Construction Quality Management

PREFACE

PREFACE The first Quality Assurance Standard,BS 5750, was published in 1979 and the International Organisation for Standardisation used it as the basis for the ISO 9000 standard published in 1987. Over the decade that had passed since BS 5750 (i.e . the 1980s) , other industr y sectors , particularly th e manufacturing sector , had begun to implement thes e management tools , while there was no apparent interest within the Hong Kong constructio n industry. In the 1970s and 1980s, the construction industry in Hong Kong generally adopted th e qualit y contro l (QC ) practic e t o maintain th e standar d o f construction products. In 1987, the Hong Kong Housing Authority (HKHA) encouraged two major loca l pre-cast spun concrete pile manufacturers t o develop quality management schemes based on the above-said ISO 9000 standard for their products, and hence discovered and began to understand the potential benefits o f quality assurance (QA ) systems for guaranteein g quality at source. Under the quality surveillance of the manufacturing o f concrete piles , it was observe d tha t th e qualit y managemen t scheme s provided a high measure of quality assurance for construction processes . Due to the experience gained by HKHA, the Works Bureau of Hong Kong, which undertakes all public civil engineering works in the territory, began to follow HKHA to use the same kind of quality management systems since the 1990 s for ensuring the quality of their construction products. The purpose of this book is to examine the development of quality management systems applied to the construction industry in Hong Kong and other parts of the world. The main emphasis, of course, is based on Hong Kong experience, because a t present Hon g Kong plays a leading role in construction qualit y management in the world. Readers will understand how QC (quality control) practice was replaced by QA (quality assurance) concept , and the n how th e QA concept i s being supersede d b y th e TQ M (tota l qualit y management ) philosophy. All the tools and techniques used which are related to construction quality management are discussed in detail throughout the 12 chapters in this book. Chapter 1 introduces th e ide a o f constructio n qualit y management , wit h definitions relevan t terms and an explanation of the differences betwee n QC, QA and TQM. Chapter 2 traces the development of the ISO 9000 standard and highlights the differences between the version in 1994 and that in 2000. In the same chapter , a n introduction t o quality managemen t system s adopte d b y construction organizations based on the ISO 9000 standard is also given. Chapter 3 provides a general description o f the development an d implementation o f construction quality management in Hong Kong and other parts of the world, such as Singapore, the UK, the USA, and so on. In Chapter 4, the experience of construction quality management implementation in Hong Kong is discussed in detail. The merits and demerits of implementing such systems experienced by Hong Kong contracting and consulting firms are fully reported in the same chapter. Chapter 5 introduces what quality indicators, such as CONQUAS and PASS, are. Quality indicators are used to measure the quality of finished product s of construction works. Chapter 6 goes on to discuss what quality audits are. Quality audits are used t o measure the effectiveness o f quality management system s adopted an d implemented b y construction organizations . Therefore, qualit y indicators an d qualit y audit s serv e differen t purposes , an d the y ar e full y discussed in these two chapters. As TQM is a further step of QA implementation, Chapter 7 examines TQM in detail, although it has been generally introduced in Chapter 1 . Usually, QA serves as a stepping stone to TQM, the latter being the ultimate goal of quality management. Therefore, after th e full account of TQM in Chapter 7, Chapter 8 goes on to describe the Hong Kong construction organizations' experience in transitioning fro m Q A to TQM in their qualit y management systems, or integrating their quality management systems with the TQM philosophy. In order to quantify th e benefits arise from implementing quality management systems, quality cost s must be measurable. In Chapte r 9 , the definitions o f quality costs and...