Revisiting supervision for all LBPs

As promised, Under Construction will be including all compulsory Codewords articles to help LBPs earn their required points and stay up to speed with changes. This month’s article is required for all LBP licence holders

Under the new skills maintenance scheme, reading Codewords articles relevant to your licence and answering the corresponding questions is a mandatory part of skills maintenance (for those who have renewed their licence since 2 November 2015). Once you’ve read the article, go to the LBP website (under Codewords Issue 76) to answer the associated questions.

Understanding Supervision

The Building Practitioners Board (the Board) recently issued a significant complaint decision relating to supervision of building work provided by LBPs. You can read the decision about complaint number C2-01143 on the LBP website (www.lbp.govt.nz). While we have covered supervision in earlier issues of Codewords, this decision provides further important information for LBPs.

In C2-01143, the complaint against the LBP was about the poor level of supervision they provided to others. The Board upheld the complaint and the LBP was disciplined.

While the work involved was not carried out under a building consent, the LBP had undertaken to supervise and control the work of others and the Board decided the LBP could be held accountable for their actions.

As part of the complaint decision, the Board provided a breakdown of some of the major considerations, which LBPs should bear in mind when they are supervising work.

Supervise, in relation to building work, means provide control or direction and oversight of the building work to an extent that is sufficient to ensure that the building work:

(a) is performed competently; and
(b) complies with the building consent
under which it is carried out.

The boards major considerations are:

1. Supervision applies to all building work supervised by an LBP

LBPs can be held to account for building work done under their supervision. Even if there is no requirement for a building consent, it must be performed competently. If there is a building consent then it must also comply with the building consent.

2. Type and complexity of the building work to be supervised

Some types of work are inherently riskier and more complex than others. Generally, the more complex and risky the work, the more supervision is needed to ensure that work is carried out competently.

For example, you would provide more support to, and supervision of, someone carrying out the construction of a multiplaned roof structure than someone building a standard gable-end roof.

3. Experience of the person being supervised

The degree of supervision required depends on the ability of the person you are supervising.

A first-year apprentice requires more, and closer, supervision than someone who has been working in the trade for many years. You might work on site every day with the apprentice but visit other experienced and skilled or semiskilled staff a few times each week or at key points in the building work.

4. Supervisor’s experience in working with the person being supervised and confidence in their ability

While similar to the previous consideration, this relates more to the supervisor’s confidence in their coworker’s ability. It may be that you have
a fourth-year apprentice who has shown they are very cautious and careful compared to a semi-skilled co-worker who rushes their work and doesn’t take time to read plans properly.

Although the apprentice has been working for less time, you might have more confidence in their ability to work without direct supervision and, as a result, spend less time with them. Similarly, if you have observed someone performing a task competently on more than one occasion, then it is more likely they will be able to do this again without direct supervision.

It is always good to take a conservative, risk-based approach until you have developed a good grasp and understanding of the ability of the people you are supervising. It is also important to consider which parts of the job are more complex and will need more supervision.

5. Number of persons or projects being supervised

As is noted above, supervising others means you are directly responsible for ensuring their work is performed competently and to the building consent, if there is one. As a supervisor, you need to be able to provide each worker or each project with a sufficient level of supervision to ensure that the work is carried out competently.

However, there are obvious limits on how much work can be adequately supervised and supervisors need to be aware when they become too busy to provide good support for those they’re supervising.

6. Geographic spread of the work being supervised

Supervision mostly involves direct site contact with co-workers and observation of the building work taking place. There might be occasions where some supervision can be undertaken remotely (by phone for example), but generally a supervisor should have regular direct contact at the site and with the people they are supervising.

Consider the geographical spread of your work – if you have jobs in Auckland, Wellington and Napier, it’s going to be difficult to provide adequate supervision to all these jobs given the physical separation of these sites.

7. The compliance of the building work

Ultimately, most complaints about LBPs include concerns as to whether the building work has been performed competently and meets the requirements of the building consent, if there is one. If there are multiple or serious noncompliance issues, then supervision of that work will come under close scrutiny. The supervising LBP may be disciplined, fined or lose their licence.

Conclusion

If you are supervising someone, ensure you are providing sufficient support for the people you are supervising for the work that they undertake, and that you can be there when needed. You need to have good business practices in place so that those you are supervising are able to reach you when they need support or clarification. If you are not able to provide the required level of supervision to your workers, you may
need to engage another LBP to supervise or upskill some of your staff to become LBPs.