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Quality Control and Safety Concerns in Construction

Weak quality control in construction can lead to defects, failures, injuries and increased costs for reconstruction or rework. Good project managers aim to ensure work is done right the first time without accidents. Quality control during construction focuses on conforming to the original design specifications set during planning and design. Safety is also influenced by planning and design decisions, as some methods are inherently riskier than others. Vigilance and cooperation during construction are important to avoid accidents.

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Manish Kumar
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57 views2 pages

Quality Control and Safety Concerns in Construction

Weak quality control in construction can lead to defects, failures, injuries and increased costs for reconstruction or rework. Good project managers aim to ensure work is done right the first time without accidents. Quality control during construction focuses on conforming to the original design specifications set during planning and design. Safety is also influenced by planning and design decisions, as some methods are inherently riskier than others. Vigilance and cooperation during construction are important to avoid accidents.

Uploaded by

Manish Kumar
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Quality Control and Safety Concerns in

Construction

Weak quality control leads to defects or failures


in constructed facilities, thus result in very large costs. Even with minor defects, re-construction
may be required and facility operations impaired. Increased costs and delays are the result. In
the worst case, failures may cause personal injuries or fatalities. Accidents during the
construction process can similarly result in personal injuries and large costs. Indirect costs of
insurance, inspection and regulation are increasing rapidly due to these increased direct costs.
Good project managers try to ensure that the job is done right the first time and that no major
accidents occur on the project.

As with cost control, the most important decisions regarding the quality of a completed facility
are made during the design and planning stages rather than during construction. It is during
these preliminary stages that component configurations, material specifications and functional
performance are decided. Quality control during construction consists largely of insuring
conformance to these original design and planning decisions.

While conformance to existing design decisions is the primary focus of quality control, there are
exceptions to this rule. First, unforeseen circumstances, incorrect design decisions or changes
desired by an owner in the facility function may require re-evaluation of design decisions during
the course of construction. While these changes may be motivated by the concern for quality,
they represent occasions for re-design with all the attendant objectives and constraints. As a
second case, some designs rely upon informed and appropriate decision making during the
construction process itself. For example, some tunneling methods make decisions about the
amount of shoring required at different locations based upon observation of soil conditions
during the tunneling process. Since such decisions are based on better information concerning
actual site conditions, the facility design may be more cost effective as a result.

With the attention to conformance as the measure of quality during the construction process, the
specification of quality requirements in the design and contract documentation becomes
extremely important. Quality requirements should be clear and verifiable, so that all parties in
the project can understand the requirements for conformance. Much of the discussion in this
chapter relates to the development and the implications of different quality requirements for
construction as well as the issues associated with insuring conformance.
Safety during the construction project is also influenced in large part by decisions made
during the planning and design process. Some designs or construction plans are inherently
difficult and dangerous to implement, whereas other, comparable plans may considerably
reduce the possibility of accidents. For example, clear separation of traffic from construction
zones during roadway rehabilitation can greatly reduce the possibility of accidental collisions.
Beyond these design decisions, safety largely depends upon education, vigilance and
cooperation during the construction process. Workers should be constantly alert to the
possibilities of accidents and avoid taken unnecessary risks.

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