Has anyone else noticed a substantial increase in the amount of required paperwork these days with their jobs? I work for a pipeline construction contractor and the amount of paperwork required, submittals, daily documentation is getting to point of being ridiculous. This is especially true with feel good paperwork that doesn't have any real world value. It is either helping something justify their job or making someone feel good that there is a submittal to put in their file. I suspect this is mainly due to less people being hands on and lawyers’ suggesting this is all a good idea to protect someone’s butt. Is this happening everywhere or is it just me?
I submit federal and state environmental permits on a daily basis, so yes, I completely understand this "paperwork" thing
With me being in a small business there probably isn't as much as most bigger companies. But we have the advantage to just ignore most of it. Paperwork is just another way our govt is making it harder to be in business, like OSHA, DOT, etc, etc. Most of it is just crap.
So you must deal with the ACOE often like I do then. Every since Katrina anytime we work within 300' of the toe of a levee they go crazy.
What do you mean by private energy companies? If they are truly privately owned, I doubt they would be adding additional red tape just because. Usually it comes from some sort of regulatory agency.
I'm not going to mention specific companies for obvious reasons but just energy companies. But yes they have all kinds of consultants that their lawyers tell them they need and all those guys need to justify their jobs. On site inspectors get boners over making you do paperwork. They want a work plan and contingency plan for everything. They want everything documented. Plus now the pipeline integrity parts of the company are paid to be anal with everything.
I've worked for all of those companies in the past year several times. They have people hired that their job is create paperwork. Every hear of due diligence?
We are not that far off of having to provide a contingency plan if your project manager has to take a dump. I would not be surprised. I can see the request now. "Contractor shall provide an organizational chart to be active and implemented should the project manager need to defecate and is unable to perform his duties. "
If we are just going to use big companies like exxon and mobile as examples then yes you guys are probably right. Some of these bigger companies probably waste a lot of time and money on paperwork.
