QA/QC Policy

[JasonG]

My civil engineering company is rapidly growing and it has become necessary to develop formal QA/QC policies. From your experiance, what are some good policies to consider? What are some bad policies to avoid? What are some good ways to implement the policies so they are adhered to?

Thank you in advance for your input.

 

[francesca]

1. KISS - keep it straight and simple. If it's a pain in the posterior, people will work around it, or just flat out ignore it.
2. Implement the high-risk/bad-consequence savers first -- e.g. policies to do with contracts, setting up job numbers, stamped drawings, correspondence, final calculations, etc. Worry about the small stuff later.
3. Simple check lists are a godsend. It's easy to fill in one form before submitting a set of drawings; it's not so easy to assemble five sets of forms, use three rubber stamps and file things in seven different folders.
4. A memo pad with room for a job number and a from/to/subject line for people to log phone calls works well. If you're given an authorization to start work by a client over the phone and you've logged the call, you can fax your log to them for signature and you're on your way to being legally covered.

I've never worked within an electronic QA system, only a paper one. A directory structure for electronic record keeping, and individual project backups strikes me as a good idea.

Check lists for submitting things electronically is another biggie. I've heard of horror stories of Word documents being sent to a client with the tracked changes still visible. There's a quick relationship breaker... (The unofficial policy is now to send only pdfs to clients, which IMO is a very sensible. A pdf will look the same regardless of which computer it is printed off. No more pen setup issues in CAD, no more "sorry, we're using version 10.7, could you resend that please," etc.)

 

[gbam]

francesca,
I always thought KISS stands for Keep It Simple Stupid.

JasonG,
I have used a "Redline" set as a QC check for plans and calculations. A rubber stamp was created with specific check boxes for the cover sheet and to identify the QC'r & Engineer in responsible charge. Typically, the QC'r uses red pen and the Engineer uses Blue for comment replies. This would occur prior to every submittal. The check list on the stamp would identify key/important checks ie geometric checks for a roadway, clearzone etc...