular region.

This month’s Site Safe article highlights a very serious example of how one business has learned from experience. A near-fatal fall, combined with feedback from WorkSafe, has been the catalyst for a complete re-focus on safety processes – something that had been overtaken by a sharp increase in workload and staff numbers over a relatively short period of time.

While the end result for this company was positive, it shouldn’t take a near-miss to effect necessary change. Ensuring your own health doesn’t get near – or past – the point of no return is the key driver for Blue September, the Prostate Cancer Foundation’s annual appeal to raise awareness of men’s health and the importance of getting regularly checked. It’s a campaign PlaceMakers gets behind every year with great support from our builders, as you’ll see HERE.

We’ll be running more articles about Blue September events over the next few months. Just like safety on the worksite, taking care of one’s health isn’t something we should only focus on for one month of the year. Health and safety should be on our minds year-round and is definitely one of those situations where it is better to learn from someone else’s experience rather than our own.

Take care out there and please continue to provide feedback on how we can continue to evolve Under Construction to meet your needs, by emailing us at editor@pmunderconstruction.co.nz.

Gary Woodhouse
General Manager Operations & Marketing

Save

Save