1) Discuss the arrangements for maintaining the quality of work at a construction project

site, by considering a typical construction activity carried out at the site.

• Introduce the construction activity
• Discuss how quality is maintained
Quality of work is a very important concern for the successful completion of any
activity in construction sites. Deviating from the required quality standards may lead to defects
and failures in constructed facilities. When re- construction or rectification of the defects are
required, it can increase the project cost and may lead to delay the completion of the whole
project. Therefore, paying attention to the each and every activity and making sure they are
carried out according to the required quality standards is vital.
Slab concreting include many critical steps in concrete preparation stage and concrete
application stage. Identifying these steps and controlling the quality in each and every one of
these steps are important in order to get the best outcome. Slab concreting is done in different
magnitudes depending on the extent and the type of the construction. This description will
explain how the quality is maintained in a reinforced slab construction of an intermediate level
of a multi storied building.
Slab concreting involves, Batching & Ordering, Transportation, Sampling/ Testing
Pouring, Compaction, and Curing. Attention should be paid to every sub component each of
these steps are made of.
Concrete is a construction material consisting of coarse and fine aggregates, bound
together with a hardened paste of Cement, aggregates, chemical and mineral admixtures,
additives and water whose quality should be maintained up to the requirements are involved in
a concrete mixture. The proportion of each material controls the strength and quality of the
resultant concrete.
For good quality, it is important to ensure that the aggregate is clean and doesn’t contain any
organic impurities which might retard or prevent setting of the cement, and that the proportions
of different sizes and particles within a graded material remain uniform. The maximum size of
aggregate which shall be used shall be taken as specified in drawings and specifications.
Concrete temperature limits are established to ensure that high quality concrete with specified
requirements produced. Various standards and specifications provide limit on temperature of
concrete so as to achieve designated strength and durability.
The water used for mixing concrete shall be free from any impurities that could adversely affect
the process of hydration and properties of concrete. For example, some organic matter can
cause retardation whilst chlorides may accelerate the stiffening process and also cause
embedded steel such as reinforcing bars to corrode. In general water that is fit to drink is
suitable for mixing with cement.
An admixture is a material, usually a liquid which is added to a batch of concrete during mixing
in order to modify the properties of fresh or hardened concrete. All the admixtures that are
used, shall comply with BS 5075:1982 and its use in concrete shall be in accordance with BS
5075:1982. No admixture shall be used except with the permission of the Engineer.

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Acceptance Criteria of Concrete.

Before discharging concrete from the mixer, concrete shall be inspected and acceptance shall
be conducted workability tests. It is essential that the appropriate level of workability is chosen
to match the requirement of the construction process. The ease or difficulty of placing concrete
in sections of different sizes should be carefully assessed and before selecting the workability.
The slump value of any concrete mix is established before the trial mix stage based on number
of requirements
Before using ready mixed concrete, slump test is done to measure the workability of the fresh
concrete. The slump of the concrete shall be determined in accordance with BS5328:1990. The
slump test and the slump-flow test are the most common and frequent workability tests carried
out to assess the workability of concrete.
Mostly a slump value of 50 mm is required for slab concreting. The batch should be rejected if
it has not gained the required workability value.

Concrete sampling.

Testing of concrete is vital to ensuring the strength and resilience of built structures.
Compressive strength is the capacity of material or structure to resist or withstand under
compression. The compressive strength of concrete is determined by the ability of the concrete
to resist failure in the form cracks and fissure.
Concrete is a mixture of sand, cement, and aggregate. The strength of the concrete
depends upon many factors like individual compressive strength of its constituents (cement,
sand, aggregate), quality of materials used, air entrainment mixes proportions, water-cement
ratio, curing methods and temperature effects. Compressive strength gives an idea of the
overall strength and above-mentioned factors. Through conducting this test, one can easily
judge the concrete strength and quality of concrete produced. Required number of concrete
specimens shall be taken after accepting the batch for compressive strength test and other tests.
Concreting.
The reinforced cement concrete is defined as the concrete to which reinforcement is introduced
to bear the tensile strength. Formwork should be accurate, strong and well made, and the
formwork will not sag, bulge or move. The formwork must be rigid so that it does not get
deformed under the pressure of placement of fresh concrete and formwork shall be secured
(water tight ) using bolts or steel bars to prevent concrete leaking from inside through joints.
For every new use of formwork, the surfaces have to cleaned and brushed. The concrete
reinforcement must be held properly in the formwork. The form release agent shall efficiently
prevent the formwork from adhering to the concrete surface and facilitate the removal work of
the formwork.

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Before any concrete is placed the entire placing, programmed consisting of equipment, layout,
proposed procedures and methods is planned and no concrete is placed until formwork is
inspected and found suitable for placement. Equipment for conveying concrete should be of
adequate size and design as to ensure a practically continuous flow of concrete during pouring
without segregation of materials considering the size of the job and placement location.
During pouring of concrete the reinforcement may be disturbed and form
arrangement. The workers should stand by during placing. When placing concrete into high
formwork, the inlet should be positioned to the formwork, or the discharge location of the
vertical chute or pipe shall be lowered close to the surface. In such cases, the distance of the
surface of placing from the outlet of the chute, bucket, hopper, etc. should not exceed 1.5m.

Compaction.

Compaction must be done as concrete is placed, while it is still plastic. Compaction is the
shaking or vibrating of concrete to liquefy it and expel any trapped air. Concrete should not
be allowed to dry out and stiffen because it will be too difficult to compact. When vibrating the
concrete, the porker should be inserted vertically, and the porker should not be kept in the same
place for a long time, because it causes segregation.
If the reinforcement bars are in the area to be concreted, and they are in a level which is
higher than the concrete level, the room should be made by pushing them or a method
approved by the engineer before concreting that area.

When bleeding occurs, water appears at the surface during the placement of concrete, the
water shall be removed using appropriate methods before placing more concrete. The standard
rate of placement under normal condition is about 1 to 1.5m per 30 minutes. Concreting of slab
has to done in strip as recommended by structural designer to avoided cold joints at high
bending zones. Usually concrete of slabs has stopped by keeping 1/3 span length. Concreting
is done strip wise, and the thickness of concrete layers should not exceed 300mm.

Curing

Curing is done to keep concrete moist for some time (typically 3–7 days). By keeping concrete
moist the bond between the paste and the aggregates gets stronger. Concrete doesn’t harden
properly if it is left to dry out quickly. Curing is commenced just after finishing the concrete
surface.
The most common way of curing is, applying extra water to the surface of the concrete, or
reducing the rate of moisture loss from the concrete. The simplest method of applying water is
to put a continuous fine, misty spray of water over the concrete.
Another way to cure concrete is to cover with plastic sheets to slow down moisture loss.
Concrete should be kept evenly moist. The sheets must be held down to stop them blowing
away. They can be overlapped and stuck together and/or held down with sand, timber or bricks.

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 2) The construction industry is much affected by the current COVID-19 pandemic. With
your knowledge of construction safety, health and welfare, discuss the following.
• Impacts of COVID-19 on construction industry
• Safety, health and welfare related arrangements required at construction sites to minimize
such impacts
The COVID-19 widespread has impacted the world economy. The Local economy mainly
consists of exports, tourism, foreign employment and Industrial sector. Amongst them the
industrial sector contributes a 27% from the GDP (www.treasury.gov.lk: Mid-Year Fiscal
Position Report- Ministry of Finance, 2019).
The impact of the Covid -19 pandemic on construction industry is enormous. Material supply
problems and operating restrictions has contributed to this. Especially in developing
countries, this has affected more because the construction industry has taken a big role in
their economy.
A few different ways of how Covid-19 Global pandemic has affected the construction
industry, can be listed as follows.
1. With the obstructions to continue work in material processing factories and
restrictions to import, distribute material , the industry experienced a huge shortage of
material.
2. The scarcity of the material has caused a dramatic increase of price of the material.
3. The spread of the Covid-19 virus in construction sites have caused the scarcity of
labor force.
4. Government restrictions to continue work in construction sites.
5. Continuous interruption of activities have caused big losses to contractors as they
have to redo the work again.
6. The reduction of the economy level and bankruptcy of the contractors due to late
payments.
7. Difficulties for contractors of getting due payments from the government due to the
government change in Sri Lanka.
8. Increase of Conflicts between contractor, consultants and the client due to the increase
of material cost.
Construction companies of all sizes are affected from the pandemic. The Companies and the
contractors are looking for methods to manage the impacts on their sites. This problem has
forced company managements to adjust to this new situation and continue their projects. It
has become the responsibility of the engineers to provide solutions to this situation. The most
obvious solution to fix this problem is to reduce the risk of getting Covid-19 virus to workers,
since the industry needs working human resources to stand up and get running again

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What is risk?

‘uncertainty inherent in plans & possibility of something happening that can

affect the prospects of achieving project goals.”
BS 6079-3:2000 (Project management. Guide to the management of
business related project risk)

‘an uncertainty or condition that , if it occurs, has a positive or negative effect

on project objectives’
PMBOK Guide

As the above two statements explain, risk is basically an uncertainty of what kind of effect
that something is going have on the project. In large scale construction sites, human contact
with each other is very usual. As can be seen in recent period of time, a huge amount of Sri
Lankas construction sites had to be shut down due to the spreading of Covid -19 virus. It can
be seen that he damage to the construction industry is significant than other industries.
As we speak, the construction project sites are reopening and trying to get back on its track. It
is the responsibility of the site managers to establish a methodology and new norms to reduce
the risk of this virus. Following list explains some of the approaches to minimize the impacts
of the Covid- 19 Virus.
Approaches to prevent spreading of the Covid-19 Virus
1. Increasing the awareness of the work staff, labors about the current situation.- Since it
is vital to keep the social distance, virtual events can be organized to increase the
awareness of the workers about this situation and the new updates. This can be done
regularly and the attendance of every worker should be mandatory.
2. Instructing the workers to keep the social distance while working. - Major reasons to
spread the Covid-19 virus is not keeping the social distance. Supervision should be
done regularly to monitor if the workers are keeping the distances. Office spaces also
can be rearranged increasing the distance between workers.
3. Provide the face masks and the sanitizers to office staff as well as the labors.
4. Encouraging the workers to do PCR tests or Rapid antigen tests regularly. Facilities
and compensations can be provided for such activities.
5. Appointing responsible health officers to monitor the new rules inside the site.
6. Planning for possible events that is possible due to the situation- Ex- If a Covid-19
patient is found within the site, taking actions to treat the patient and isolate the
possible contact personnel in order to prevent further spreading of the virus.
7. Implementing a roster system to report to work for office personnel.
8. Providing facilities to vaccinate the site workers and employers.

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Good site management practices to avoid conflicts during pandemic period.
1. Keeping material stocks for a substantial period of time- Continuous monitoring of
available and needed material and ordering the material in advance to avoid a material
shortage.
2. Compensating site staff accordingly to prevent a labor shortage.
3. Keeping updated about the market situation- This will help to foresee possible
material shortages.
4. Keep the client and the consultants updated about the latest situation.

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References

• Lecture Notes
• (www.treasury.gov.lk: Mid-Year Fiscal Position Report- Ministry of Finance, 2019)
• https://www.osha.gov/coronavirus/control-prevention/construction
• BS 6079-3:2000 (Project management. Guide to the management of business related
project risk)