毕业论文外文翻译-施工质量控制、安全和成本控制.doc

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1、工程管理专业毕业外文翻译（房地产）Quality Control 、Safety During Construction and Cost ControlQuality and Safety Concerns in ConstructionQuality control and safety represent increasingly important concerns for project managers. Defects or failures in constructed facilities can result in very large costs. Even with m

2、inor 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. Indir

3、ect 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 regarding

4、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 largel

5、y 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 faci

6、lity 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 informed

7、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 info

8、rmation 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, the spe

9、cification 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 influenced

10、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 construc

11、tion 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 accidents

12、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 the s

13、pecifications. 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.An impl

14、icit 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 percen

15、tage 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 construction proc

16、ess. 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 developed in m

17、anufacturing 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 are a majo

18、r 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 which gro

19、ups 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 records ca

20、n 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 reduce worker

21、 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 commitment improved

22、. 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 variability in

23、 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 pay real divi

24、dends 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. The Construct

25、ion 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 costs, premiums

26、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 by construct

27、ion 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 and illness. W

28、hile 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 construction

29、. 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. Various measu

30、res 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. For example,

31、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 or prevent inju

32、ries. 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

33、construction equipment and tools. Material and work process choices also influence the safety of construction. For example, substitution of alternative material for asbestos can reduce or eliminate the prospects of long term illnesses such as asbestosis.Educating workers and managers in proper proce

34、dures and hazards can have a direct impact on jobsite safety. The realization of the large costs involved in construction injuries and illnesses provides a considerable motivation for awareness and education. Regular safety inspections and safety meetings have become standard practices on most job s

35、ites.Pre-qualification of contractors and sub-contractors with regard to safety is another important avenue for safety improvement. If contractors are only invited to bid or enter negotiations if they have an acceptable record of safety (as well as quality performance), then a direct incentive is pr

36、ovided to insure adequate safety on the part of contractors.During the construction process itself, the most important safety related measures are to insure vigilance and cooperation on the part of managers, inspectors and workers. Vigilance involves considering the risks of different working practi

37、ces. In also involves maintaining temporary physical safeguards such as barricaders, braces, guiltiness, railings, toe boards and the like. Sets of standard practices are also important, such as: requiring hard hats on site. requiring eye protection on site. requiring hearing protection near loud eq

38、uipment. insuring safety shoes for workers. providing first-aid supplies and trained personnel on site.While eliminating accidents and work related illnesses is a worthwhile goal, it will never be attained. Construction has a number of characteristics making it inherently hazardous. Large forces are

39、 involved in many operations. The jobsite is continually changing as construction proceeds. Workers do not have fixed worksites and must move around a structure under construction. The tenure of a worker on a site is short, so the workers familiarity and the employer-employees relationship are less

40、settled than in manufacturing settings. Despite these peculiarities and as a result of exactly these special problems, improving worksite safety is a very important project management concern. A cost control procedure for construction worksIntroduction The construction industry, unlike many manufact

41、uring situations, is concerned mostly with one-off projects. This naturally creates difficulties for effective management control, because each new contract is often characterized by the following features: A fresh management team Labor is transient and recruited on an ad hoc basisSites are disperse

42、d through the county, which tends to cause problems in effective communications with other parts of the company Subcontractors and lump labor are common Added to all this are the ever-changing weather conditionsNevertheless, irrespective of the scale of operation from small sub-contractor to the mul

43、tifaceted project, production costs need to be monitored and controlled if the anticipated level of profit is to be received. FundamentalsTo control costs is an obvious objective of most managers, but it should be reconciled that no amount of paperwork achieves this control. Ultimately the decision

44、of the manager that something should be done differently, and the translation of that decision into practice, are the actions that achieve control. The paperwork can provide guidance on what control actions should be taken and, while we shall continue to call it the cost control system. It should mo

45、re properly be called the cost information system.The elements of any control system are: Observation Comparison of observation with some desired standard Corrective action to take if necessaryThe domestic thermostat is a good example of a controller. This instrument measures temperature, compares i

46、t with the desired range, and then switches the temperature heating system on or off depending on how the current temperature compares with the desired range.A cost control system should enable a manager to observe current cost levels, compare them with a standard plan or norm, and institute correct

47、ive action to keep cost within acceptable bounds. The system should help to identify where corrective action is necessary and provide pointers as to what that action should be.Unlike the humble thermostat, most cost control systems have an inordinately long response time. Even the best current syste

48、m provides information on what was happening last week or last month. As the work is typically part of a one-off project it is quite likely that the information is only partly relevant to the work going on now. So the scope for corrective action is limited. For example, the system might indicate on

49、1 May that the from-work operation in March cost too much. If from-work operations are still continuing the manager will give this work particular attention, but if form-work is complete nothing can be done to correct the situation.In the conventional systems described below two fundamental points are important. First, all costs must be allocated, even if this is on a very coarse grained coding arrangement. If only the major items are monitored you can be