How should construction contractors plan cover for absence so work does not stop?

Saturday was the slab pour. The RMC trucks were booked, the boom pump hired and the centering inspected. On Friday evening the foreman's brother fell ill, and he left for his village. Nobody else knew the needle vibrator rota, or where the construction joint was meant to stop. The pour started late, one truck waited an hour and a section was cast with poor compaction. A cube test would later raise a doubt. The root cause was one absent man and no plan for his absence.

• Pour-day foreman. Directs the gang, the pump, the vibrators and the finishers.
• Site engineer. Signs the work order, checks levels, and writes the measurement book entries.
• Store keeper. Issues cement bags, TMT bundles, binding wire and props, and logs the return of centering plates and tools.
• Hoist and tower crane operator. Lifts shuttering sheets, bar bundles and concrete skips. A helper cannot take the lever.
• Batching plant operator. In a road or large project, controls the mix and the dispatch.
• Safety supervisor. Holds the toolbox talk, tags the scaffold and signs the permit for hot work and height work.
• Accounts and billing clerk. Prepares the running bill with the measurement sheets attached.

1. 1

   Rank the posts

   Order the list by how quickly a site stops without each person: same hour, same day, same week.

2. 2

   Pick the second

   Choose a person already on site or at the next site. Ask them if they can take it. A second who has never seen the task is a name on paper.

3. 3

   Run a shadow week

   Have the second do the job under the primary during a quiet week, and record what was hard.

4. 4

   Set limits

   State what the second may sign alone. Examples are a small indent, a pour postponement or a labour advance. Anything larger needs a call to the project manager.

5. 5

   Refresh before monsoon

   Review the pairs before the rain, when attendance drops and sites get stretched.

Site / package:                       Date: ____.
Handing over: (name)                 Taking over: (name).
Today's pour, lift, bend or shift plan: ____.
Gangs on site and their leaders (thekedar, mason, bar bender, carpenter): ____.
Materials due in the next three days and the indent status: ____.
Equipment booked: pump, mixer, crane, hoist, scaffold, with hire end dates: ____.
Pending measurements and bill items: ____.
Permits and checks open: height work, hot work, lifting, excavation: ____.
Calls to make today and the numbers: ____.
Things that went wrong in the last two days: ____.

Most absence on a site is not on a payroll. The thekedar brings a mason gang, a bar bending gang and a shuttering carpenter gang. They drift away for the kharif sowing, a festival or a better rate down the road. Write the muster roll every morning by trade and gang strength. Note the week each gang usually leaves. Keep two spare thekedars on the phone. Pay the weekly settlement on the fixed day, because a late settlement empties a site faster than a rainstorm.

• Centering and shuttering. Props, plywood and soffit sheets that hold a slab until it gains strength. Stripping dates sit in the site diary.
• Curing and cube test. Wet gunny and water for days after a pour, and concrete cubes sent to the lab at set ages.
• RA bill and measurement book. The running account bill and the book of quantities measured on site, signed with the client.
• Bar bending schedule. The list of bar marks, shapes, lengths and counts handed to the bender.
• Mix design and slump. The mix proportions and the slump cone check at the truck mouth.
• Scaffold tag and harness. The green tag on a checked scaffold and the harness clipped at height.
• Indent and GRN. The request for materials and the goods receipt note at the gate.

A second who has stood beside the foreman knows the traps. Honeycomb appears when the needle vibrator is rushed near the shuttering corners. A cold joint forms when the next truck is late and the kicker is not prepared. Cover blocks slip when the bar benders step on the mesh. Screed levels drift when the levelling staff is changed halfway. Water is added at the truck mouth to ease the pump, and the slump cone is skipped. None of this is in an appointment letter. It lives in the foreman's eye, and the plan for absence must move it into a second pair of eyes.

Pour location and quantity:               Truck and pump bookings: ____.
Foreman:                  Second:         Vibrator gang leader: ____.
Mesh and cover blocks checked by:         Kicker and starter bars checked by: ____.
Slump cone, cube moulds and tally sheet kept by: ____.
Curing plan: gunny, ponding, who wets and at what hours: ____.
Deshuttering date and who permits it: ____.
If the foreman is out: call (name, number) and delay the pour if the second has not signed the card.

Some days cannot move. A slab pour, a prestressing stage, a bridge deck cast or a hot-mix lay needs the full team. Block those dates in the leave plan. No leave for the foreman, the pump coordinator or the lab technician that day. Offer a fixed alternative, such as the day after. In the bar bending yard, keep the schedule and cutting list on the table. A second bender can then pick up the cutting without guessing.

• Monsoon. Excavation floods, the dewatering pump runs all night and labour thins out. Shift to blockwork, plaster, formwork repair and scaffold checks.
• Festival exodus. Ask gangs for their return dates. Hold back a small advance against return, if your arrangement allows.
• Local events. Panchayat polls, jatras and transport strikes close the approach road and hold the mixer trucks. Keep spare days in the pour programme.
• Heat waves. Pour at dawn, keep ORS and shade near the hoarding, and expect more absence among gangs on open slabs.

A short written rule on attendance and leave helps. The method is set out under attendance, shift and leave process. Roles differ by type. Read civil contractors and MEP contractors for examples, and the construction contractors hub for the whole sector.