An Overview of Quality Control and Safety in Engineering Projects

This essay provides a comprehensive overview of quality control and safety in engineering projects. It delves into various aspects such as the concerns and costs associated with quality control, relevant laws, and the consequences of neglecting safety measures. The essay also identifies responsible authorities for maintaining quality and safety, highlighting the importance and benefits of these practices in ensuring successful project completion within budget and timeframe. Key elements discussed include design quality, performance quality, off-line quality control, cost of conformance, and non-conformance, emphasizing the critical role of quality control and safety in the successful execution of engineering endeavors.

Running head: QUALITY CONTROL AND SAFETY
QUALITY CONTROL AND SAFETY
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Abstract
The aim of this essay is to discuss the topic Quality Control and Safety in Engineering. A
brief discussion of several topics associated with the quality control in an engineering project
with the issue of safety in any project of engineering is provided in this essay. Quality control
is an important field that needs to be monitored extensively for successfully completing any
project within the timeframe in the allocated budget. The quality of performance is associated
with functions determination of the services or products and the utilisation quality of the
products and the services when the implementation has been done. This essay concludes with
an appropriate conclusion.

2QUALITY CONTROL AND SAFETY
Introduction
This essay aims to discuss the key elements of quality control and safety. A brief
discussion of the topic is provided in this report along with the discussion of the concerns, the
cost of quality control, laws implemented on the quality control, the consequences of
ignoring quality control and safety during the projects of engineering. The responsible
authorities of managing quality in an engineering project, the importance of maintaining
quality control and the benefits of quality control and safety in an engineering project is
provided in this essay. Lastly, this essay concludes with an appropriate conclusion of this
essay (Han, Saba, Lee, Mohamed & Peña-Mora, 2014).
Quality control and safety is required for proper handling of the project in
engineering. The aspect of engineering has been referred to in several methods by established
authors. The central division of the quality has been done in five categories: value-based,
transcendent, product-based, manufacturing based, and user-based. The structure of quality
can be defined with eight attributes that can be used for determining quality, which are
perceived as quality, features, reliability, conformance, serviceability, durability, aesthetics,
and performance.
Quality control and safety are essential in an engineering project to monitor the successful
completion of a project. Quality control involves all the tasks or the activities that are
performed in the ground as required by the guidelines of quality or structure.
Discussion
Quality control and safety
Quality control and quality assurance are essential in the aspects of construction and
engineering as the successful completion of any project is not assured without the proper

3QUALITY CONTROL AND SAFETY
maintenance of quality control and safety (Mitra, 2016). Quality control involves all the tasks
or the activities that are performed in the ground as required by the guidelines of quality or
structure that is prescribed in the documents of Quality assurance such as PQP or QAP. The
quality of the services and the goods has been observed, either directly or indirectly for a long
time. Moreover, the modern concept includes the utilisation of quantitative base that involves
the use of statistical principles for controlling quality and safety in an engineering project.
The previous idea determines that one or more than one elements define the intended level of
quality of any service or product. These elements called as the characteristics of quality can
be grouped as the structural characteristics, sensory characteristics and the characteristics that
are time-oriented.
Quality of design
The design quality involves the stringent conditions that any product or service should
at least possess for satisfying the customer requirements. The quality of design implies that
any service or product should be structured for meeting minimum the customer needs.
Commonly, the structure of the design should be simple and easy to implement but still
meeting the expectations of the customers. The design quality is influenced by the factors like
the product type, cost, policy of profit of the firm, product demand, availability of parts and
the materials and the safety of product when the designing of any material is done that
parameters that influence the strength of yield should be selected for satisfying the
requirement minimally. Commonly, the product is commonly overdesigned for meeting the
desired conditions and sometimes exceeding the conditions. In several situations, with the
increase in the level of the quality of design, the cost of the project increases at an
exponential rate. The product value rises at a rate of decreasing, with the increase rate
approaching zero beyond a particular level of designed quality.

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Quality of performance
The performance quality is connected with determining the functions of products or
the services and the utilisation quality of the products and the services when it is
implemented. It commonly measures the degree to which any product and services satisfy
any customer. The performance quality is the function of both the design quality and the
conformance quality. The primary goal is the meeting and additionally exceeding the
expectations of the customers. In the situation, when any product or service does not meet the
expectation of the customers, the design of the product or the services need to be altered in
the design or the conformance phase (Mitra, 2016). The feedback to the design phase from
the performance can create alteration in any design as the present design does not produce
any product that performs adequately.
Off-line quality control
The procedures quality control that are off-line deals with the measures for selecting
and choosing product that are controllable and process parameters in a way, which can
monitor the deviation among the product or the output of the process and it will minimise the
standard. A significant portion of this task is achieved with the designing of the process and
product (Mitra, 2016). The primary goal is to produce an appropriate design in the restraints
of resources and the parameters of the environment like when the production initiates, and the
output must meet the standard.
Concerns of quality control and safety
The main concern for quality control and safety are the maintenance of the quality and
the safety of a project with the alteration of the project several times (Bahr, 2014). In a
construction project, the first step is the designing of the project that has to be constructed. In
some situations, the re-designing phase is faced by the construction managers as the demands

5QUALITY CONTROL AND SAFETY
of the customers can change. The safety of the engineers during the project is ensured by the
development of procedures, systems, products and the protocols for keeping the people safe
at the workshops and workplaces. The safety of the engineers is determined by preventing
any hazards to the engineers during the project implementation. The rules of the safety of the
engineers apply to the labs of school and the workplaces along with the safety of the
engineers at the engineering site. Moreover, the strategy of product support must not only
prioritise in the product or the characteristics of operation. In several situations, the issue of
re-designing originates due to the change of demands by the customers and the fault in the
current design. This leads to the process of re-designing of the framework of engineering.
These types of situations lead to an increase in the cost of the project and the alteration of the
design (Bahr, 2014). The maintenance of the quality in the re-designing phase should be
monitored for meeting the new requirements of the customers. The safety of the workers is a
significant concern in the construction projects.
Cost of quality control and safety
The quality cost is an essential concern in the management of project quality. The
complete cost of delivering a product can be segregated into two varieties, which are direct
cost and indirect cost (Pahl & Beitz, 2013). The cost that can be directly assigned to a
particular carrier of cost such as the cost of material and labour for delivering any particular
component are referred to as direct cost. The cost that cannot be assigned to directly, such as
the cost of maintaining the stores and illumination of the workshop are referred as indirect
cost. The complete cost of quality is viewed as a section of project management that deals
with making the decisions on the extent of capital to be invested in quality (Pahl & Beitz,
2013). The two main categories of the cost of quality are the cost of Non-conformance and
cost of conformance.

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Cost of conformance
These are the costs that are sustained for the effort of keeping the defective products
from gaining its way to the customers. The conformance cost constitutes Prevention costs and
appraisal cost. Prevention costs are the costs that are sustained for activities that are
particularly designed for the prevention of product quality that is poor from being created
initially. Appraisal costs are also called the inspection costs, and these are the costs that are
sustained for identifying the defective products prior to shipping the products to the
customers (Munoz, 2013). In engineering, the appraisal costs are the costs that are sustained
in the designing phase and the re-designing situations.
Non-conformance cost
These are the costs that are sustained by the companies despite the efforts of
preventing the defects from happening. This type of cost is also referred to as the cost of poor
quality. These costs of failure are sustained when the final product of any engineering project
is not able to meet the specifications of the design. Internal failure costs are the cost that
results from defect identification before it is completed and provided to the customers (Sarkar
& Moon, 2014). External failure costs are the costs that are sustained when any defective
product is provided to the customers and it raises demand for alteration or modification of the
product that is required by the customers. The data requirement of the quality cost is essential
for monitoring of the budget of the project. As the indirect cost is essential for the project just
as the direct cost is important in a project, a well-structured accounting department must be
established for the monitoring of the budget and the costs that are associated with the project.

7QUALITY CONTROL AND SAFETY
Laws on quality control and safety
The laws implemented for quality control and safety monitors the integrity of the
engineering project and keeps a disciplined environment for the workers and the supervisors.
These are the protocols that are essential for the completion of the project in the provided
period with meeting all the requirements of the customers and in the budget provided for the
project. Some of the laws are ISO 9000, lean manufacturing, and six sigma (Mason, Nicolay
& Darzi, 2015).
Consequences of ignoring quality control and safety
Some of the consequences of ignoring quality control and safety are as follows:
The major advantage that is not obtained by ignoring the quality control and safety is
the encouragement of the quality consciousness between the workers in any factory that is
helpful for achieving the intended level quality in any product. Optimal satisfaction to the
customers is not provided to the customers which, is the main concern of any project is to
meet the requirements of the customers and satisfy the needs of the customers. If the
protocols of quality control is not maintained properly, it raises the issues of negligence in
meeting the requirements of the customers (Qian & Lin, 2016). Increase in the production
cost: when the quality control and safety is not ensured properly, the cost of effective
inspection and the control over the processes of production is lost and the cost of production
rises significantly.
Responsible authorities for quality control and safety
The responsible parties for the proper maintenance of the quality control and safety
are the governing bodies of the projects of engineering. Management teams are implemented
for the monitoring of the quality control and safety during any project for maintaining the
integrity of the workplace (Boy & Schmitt, 2013).

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Importance of quality control and safety
As a project in civil engineering project spans overs a long time, the phases of such a
project are high. Importance of quality control and safety is essential in all the phases of the
engineering projects (Your Article Library, 2018). The main need of quality control and
safety is essential for building a successful project that can deliver the products, which meets
the requirements of the customers and it can also exceed the expectation of the customers
(Mitra, 2016). The contractors who are responsible for the monitoring of project in
engineering needs to ensure the proper utilisation of the protocols of quality control and
safety.
Paying for quality control and safety
The contractor in a project of engineering pays for the quality control and safety. The
management teams of the projects are also responsible for paying for quality control and
safety in an engineering project.
Benefits of quality control and safety
1. Some of the benefits of quality control and safety are the benefits of Improvement
of techniques and the methods of production, efficient advertisement, provides the fixation of
prices, increase in sales, and inspection cost reduction (Sarkar & Moon, 2014).
2. Total quality system - The issue of quality is the responsibility of all the involved
parties in an engineering project. This ensures that the proper development of the
comprehensive plans for determining of the precise responsibilities of several units,
procedures must be defined for checking the conformance to the plans and the measures of
remedy must be suggested involved in the events of discrepancies among the standard and
performance.

9QUALITY CONTROL AND SAFETY
Conclusion
Therefore, it can be concluded that the implementation of the quality control and
safety in an engineering project is essential in ensuring the proper execution of the project.
Quality control and safety is required for proper handling of the project in engineering. The
aspect of engineering has been referred in several methods by established authors. Quality
control and quality assurance are very essential in the aspects of construction and engineering
as the successful completion of any project is not assured without the proper maintenance of
quality control and safety. The quality of the services and the goods has been observed, either
directly or indirectly for a long time. The previous concept determines that one or more than
one elements defines the intended level of quality of any service or product. The design
quality involves the stringent conditions that any product or a service should at least possess
for satisfying the customer requirements. The performance quality is connected with
determining the functions of products or the services and the utilisation quality of the
products and the services when it is implemented. The procedures quality control that are off-
line deals with the measures for selecting and choosing product that are controllable and
process parameters.

10QUALITY CONTROL AND SAFETY
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