How Technology is Affecting Daily Jobsite Logs

The importance of documenting daily activities on the job site cannot be overstated. If you ever had to go back to find out what took place on the job site months or years later, accurate information can make all the difference. Whether it’s someone claiming an injury, being accused of improper work, or any other legal issue that may arise, having a log of job site activities can be a tremendous help.
September 16, 2016 | Contractor
By: John L.
I bring over 35 years of experience in the construction industry in both field and office positions to Acuity including carpentry, welding, project management, contract negotiation, and much more. Also, I founded my own commercial general contracting firm specializing in building grocery stores. Over the years I’ve worked closely with architects, civil engineers, and developers. I’ve found it instrumental to build solid relationships with all involved in the construction project, including insurance companies. This is why I am here, I want to help you the contractor better understand insurance and help Acuity to offer products and services that meet your unique needs. I feel a close connection to construction and with my background I feel that I can make sure contractors have a better insurance experience.

 

The importance of documenting daily activities on the job site cannot be overstated. If you ever had to go back to find out what took place on the job site months or years later, accurate information can make all the difference. Whether it’s someone claiming an injury, being accused of improper work, or any other legal issue that may arise, having a log of job site activities can be a tremendous help. Companies should take the time to properly train personnel on how to log daily actives. In today’s construction industry, it should be part of any supervisor’s qualifications alongside the basic mechanics of the job. Maintaining the author of the report’s credibility should be at the forefront. Exaggerating, using foul language, venting your feelings, and/or getting caught up in lies can make the entire report invalid. It is important to document all of the facts. Be sure to record what has taken place, as well as things that did not take place but should have according to the schedule. The author of the daily logs could be called the jobsite historian. While there are many items that should be on the daily job site report, here are a few items to get you started:
  • Job site address and date
  • Weather (if it affects the job)
  • Employee names, tasks,  and locations
  • Subcontractor: companies, employees, work tasks, and locations
  • Visitor names, reasons for visit, and times in and out
  • People issues
  • Deliveries (verify any defects or damages)
  • Inspections (comments from inspector)
  • Changes, addendums, or extras
  • Discrepancies in the plans, specification, or site conditions
  • Schedule updates
  • Testing and the results
  • Rental equipment shared usage, time delivered, and time picked up.
  • Signature of the author
Making the daily log a company’s standard field document used in conducting everyday business can develop it into a powerful document. Store signed daily reports to preserve the unchanged authenticity so a third party may testify to the originality of the document. If the author makes a mistake on his or her daily report, correcting it on the next day’s report is encouraged, rather than going back to change the report. Today, paper reports are becoming a thing of the past. There are job site daily log mobile app templates that can be customized to your company’s needs. Documenting daily actives and being able to attach photos, videos, calculations, GPS locations, or reference data right from your tablet or smartphone are just some of the features that can help bring credibility and accuracy to the report. In addition, many apps allow you to send the report to others at the end of the day before leaving the site and highlight parts of your daily report to use as a reminder for items you need to follow up on or as notes for your next weekly construction meeting. Sometimes it’s hard to start implementing something new because it seems like unproductive time. However, sacrificing time upfront in order to be efficient in the future should be seriously considered. Daily job site logs may be one of those times.
By: John L.
I bring over 35 years of experience in the construction industry in both field and office positions to Acuity including carpentry, welding, project management, contract negotiation, and much more. Also, I founded my own commercial general contracting firm specializing in building grocery stores. Over the years I’ve worked closely with architects, civil engineers, and developers. I’ve found it instrumental to build solid relationships with all involved in the construction project, including insurance companies. This is why I am here, I want to help you the contractor better understand insurance and help Acuity to offer products and services that meet your unique needs. I feel a close connection to construction and with my background I feel that I can make sure contractors have a better insurance experience.