Role design and job descriptions for Water infrastructure contractors: supervisors, gang leaders and plant technicians
On a pipeline job the supervisor, the gang leader and the engineer all give orders. Written roles settle who decides what, and keep plant technicians from being managed like diggers.
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A pipeline project grows around people. The site engineer plans, the supervisor runs the day, the mestri controls his gang and the billing clerk waits for quantities. Nobody has a written list of what each may decide. A gang leader orders extra pipe, a supervisor moves workers to another stretch and the engineer finds out afterwards. Plant technicians who test pumps are lumped with the same supervisors although their work is entirely different.
Role design is a plain exercise. For each role on the project, write the purpose, the daily duties, who they report to, what they may decide and what they must refer upwards. It is not meant to create paperwork. It is meant to reduce arguments, make hiring easier and give people something to grow into.
How to set it up
1. List the roles on a typical project
Write down every role from the project head to the pipe layer, including gang leaders and commissioning staff. Mark overlaps and gaps, such as two people checking quantities or no one checking safety.
2. Describe each in one page
Purpose, duties, reporting line, decisions allowed and decisions to be referred. Use plain words and examples from the route, such as who may move a gang or order extra material.
3. Separate route work from plant work
Write different roles for supervisors on the route and technicians in plant commissioning, with their own skills, tools and handover steps.
4. Agree gang leader terms in writing
Say what a leader is responsible for, how his people are recorded and how disputes are raised. Respect his place, and keep records of the people under him.
5. Use the roles in hiring and review
Take the descriptions into interviews and appraisals. After the first project, correct them with what the team learnt. The manager development programme can use them as a base.
Check these first
Before changing anything, find out what is true today. These take an afternoon and use your own records.
- Ask a supervisor and an engineer separately who decides to move a gang, and compare answers.
- Read your current job descriptions and check whether any mention gang leaders or commissioning.
- List decisions made on the last project that were later reversed.
- Ask a plant technician how his role differs from that of a route supervisor.
GullyHR can do this with you. Read how we approach role design and job descriptions in general, or share your requirements and we will tell you where to start.
Questions owners ask
Because new people join all the time and projects repeat. A written role is quicker to explain, easier to hire against and reduces arguments over who decides. You can reuse it on the next project.
Use a plain agreement covering responsibilities, recording of workers and dispute handling. It does not need to look like a job description, but the content should be clear to both sides.
One page is enough. State purpose, duties, reporting line, what the person may decide and what to refer upwards. If the page is too long, nobody reads it on a muddy site.