1、 工程管理专业毕业外文翻译（房地产） Quality Control 、 Safety During Construction and Cost Control Quality and Safety Concerns in Construction Quality control and safety represent increasingly important concerns for project managers. Defects or failures in constructed facilities can result in very large costs. Even w
2、ith minor defects, re-construction may be required and facility operations impaired. Increased costs and delays are the result. In the worse case, failures may cause personal injuries or fatalities. Accidents during the construction process can similarly result in personal injuries and large costs.
3、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 occurs on the project. As with cost control, the most important decisions regar
4、ding 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 l
5、argely of insuring conformance to these original design and planning decisions. While conformance to existing design decisions is the primary focus of quality control, these are exceptions to this rule. First, unforeseen circumstances, incorrect design decisions or changes desired by an owner in the
6、 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 info
7、rmed 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
8、 information concerning actual site conditions, the facility design may be more cost effective as a result. Any special case of re-design during construction requires the various considerations discussed. With the attention to conformance as the measure of quality during the construction process, th
9、e 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. Safety during the construction project is also influe
10、nced 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 con
11、struction 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 accid
12、ents and avoid taken unnecessary risks. Total Quality Control Quality control in construction typically involves insuring compliance with minimum standards of material and workmanship in order to insure the performance of the facility according to the design. These minimum standards are contained in
13、 the specifications. For the purpose of insuring compliance, random samples and statistical methods are commonly used as the basis for accepting or rejecting work completed and batches of materials. Rejection of a batch is based on non-conformance or violation of the relevant design specifications.
14、An implicit assumption in these traditional quality control practices is the notion of an acceptable quality level which is a allowable fraction of defective items. Materials obtained from suppliers or work performed by an organization is inspected and passed as acceptable if the estimated defective
15、 percentage is within the acceptable quality level. Problems with materials or goods are corrected after delivery of the product. In contrast to this traditional approach of quality control is the goal of total quality control. In this system, no defective items are allowed anywhere in the construct
16、ion process. While the zero defects goal can never be permanently obtained, it provides a goal so that an organization is never satisfied with its quality control program even if defects are reduced by substantial amounts year after year. This concept and approach to quality control was first develo
17、ped in manufacturing firms in Japan and Europe , but has since spread to many construction companies. Total quality control is a commitment to quality expressed in all parts of an organization and typically involves many elements. Design reviews to insure safe and effective construction procedures a
18、re a major element. Other elements include extensive training for personnel, shifting the responsibility for detecting defects from quality control inspectors to workers, and continually maintaining equipment. Workers involvement in improved quality control is often formalized in quality circles in
19、which groups of workers meet regularly to make suggestions for quality improvement. Material suppliers are also required to insure zero defects in delivered goods. Initially, all materials from a supplier are inspected and batches of goods with any defective items are returned. Suppliers with good r
20、ecords can be certified and not subject to complete inspection subsequently. The traditional microeconomic view of quality control is that there is an “optimum” proportion of defective items. Trying to achieve greater quality than this optimum would substantially increase costs of inspection and red
21、uce worker productivity. However, many companies have found that commitment to total quality control has substantial economic benefits that had been unappreciated in traditional approaches. Expenses associated with inventory, rework, scrap and warranties were reduced. Worker enthusiasm and commitmen
22、t improved. Customers often appreciated higher quality work and would pay a premium for good quality. As a result, improved quality control became a competitive advantages. Of course, total quality control is difficult to apply, particular in construction. The unique nature of each facility, the var
23、iability in the workforce, the multitude of subcontractors and the cost of marking necessary investments in education and procedures make programs of total quality control in construction difficult. Nevertheless, a commitment to improved quality even without endorsing the goal of zero defects can pa
24、y real dividends to organizations. Safety Construction is a relatively hazardous undertaking. These are significantly more injuries and lost workdays due to injuries or illnesses in construction than in virtually any other industry. These work related injuries and illnesses are exceedingly costly. T
25、he Construction Industry Cost Effectiveness Project estimated that accidents cost $8.9 billion or nearly seven percent of the $ 137 billion (in 1979 dollars) spent annually for industrial, utility and commercial construction in the United States. Included in this total are direct costs (medical cost
26、s, premiums for workers compensation benefits, liability and property losses) as well as indirect costs (reduced worker productivity, delays in projects, administrative time, and damage to equipment and the facility). In contrast to most industrial accidents, innocent bystanders may also be injured
27、by construction have resulted in fatalities to passerbys. Prudent project managers and owners would like to reduce accidents, injuries and illnesses as much as possible. As with all the other costs of construction, it is a mistake for owners to ignore a significant category of costs such as injury a
28、nd illness. While contractors may pay insurance premiums directly, these costs are reflected in bid prices or contract amounts. Delays caused by injuries and illnesses can present significant opportunity costs to owners. In the long run, the owners of constructed facilities must pay all the costs of
29、 construction. For the case of injuries and illnesses, this general principle might be slightly qualified since significant costs are borne by workers themselves or society at large. However, court judgments and insurance payments compensate for individual losses and ultimately borne by the owners.
30、Various measures are available to improve jobsite safety in construction. Several of the most important occur before construction is undertaken. These include design, choice of technology and education. By altering facility designs, particular structures can be safer or more hazardous to construct.
31、For example, parapets can be designed to appropriate heights for construction worker safety, rather than the minimum height required by building codes. Choice of technology can also be critical in determining the safety of a jobsite. Safeguards built into machinery can notify operators of problems o
32、r prevent injuries. For example, simple switches can prevent equipment from being operating when protective shields are not in place. With the availability of on-board electronics (including computer chips) and sensors, the possibilities for sophisticated machine controllers and monitors has greatly expanded for construction equipment and tools. Material and work process choices also influence the safety of construction. For
