Ashlee Othen

5.30 AM

No time to snooze the alarm, I have my morning routine down to the minute, so I can wake up as late as possible. 

6.40 AM

I get to site at 6.40 am, sign in at security and catch the site bus to the offices. I quickly fit in a bowl of cereal before the 7.00 am prestart meeting. At prestart the supervisor runs through all the tasks, safety hazards, weather and tides for today, so everyone is aware of what’s happening on site.

7.30 AM

It’s back to the offices and I usually start my day by checking my emails and my calendar. I quickly check in with a subcontractor representative and then raise the required hold points/inspections for today with the client representative.  

8.30 AM

I head out to site to check on progress, I take a lot of photos and monitor progress for our quality records. I also need to check that the concrete bin has been exchanged and monitor the site water usage.

10.30 AM

My first meeting today is a weekly meeting with the client, a subcontractor representative and a supplier representative. We have conducted some crane rail infill trials to determine the most suitable product; it needs to have a high compressive strength but also an element of elasticity. We are meeting to discuss material options following the infill trial and brainstorm pros and cons of the options trialled to date.

12.30 PM

Time for lunch! There isn’t a cafeteria on site, so lunch is last night’s left overs. When site isn’t too busy we sit outside and have lunch together overlooking the wharf.

 

1.00 PM

I have a hold point to ensure the crane rail is installed in accordance with the technical specification. I pop my head in next door to grab a subcontractor representative and our client representative and we call for an escort to take us down to berth 2 where the rail install is taking place.

2.30 PM

At this time every day we have a 15-minute contractors site co-ordination/lookahead meeting. Everyone huddles around the 2 week lookahead white board to discusses progress, future works, interface with other contractors and other general site items. This meeting is very valuable to ensure work is progressing as planned and everyone is working together.

3.00 PM

Mid-afternoon is usually when I am free to get some work done. Today I am compiling worklots, closing out hold points and sending out some emails.

4.30 PM

It’s time to plan for tomorrow’s works. I have to raise another permit for my work crew and I also write a list of everything I want to accomplish tomorrow.

6.00 PM

I get home from work at approximately 6.00 pm, head off to the gym for 45 minutes and then head back to my apartment to shower, cook and maybe watch a tv show before bed.