Professional Documents
Culture Documents
OF A PROJECT
OBJECTIVE
For Quality Control , the site inspection and observing construction works are
of too much importance. To become an effective material Engineer for any
construction project site, one has to be very dedicated in understanding his roles
and responsibilities on the contractual relationships and inspection techniques
and must have a thorough knowledge on different type of International Standards
and Specifications . He is also to know in details about the construction materials
and their properties in order to ensure the use of quality materials in the project.
STANDARDS
The standards which cover most of the materials used in construction field are
ASTM , BS and DIN . These standards either describe about the test methods of
carrying out tests for different properties of a material and in many cases also
specifies the limits for some properties of a specific material . ACI is an American
Institute for Concrete specifications only . AASHTO deals with materials of
highway & transportation. ISO , EN and CP are some other standards used for
.materials
The British Standard Institution (BSI) is one of the world’s leading standard and
quality services organisation . It was formed in 1901 and incorporated under Royal
Charter in 1929 , BSI is one of the oldest national standards making body in
the world . BSI is globally recognised as an independent and impartial body
serving both the private and public sector.
American Society for Testing & Materials (ASTM) develops standard test methods,
specifications , practices , guides , and terminology in 130 areas covering different
materials . Organized in 1898 , ASTM is one of the largest voluntry standards
development organisations in the world . American National Standards Institute
(ANSI) was founded in1918. It does not develop standards itself but it facilitates
development by establishing consensus through its accredited developers.
The ISO 9000 series of standards are as follows for Quality Management Systems:
ISO 9000 : Quality Management and Quality Assurance Standards – Guidelines for
selection and use
ISO 9003 : Quality Systems – Model for Quality assurance in final inspection
Any Government agency has its own General Specification. This General
Specification covers the technical specifications for buildings , roads , stormwater
drainage , electrical , mechanical and Services works . These General
Specifications are essential parts of the Contract documents related to a
project . A material engineer must consult the General specifications of the
Ministry from time to time in order to be familiar with what it says about the
materials to be used in construction works. These Specifications are based mostly
on ASTM , AASHTO , BS , CP , DIN , KSS & ISO. These are elaborate on every work
.to be implemented for a project and is the basic guideline for a material engineer
For the execution of a project successfully , a material engineer has a key role to
play in a team of technical professionals entrusted by the ministry for the timely
execution of the project . He is to co-ordinate with the Project engineer & other
team members to follow up events of the construction program. Quality Control
Services in a project includes inspection of works and tests of materials with
related actio including reports and follow-up actions . These things are
mentioned in details in the Particular Specifications . A material engineer should
also foresee the requirements of construction materials well ahead of time as
per construction program of the project. He should also make arrangements to
procure the materials on time so that the progress of work in the project does
.not hamper
From technical point of view it can be concluded that General Specs. & Technical
documents of a project like Particular specifications, Bill of Quantity and
Project drawings are of very much importance for a material engineer to cope up
with the procurement , proper storage & testing for the assurance of quality and
workmanship of a project
CONSTRUCTION SPECIFICATIONS INSTITUTE (CSI) : CLASSIFICATIONS OF
CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS
In 1948 , CSI had been organized for the purpose of improving specification
practices in the construction and allied industries . CSI developed a standard
method for organizing project specifications that became the foundation for
comprehensive construction communication system which is being presently used.
.In 1967, CSI published their first manual of practice
Part V - Appendices
The CSI manual of practice outlines recommended techniques & a philosophy for
preparing and organizing written construction documents . But it does not give
any technical product or design information . CSI has a 16 division format
developed by them in 1963 . These formats organized specifications into
generically related groupings . This was followed by the section organization
within divisions into a 3 part format.
The 16 divisions are fixed in both number and title . Following is a list of the
Division titles and a summary of the subject matter in each.
Division 1 : General Requirements : General and Administrative requirements ,
procedural matters , and temporary facilities and controls which apply to all the
other sections contained
in divisions 2 through 16.
Division 2 : Site Work : Work and materials related to the site and site
preparation including demolition, earthwork, piped utilities, landscaping, paving
and surfacing.
Division 4 : Masonry : Brick, stone, concrete and other masonry units and
associated mortars and accesories.
Division 6 : Wood and Plastics : Rough and finish carpentry, heavy timber,
structural plastics and plastic fabrications and laminates.
Division 8 : Doors and Windows : Most types of doors, frames, windows and
glazing.
Division 9 : Finishes : Finishing works & materials as plaster, gypsum board , tile,
carpet, painting, wall coverings and acoustical treatments.
Division 12: Furnishings : Furniture, Drapes, blinds, art work, multiple seating and
interior plants.
Division 14: Conveying System : Elevators ,cranes , escalators and other powered
transportation systems.
It expands the 16 Division format by providing names and numbers for the
various specification sections. The Master format is based on a 5 digit number
system. The first 2 digits refer to one of the 16 divisions. Thus the number 03300
refers to a section in Division 3 - Concrete . Five digit numbers are provided in all
the broadscope and mediumscope sections. For narrowscope sections , only titles
without 5 digit numbers are provided. The specifier assigns numbers for a
narrowscope section used.
For a broadscope section the last 2 digits are 00 , for a mediumscope section only
the last digit is 0 and for a narrowscope section the last digit may be any digit .
Masterformat can serve as an index for cataloging construction data and
information in a library or data bank.
In the 3 part section format of CSI , all technical sections of the specification are
divided into 3 distinct parts, always in the same order : (1) general (2) products
and (3) execution . If followed
Properly, it makes the reading of the specification a simple , orderly process and
eliminates many error due to oversight.
PART I - GENERAL
Scope ; Related work ; Submittals; Inspection
Requirements ; Testing ; Certificates ; etc.
PART II – PRODUCTS
Technical specifications for all materials, equipment, fabricated items, etc;In no
case is it proper to show any installation requirements in this part , or
specify quality of workmanship in this part.
(a)Preliminaries :
(b) Products :
Locally produced materials of Kuwait are to be given priority for being used in
projects subject to satisfactory test results. Next priority would be for materials
produced in GCC countries if Local material is not available or fails in perfoming
satisfactory test results. Materials produced outside Kuwait or other GCC countries
would come as the last preference if materials are not available or fails to comply
from Kuwait or other GCC origin. These are also to be taken into consideration
before selection and approval of any material for the project.
TESTING AND APPROVAL OF MATERIALS :
The submittal of list of products by the contractor with data is very important
before the start of the project to avoid delay. Material submittals will have to be as
per prescribed format being used in the project . After going through the submittal
log , each material data is to be studied as per clauses and provisions in the
contract documents . If satisfied , then the samples of materials are to be procured
for approving the particular materials. After that samples are approved , the
material samples(as needed in the Government laboratory) are to be sent for the
required tests according to the contract . After getting and checking the test
results , approvals are given to materials which satisfy the requirements of the
contract documents . Thus , approvals of all materials should be completed before
any use or installation of that material in the project . After the approvals , the
materials should arrive at the project site according to the time schedule fixed
for the project to avoid delay. After the arrival of materials at the project site ,
those are to be checked very carefully & are to be compared so that it complies
with the shop drawings , the sample of material approved and the same samples
for which tests had been performed satisfactorily.Also to be checked are that those
materials are new and undamaged. Damaged and defective materials are to be
removed from the site immediately . Thereafter the materials are to be stored in a
proper way & conditions at the storage area of the project.
STORAGE OF MATERIALS :
For the storage of materials at project site, the following points are to be strictly
followed up as minimum requirements.
(1)To check adequate space for storage areas for the materials to be stored.
(2)To see that all materials are properly stored and protected.
(3)To see maintenance of storage area in a neat and orderly way.
(4)To assure necessary condition of temperature, lighting and ventillation
provision for the storage area.
(5)To check safety provisions in storage area of flammable or explosive
materials.
(6)To check adequate provision of fire extinguishers in places where asphalt
, painting and gaseous materials have been stored.
(7)To check facilities for adequate weather protection and possible damage
prevention of the materials in the storage area.
(8)To ensure that where outside storage is necessary , the materials are
stored above ground level.
(9)To check that materials are handled and stored carefully to prevent damages
during storage.
(10)To go ahead with visual inspection regularly to check that defective and
inferior quality are removed from site immediately after detection of the fault.
(11)To check that no unspecified or inferior quality materials are brought
inside the storage area by the contractor.
(12) To check that the storage area is free of mud and deleterious materials.
ROLES OF A MATERIAL ENGINEER
* He is to make a weekly program for the project engineer showing all the
submitted but yet to be approved or understudy materials (consultants and
ministry) and to co-ordinate with the engineer responsible to avoid delay in
progress.
* He is to follow-up the use of material at site & be sure about the quality of it’s
execution
* He is to supervise and follow-up that all the required material tests have been
carried out by the contractor at the site Laboratory.
*He is to make sure that samples are taken properly according to the
quantity and as per specifications and study the results before the use of the
material
*He is to update the material approval log with all the informations by
preparing the latest lists of materials approved including quantity , sources ,
agents , types etc.