I discussed quality acceptance criteria in other post (Fundamentals of Quality), and this acceptance criteria determines the decision to proceed or relook back into the product or workmanship. This must be agreed upon by all stakeholders in a construction project before any work begins to ensure that all work complies with the requirements and adheres to the appropriate standards. Knowing the boundaries of quality acceptance criteria is important because it sets a benchmark for what is acceptable and what is not. And for most of the construction projects, these acceptance criteria of any workmanship and product are provided in contract documents (which consist of specification, drawing, bill-of-quantity and etc.)
GRADES
These criteria are normally categorized in grades. ISO 9001 says that these grades are ways to organize or rank different requirements for an object that has the same functional use.
Based on the definition, we can say that quality grades are the grades we give to a product or workmanship based on how well it meets the requirements sets in contract documents.
According to the Oxford dictionary, grades are the qualities of products or materials.
Normally, in the education sector, there are a lot of grades, starting from A ranking to F ranking, and different grades consist of different categories of marking (e.g., grade A is from 80% to 100%). In other industries, like manufacturing, there may also be a range of quality grades for products, or materials produced.
NON-CONFORMITIES
However, in the construction industry, grades are defined as "pass" or "fail." Pass denotes conformity or fulfilment of requirements, while fail denotes non-conformities or non-fulfillment of requirements; to address or responds with this non-conformities, one of the four actions listed below will be taken by the contractor: -
Demolish and reconstruct the work, or
Repair; or
Scrap, remove from location, or
Permission to proceed with strict requirements.
These four processes will be discussed in the next post. Whatever it is, this pass/fail status is normally applicable when we conduct inspection and testing processes either on site, in a factory acceptance test, or in a laboratory.
GRADES IN CONTRACTOR'S DOCUMENTATION
What if the grade classification type is used in reviewing the contractor's documentation to ensure compliance with contractual requirements? As proposed by BS 1192, "Collaborative production of architectural, engineering, and construction information—Code of practice," there shall be 3 sign-off codes to determine whether the documentation submitted by the contractor is reviewed, and these 3 codes can be considered grade classifications. The three codes are:
approved or fit for construction.
fit for construction but with minor comments.
comprehensive revision is needed.
The first 2 codes are considered passes or conformance, while code 3 is considered a failure or non-conformance.
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