Guest Blog: Mick Morpeth, CIMC Modular Building Sytems

We love the fact that our clients demonstrate such a positive commitment to Health and Safety and thought it was about time we provided a platform to for them to share ideas and information on best practice. Hence, the launch of the Safety Smart Guest Blog………… 

CIMC Modular Building Systems (CIMC MBS) were an obvious choice to be featured. A business division of CIMC Group, they have grown into the largest provider of modular buildings and modular building systems in the world, by demonstrating that innovative design and patented building technology could truly alleviate traditional build constraints via shorter build time.

CIMC MBS take Health and Safety extremely seriously and have exceptionally robust systems and procedures in place. Mick Morpeth, CIMC MBS UK Project Manager explains their process and how it is that they manage to get it right on a consistent basis. 

Here at CIMC we are driven and committed to our number one priority, which is the health and safety of everyone who touches our business. 

We as a company have over 60,000 employees working around the globe in all manners of design, manufacture, installation. Here in the UK we are the 9th company to evolve from the parent company, which is run out of the UK office, namely our London office in Hatton Gardens. 

We have a relatively small team who look after the Modular Building System. We design, manufacture and install modular buildings, mainly for the major hotel chains and student accommodation projects for private and public sector clients.

Taking a conceptual design into a live project is where it starts with us. We know that detail is key to the smooth delivery of a project and we therefore need to get in early and get to know the detail as soon as possible. With most projects time and details are somewhat sparse so we know this is key to a successful project. 

We have a huge amount of knowledge throughout our UK team, and most members have been Senior project managers and members of NEBOSH in their own right. Understanding the project and site constraints is key to our business, so we leave nothing to chance. 

Our KPI process starts about 3 months prior to commencing on site. We hold pre start meetings internally and with our key supply chain. At this stage we go through all the headings from design, manufacture, shipping, logistics and installation and aftercare. 

Following on from that, we will visit site some 3/4 times during the stages of construction to monitor progress, and liaise with the principle contractor regarding any issues. Working with our key supply chain, we tend to use the same companies time after time. Why?? because we know it works, and they work the way we want them to work – in a positive manner. 

We have daily meetings whilst on site prior to starting on works. This just sets the scene for our daily operations. We have ‘lessons learned’ meetings following every project. These meetings provide invaluable information for our continual improvement in all aspects of our business. 

We have a very proactive approach towards Health and Safety, and the most important thing we do as a business is not to get complacent about what we are doing. We lift 25 tonne containers around with a 500 tonne crane on a daily basis, but we absolutely cannot take the attitude that it is easy. That is when apathy sets in. We are conducting high risk work and we cannot afford to be complacent. 

We have to capture and monitor all aspects of our processes and systems. Systems have been developed, not to hinder the process, but to make the paperwork side of the business much easier to deal with. 

Ultimately at CIMC we take great pride in sending everyone home every night safely.