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CONSTRUCTION QUALITY

MANAGEMENT

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INTRODUCTION Summary of the course

Basic concepts about quality

Exigencies, Performance, Quality in construction

Quality system in construction

Duties and responsibilities of those involved in construction projects

Importance categories of constructions - starting point in applying quality
management

Checking the quality of projects, Technical report of the: projects,
constructed facilities, construction works, Checking the quality of
construction works

Construction handover

Checking the construction quality during the Operation and maintenance
stage

Basic principles of the Construction quality management

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Basic concepts about quality

1.1 Meaning of Quality

Quality is a concept that is used in all areas of
economic and social life and has special
significance for specific areas or sectors.

Quality is a general term and has been defined in
different ways by various experts or
consultants in quality (having various
meanings).

Etymologically, the word derives from the Latin as
"QUALITAS" which means "way of being".
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Quality (noun or adjective) means :

Dictionaries
1. All features and aspects that make a thing to be what it is, differing
from other things ;
2. An essential or distinctive characteristic, property, or attribute (good
or bad);
3. Social status, position, or title that gives you a specific right
4. A personality or character trait: kindness is one of her many good
qualities etc.
Joseph Moses Juran (american engineer, born in Romania, 1904-
2008) - Quality = Fitness for intended use. That means "meeting or
exceeding customer expectations" ;
Philip Bazard Crosby (1926-2001) - Quality = conformance to
requirements (requirements meaning both the product and the
customer's requirements) " ;
American Society for Quality Quality is the totality of features and
characteristics of a product or service that bear on its ability to satisfy
given needs.
Other meanings:
- Doing the right thing right;
- Degree or grade of excellence


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SR ISO 8402:1995 Quality management and quality
assurance vocabulary - Quality = the totality of features
and characteristics of a product or service that bear on its ability
to satisfy stated or implied needs ;

SR ISO 9000:2006 Quality management systems.
Fundamentals and vocabulary - Quality = Degree to
which a set of inherent characteristics fulfills requirements."
The standard defines requirement as need or expectation.

Comments:
1 Quality as noun may be associated with adjectives as bad,
good or Excelent;
2 Inherent - means something that exists as a permanent
characteristic;
3 Requirement - need or expectation that is stated, generally
implied, or obligatory
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The concept of quality has a dual
character (subjective and objective)

American Society for Quality:"Quality is a
subjective term because each person or
sector has its own definition or
expectations."

On the other hand, quality has an
objective feature in that most attributes /
performances of a product or service can
be measured.
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The notion of quality is a relative one

Quality = the extent to which an entity (product / service)
through its features satisfy a set of requirements.

- If the requirements are high, it is expected that the
quality level to be also high.
- On the other hand, the requirements are formulated
taking into account a "user/customer". What is a good
quality product for a customer can be as bad for another
one.

Basicaly, the concept of quality can not be determined "in a
vacuum".


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1.2. Quality approach stages

The concept of "quality" - a notion that
people have operated since ancient times.

Ultimately, it is a philosophical concept
closely linked to other fundamental
concepts, such as good, beautiful and
true.

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Holy Bible/Old Testament/Genesis tells
about the creation of the world in six days .

1:31 And God saw every thing that he had
made, and, behold, it was very good. And
the evening and the morning were the
sixth day.

Apocrypha" comment - At the end of
each day, once God had finished the work
He has verified that it was well done.
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Code of Hammurabi/ Hammurapi

The Babylonian law code is dating back to about 1772 BC
during the rain of the sixth Babylonian king Hammurabi.
The Code consist of 282 laws, carved on a stone stele,
hosted today by the Louvre Museum in Paris.

If someone is careless with a dam when watering his
fields, and he floods someone else's by accident, he will
pay for the grain he has ruined ;

If a builder builds a house, and that house collapses and
kills the owner's son, the builder's son will be put to death ;

If a builder builds a house, and that house collapses and
kills the owner, the builder will be put to death.
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Romnia

One of the first documents related to construction quality
assurance in our country is the "Memorandum on the work
done by the Department of Public Works", issued in Iasi, in
1856. This document enabled the Police of private walls
to require the following:


All masons/buiders are not allowed to work untill they get a licence to proof their skill
from the Department of Public Works";
"In future, the walls should be build using briks placed on wide, and those allready made
with brick on edge should be repaired" .


Then, in 1862, by Decree no. 629, prince Alecsandru Ioan
Cuza established in the Department of Public Works an
Inspection body composed of up to five General Inspectors,
to "inspect and control the construction works of all
districts".



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Contemporary period

In the last millennium, the evolution of the concept of quality was
closely related to the evolution of mankind, especially in case of
industries. This became particularly prominent in the last 50 years of
20
th
century.

Organizing for Inspection
Implies the establishment in the company of a distinct and
specialized department, focusing on the identification and control of
nonconformities.

This way of approaching quality aims not to act on the components
of the manufacturing process but operates in the reception stage, on
the final product.

This type of organization appeared in end of the 19
th
century.
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Organizing for control

A specific department whose responsibilities cover all stages
of production. Unlike previous approach, the inspection and
the control is performed during the production stage by the
workers, who enable skills of self-controlling their work.

This transfer of competence is accompanied by the transfer
of equipment and methods, previously owned by inspectors.

During this period, in 1951, there are two reference books in
this field, namely: Armand Feigenbaum: "Quality control:
principles, practice and administration" and Joseph Juran:
"Guide to quality control."
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Quality assurance and control - Quality
management systems
This new approach considers quality as a problem of all members of the
organization, not just one department of it.

Quality assurance (QA) is a broad concept that focuses on the entire
quality flow including suppliers and ultimate consumers of the product or
service. QA reffers to all those planned or systematic actions necessary to
provide adequate confidence that a product or service will satisfy given
needs of the customer.
Quality control (QC) has a narrower focus than quality assurance. Quality
control reffers to the use of operational techniques and activities which
sustain the process of producing the product or service with the intent of
eliminating problems that might result in defects or nonconformities.
Quality management includes quality assurance and quality control. It
reffers to the totality of functions involved in the determination and
achievement of quality. Quality is addressed in a complete manner (all life
stages of the product / service and all parts of the organization in a systemic
manner) by implementing qoality management into the broad management
of organization.

Inspection and quality control is based on the existence of nonconformities,
which is to be eliminated on the flow or final, while quality management
assimilates everything that reffers to quality with explicit focus on preventing
nonconformities and planning improvements as necessary.
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1.3 Significant moments in the evolution of
quality management
1958: MIL-Q-9858 Quality Program Requirements

This document has been approved by the U.S. Department of Defense.
This specification was meant to be applied to all supplies or services used
by the Department (apox. 18000 in 1974).
This standard requires the establishment of a quality program by the
contractor to assure compliance with the requirements of the contract.
According to it, the program and procedures used to implement the
standard will be developed by the contractor. The quality program,
including the procedures, processes and product will be documented and
will be subject to review by the Government Representative. The quality
program is subject to disapproval of the Government Representative
whenever the contractor's procedures do not accomplish their objectives.

This delegation of responsibility allowed the U.S. government to stop
direct inspection that requires a lot of inspectors paid by the government.

The principles of this standard can be found in ISO 9001/1987.

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1960: MIL-I-45208 Inspection System Requirements

This specification establishes requirements for
contractors' inspection systems.
These requirements pertain to the inspections and
tests necessary to substantiate product conformance
to drawings, specifications and contract
requirements and to all inspection and tests required
by the contract.

In U.S. this Quality management standard is still very
popular because it is the least time consuming to
implement (comparasing to ISO 9001)
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1961: Total Quality Control - Armand
Feigenbaum
A. Feigenbaum (american expert and businessman, born
1922) developed the concept Total Quality Control (TQC),
later known as Total Quality Management (TQM).
- TQC is an effective system for integrating the quality development,
quality maintenance, and quality improvement efforts of the various
groups in an organization so as to enable production and service at the
most economical levels which allow full customer satisfaction .
- He advocated that Because quality is everybody's job, it may
become nobody's job, therefore quality must be actively managed
and have visibility at the highest levels of management.
- He also developed the concept of Quality Costs
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1979 -1981 U.K.: B.S. 5750 British
Standard on Quality Systems

Acording to this standard, any quality management
system should be recorded and documented and must
provide premises for preparing a Quality manual, which
must become a description of how the organization
conducts its business.

Quality manual contains procedures and interfaces
between functional departments. It must be sufficiently
detailed to be used to audit the system to check if it
works and is fit for purpose.

Such a quality system must include a methodology for
eliminating the causes that generate nonconformities in
products / services by applying appropriate corrective
actions.

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1987 ISO quality standards
ISO is a Greek word that means equal

ISO comes from International Organisation for Standardization, a voluntary
body headquartered in Geneva whose purpose is to set international
standards (it has representation from more than 100 countries)

ISO was formed in 1946 in Geneva, Switzerland. The ISOs intention was
to promote the development of international standards and related activities
so as to encourage the increased trade of products and services between
countries.

ISO purpose :
- Harmonise standards at international level
- Ensure consistency of output
- Make organisations more competitive by reducing wastage at various
places in the company

ISO 9000 Standards - a set of harmonised standards on Quality. The ISO
9000 series of standards are process oriented and not written "down to the
working level". The standard does not say anywhere "how" to do anything.
All it says is "what" needs to be done. It is up to the organization itself to
determine "how" the "what" requirements of the standard are to be
addressed.


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Evolution of ISO 9000 standards

At the beginning, in 1987, ISO 9000:1987 had a very similar structure as the UK
Standard BS 5750 ( with three 'models' for quality management systems) and as the
U.S. Defence Standards .

The ISO 9000 standard is continually being revised by standing technical committees
and advisory groups, who receive feedback from those professionals who are
implementing the standard. The 2000 version made a radical change in thinking by
actually placing the concept of process management.

In Romania, ISO 9000 standards are known as SR EN ISO ----.

The basic standards of this kind are:
- SR EN ISO 9000/2005: Quality management systems. Fundamentals and
vocabulary
- SR EN ISO 9001/2008: Quality Management System Requirements
- SR EN ISO 9004/2009: Managing for the sustained success of an organization. A
quality management approach" Quality Management System Guidance for
performance improvement.
- SR EN ISO 19011/2011:Guidelines for quality management systems auditing and
environmental management systems auditing

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1.4 Quality management premises

Quality management methods are based on American
ideas during the "boom" industry from the early 1920s.
Quality management has evolved in a growing economic
environment.
Quality management does not bring prosperity to a
bankrupt organization, but assures an advantage in a
highly competitive environment where there is virtually no
quality problems.

On the other hand, in terms of methods, a quality
management approach can not evolve unless the earlier
approaches (inspection / control and quality assurance)
have not been assimilated before.

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Experience reveals that over 85% of quality
problems are caused by defects in the
system (organization).

Responsibility for the organization, efficient
operation and improvement is the
responibility of the General Manager, who
must ensure the development of following
premises:

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Changing employee approach about quality - prevention is
less costly than repair. Every employee has to be able to
prove that they are involved up to the level of their
responsibility, and that they know their role in making their
particular work area successful;
Design of an efficient Organization structure and proper
functioning of the quality system. This implies that the
general manager should clearly define the objectives, ensure
the preparation of plans, programs and procedures to achieve
the objectives, assign tasks, delegate authority and resources
and factual approach to decision making;
General manager should inform about he quality objectives
and policies;
Periodic review of documentation
Provide sound information, specification and
requirements for all the sequences of the work;
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Evaluation and selection of suppliers ;
Performing manufacturing operations under
controlled conditions;
Production department to be consulted by the
marketing department about the ability to meet
the quality requirements;
Keeping under control the systems documents
and records;
Ongoing analysis of customer complaints and
rejected products to determine the causes that
generated them;
Revision and evaluation of the system through
system audits.


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1.5 Factors influencing quality

Design and development set the basis for identifying the
customers needs and for continual improvement;

Resources (human resource, equipment, materials, soft products)
determines the quality of future products/services;

Technology processes, and documents together with required
verification, validation, monitoring, measurement, inspection and test
activities specific to the product and the criteria for product
acceptance;

Management create an environment where people are fully involved
and in which a quality management system can operate effectively.
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1.5. Terms and definitions about quality
(based on ISO 9000)
Quality: degree to which a set of inherent (permanent)
charecteristics fulfils requirements;
Requirement: need or expectation that is stated, generally
implied or obligatory.

COMMENTS:
- Requirements for products/services can be specied by customers or
by the organization in anticipation of customer requirements, or by
regulation (technical specications, product standards, process
standards, contractual agreements and regulatory requirements).
- Because customer needs and expectations are changing, and
because of competitive pressures and technical advances, organizations
are driven to improve continually their products and processes.
- Requirements for quality management systems are specied in ISO
9001. Requirements for quality management systems are generic and
applicable to organizations in any industry or economic sector
regardless of the offered product category. ISO 9001 itself does not
establish requirements for products.
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Management: coordinated activities to direct
and control an organization;

COMMENTS:
- Management is the process of achieving an organizations
goals as efficiently as possible, through the coordinated
performance of five specific functions: planning, organizing,
staffing, directing and controlling.

Quality management: component of
management responsible with the directing
and controlling the organization with regard
to quality;
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System: set of interrelated or interacting elements;

Management system: system to establish policy and
objectives and to achieve those objectives.
COMMENT:
- A management system of an organization incloudes differend
sub-systems such: quality management system, financial
management system, project management system, etc;

Quality management system: management system to
direct and control an organization with regard to quality;
COMMENTS:
- The quality management system approach encourages
organizations to analyse customer requirements, dene the
processes that contribute to the achievement of a product which
is acceptable to the customer, and keep these processes under
control. A quality management system can provide the framework
for continual improvement to increase the probability of
enhancing customer satisfaction and the satisfaction of other
interested parties. It provides condence to the organization and
its customers that it is able to provide products that consistently
full requirements.
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Quality policy: overall intentions and direction
of an organization related to quality and formally
expressed by top management.

Quality planning: part of quality management
focused on setting quality objectives and
specifying necessary operational processes and
related resources to fulfill the quality objectives;

Quality control: part of quality management
focused on fulfilling quality requirements;

Quality assurance: part of quality management
focused on providing confidence that quality
requirements will be fulfilled;
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Quality improvement: part of quality
management focused on increasing the ability to
fulfill quality requirements.
COMMENT:
- Quality requirements can be related to aspects such as
effectiveness, efficiency or traceability.

Effectiveness: extend to which planned
activities are realized and planned results
achieved.

Efficiency: relationship between the result
achieved and resources used.

Traceability: ability to trace the history,
application or location of that which is under
consideration.

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Inspection: conformity evaluation by
observation and judgment accompanied as
appropriate by measurement, testing or
gauging.

Verification: confirmation, through the
provision of objective evidence, that specified
requirements have been fulfilled.

Validation: confirmation, through the
provision of objective evidence, that the
requirements for a specific intended use
have been fulfilled.
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Organization: group of people and facilities with
an arrangement of resposibilities, authorities and
relationships. EXAMPLE: company, firm,
enterprise, institution, charity, association, sole
trader.

Organizational structure: arrangement of
resposibilities, authorities and relationships
between people.
COMMENTS:
- Examples of formal expression of the organizational
structure are: organizational chart, quality manual or a
quality plan for a project.
- Organizational chart (often called organigram(me)) is a
diagram that shows the structure of an organization and
the relationships and relative ranks of its parts and
positions/jobs.

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Medium or large construction company
- Functional Structure -
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Divisional/Product/Project Structure
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Process: set of interrelated or interacting activities
which transforms inputs into outputs;

COMMENTS:
- Any activity, or set of activities, that uses
resources to transform inputs to outputs can be
considered as a process. For organizations to
function effectively, they have to identify and
manage numerous interrelated and interacting
processes. Often, the output from one process will
directly form the input into the next process. The
systematic identication and management of the
processes employed within an organization and
particularly the interactions between such
processes is referred to as the process
approach.
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Model of a process-based QMS (ISO 9000)
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Product: result of a process.
COMMENTS:
Product means:
- Hardware: construction (parts);
- Services;
- Software;
- Processed materials.

Project: unique process consisting of a set of
coordinated and controlled activities with start and
finish dates, undertaken to achieve an objective
conforming to specific requirements, including
various constrains (time, cost, resource, legal,
etc). The result of a project may be one or several
units of products.
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Procedure: specified way to carry out an
activity or a process. Procedures can be
documented (written) or not.

Conformity: fulfillment of a requirement;

Nonconformity: non-fulfillment of a
requirement.

Defect: non-fulfillment of a requirement
related to an intended or specified use.
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Preventive action: action to eliminate the
cause of a potential noncoformity or other
undesirable potential situations.

Corrective action: action to eliminate the
cause of a detected noncoformity or other
undesirable situations.

COMMENTS:
- There can be more than one cause for a
(potential) nonconformity;
- Preventive action is taken to prevent occurance
whereas corrective action is taken to prevent
recurrence.
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Correction: action to eliminate a detected
nonconformity.

COMMENTS:
A correction may consist in: rework, regrade or repair.
- Rework: action on a nonconforming product to make it
conform to the requirements;
- Regrade: alteration of the grade (level of quality
requirements) of a nonconforming product in order to
make it conform to a new set of requirements, differing
from the initial ones;
- Repair: action on a nonconforming product to make it
acceptable for the intended use. Repair reffers to a
previously conforming product to restore it for use (ex.
As a part of maintenance). Unlike rework, repair can
affect or change parts of the nonconforming product.
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Specification: document (information and its
supporting medium) stating requirements.

COMMENTS:
A specification can be related to:
- Activities: procedure document, process/test
specificationaction;
- Products: product/performance specification, drawings.

Quality manual: document specifying the
quality management system of an organization.

Quality plan: document specifying which
procedures and associated resources shall be
applied, by whom and when to a specific project,
product, process or contract.
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Record: document stating results achieved or providing
evidence of activities performed. Records may be used
to document traceability and to provide evidence of
verification, preventive action and corrective action.

Audit: systematic, independent and documented
process for obtaining audit evidence (information such
as records or statements of facts) and evaluating it
objectively to determine the extend to which audit criteria
(policies, procedures or requirements) are fulfilled.

COMMENTS:
Audits may be:
- Internal (first party) audits: are conducted by the organization itself
for internal purposes;
- External second party audits: are conducted by parties having
an interest in the organization (costumers);
- External third party audits: are conducted by external
independent organizations to provide certification of conformity with
the provision of a standard (ex. ISO 9001).