Ben Wallbank explores how digital solutions can help contractors implement best practice in quality control
We are fortunate to live and work in an age of digital transformation that makes our everyday lives safer, more productive, and more convenient.
These modern conveniences extend to the construction industry, which has historically been driven by paper-based plans, schedules and quality control processes.
Today, UK contractors of all sizes are embracing project management software as a strategic and sound investment, allowing them to achieve a golden thread of information – gaining visibility into health and safety, photographic evidence, logistics and more for projects.
The immediate results are safer work practices, higher productivity, more eco-friendly processes, and less stress for all employees.
In the UK, we know health and safety and other building industry regulations quickly change, and that means contractors need to be prepared and nimble to remain safe, viable and competitive in the industry. Contractors who don’t invest in solid quality processes run many risks.
There’s no excuse to put workers at unnecessary risk in an already high-risk industry such as construction. As well as the human consequences, the financial and legal repercussions for failing to put effective safety measures in place could also be devastating.
Contractors may question the need to invest time and money for updated quality management and quality control processes when life safety isn’t necessarily at stake. However, contractors should also factor in the time (and reputation damage) that is needed when work must be redone.
Project delays because of quality issues can cause prices to escalate, and also take valuable resources away from other projects. Construction is already a tight margins industry, so having solid quality assurance measures in place can help protect profits and increase the overall quality of projects.
Modern software solutions to assure data quality
By centralising and digitising all processes, contractors can eliminate expansive communication gaps that often result from manual processes.
Consider these benefits of leveraging software for construction project quality management:
- Commissioning Management: Avoid the headache, errors and poor quality of manual paper plans, and utilize software to create detailed plans for every department and building level
- Managing Document Access: A handy software feature is the dynamic folder functionality to successfully structure access levels by folder for various project documentation packages, so files are viewable to those stakeholders who have permission to view them
- Supply Chain Procurement: Procurement approval process assures high quality through a streamlined record of approvals
- Request for Information process: Requests for Information (RFIs) are conveniently managed through task folders, creating a collaborative environment between the contractor and all project stakeholders
- Audit trail for as-built processing: An accurate digital audit trail can facilitate better decision-making and improve accountability across the built environment, and helping contractors remain compliant with the UK’s building safety legislation like Building Regulations UK Part L (BRUKL), and the Building Safety Act of 2022. Contractors capture red line markups from trade contractors and load the markups into the software, which triggers dedicated workflows. The contractor can then conduct quality checks on the markups and verify they are correct before they are used to create the construction record drawings
Construction phase plan tips
A construction phase plan (CPP) is an invaluable piece of health and safety planning for all construction projects.
CPPs are required in the United Kingdom under the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations (CDM 2015), and it serves to identify risks, develop mitigation strategies and determine how to tackle construction projects of all sizes and types in the safest possible manner.
One of the most common reasons CPPs fail to protect people adequately is because project team members tend to “set it and forget it.” Here are tips to ensure your on-paper CPP translates into real on-site safety:
- Use a tool that requires daily updates from the field and a corresponding action from your office team – this creates accountability and can help to ensure everyone stays compliant
- Appoint responsible people on site who are tasked with enforcing site rules – including disciplinary action where necessary
- Educate your team about the importance of health and safety on construction sites and how every individual is an active participant in the CPP
- Use a common data environment (CDE) that allows you to share the most up-to-date construction documents and drawings with on-site management so that they can adjust plans as necessary
- Create a clear audit trail of all your important health and safety information and other reports and documents
- Manage and monitor changes to specifications, materials and the scope of work, and adjust your CPP as necessary to accommodate those changes
Continuous quality is key
A contractor’s quality programme can absolutely mean the difference between a well-coordinated, safe and profitable project completion and a poorly-executed project that involves stacks of manual reporting, work that needs redone and contractor headaches.
Quality is about providing your team with the right tools for the job, and teaching them how to be as safe as possible. It’s about taking the time to do it right, instead of spending the time to do it over.
Main image: Ben Wallbank is a BIM strategy and partnerships manager for Trimble
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