Quantity Surveying Practice - Assignment Example

The production process in the construction involves a variety of players among them the engineers, contractors, quantity surveyors, workers and financial analyst. A quality surveyor is a person accountable for figuring out the cost of a building and in other cases he ensures that a constructions production costs are managed effectively and efficiently. He is able to identify and assess the costs which will be used to complete a project of developing a construction (Almeida, 2013). Besides this, a surveyor in a construction process is essential for the valuation of the proposed constructions, preparation of specifications and acts as an arbitrator when disputes arise in the engineering process. His advice on cost management is an essential part. When tenders have been accepted, the quantity surveyor provides data on the cash flows and when the project is completed, he prepares a statement of final account so as to summarize cost charges incurred. A production method statement provides the format in the methods to be followed in the engineering and construction process (Towey, 2012). The following production method statement refers to a production of aggregates from waste of Machi Industries which incorporates the use of Waste and Resources Action Program (WRAP) protocol and factory control system (Almeida, 2013). It contains an introduction, management and operation staff, resources, method statement of production and factory production control sections. Section 1: Introduction Machi Industries contains a waste transfer station situated at St Ives which separates the wastes into their various fractions which are the recycled. Among the various components or fractions segregated are inert hardcore, brick and stone which can be crushed and sold as a good. In order to ensure that customers are satisfied, a quality control is important so that products from waste can be developed and for the company to show that waste has indeed been recovered. These quality control systems enable compliance with protocols by WRAP on quality for the process of obtaining aggregates from inert waste. Section 2: Management and operational staff John George Managing Director Mick Neil Technical and waste director Johnson Dave Director of logistics Daniel Mark Transfer station supervisor Several other site operatives in the production process rating to 30. The team involved in the management process chose Mick Neil and charged him with the responsibility of observing the quality system. Daniel Mark, who is the transfer station supervisor, will be provided with a copy of the production method statement which will be explained to him until he understands the concepts of what is expected of him and the rest of the team. This information is then passed on until the operational level where the several site operatives will follow the outline and execute the methods. Section 3: Resources These are the items that are required in the process to ensure proper completion. It involves the material for inputs and output acquisitions. Transfer station The station for transfer involves several equipment that allow for separation of waste such as trammel, over band magnet, picking station, weighbridge, 4 x 360 grab machines, concrete floor, weighbridge office and a covered building for waste segregation. People There are about 30 site operation workers at any given moment that are involved in the manual separation of waste, whether at the picking station or at the transfer station floors. One of the operation staff is on the 360 loading the trammel, another is on the 360 involved in picking any heavy and large things out of the pile of waste and another is based on the loading shovel where he transfers the waste to storage facilities (Almeida, 2013). The workers are employed on a shift basis relating to night, day or hourly shifts to ensure that they are not dehydrated and excessively tired. These shifts are determined by the human resource personnel available and a working schedule is released after every fortnight to determine who will be present during what sift and at what time. This is done to ensure accountability, efficiency and effectiveness. Waste suppliers The waste suppliers are only those employed by Machi Industries and the company vehicles use the waste transfer station in order to be able control the quality of waste and the quantity of these waste inputs to the site (Towey, 2012). The several staff employed such as the drivers and weighbridge in the industry are trained sufficiently based on the type of waste that the transfer station can be able to utilize and accept to prevent any unwanted items. Several copies of the licensing of the site have been made available so that all people present can read. This reads as WMD/56089 to represent the licence of the site and AFE/457862 to show the licence of the waste carriers. Plant and equipment Adequate plant and equipment has been made available which is serviced on time by in-house maintenance team conversant with operations. Repairs on these are also made available through a pre-planned schedule on maintenance. This equipment relates to machinery, weight lifting tools, vehicles, safety gear and kits. Storage areas Storage areas are kept clean at all times and are constructed away from other offices due to the stench that is emitted from these sites. The facilities provided are well ventilated so as to provide proper working conditions for the workers who are manually involved in the separation. Waste that is brought in is stored at the transfer station building which have sealed drained concrete. After the waste has been separated, the inert aggregate is kept separately in an outside building that is labeled waste exemption. Section 4: Key activities The achievement of the process of waste segregation follows various processes and activities. Firstly, the waste materials are brought to the transfer station by trucks of the company and deposited in sealed concrete area (McGeorge & Zou, 2013). The site personnel separate the waste from pile to pile while they discard unwanted waste products. Heavy vehicles are used to turn large materials and discard produce that is not needed. Inert aggregate is produced and stones are crushed to form bricks which are then resold. This inert form is recycled and the end product is also sold. The company runs various staff to accomplish these tasks and supervision and control is required. Other activities include, project formulation, management of workers, cleaning and maintenance of equipment. Section 5: Production rates and days The rates of production ranges based on the amount of waste brought in the industry, the availability of workers and the environmental conditions. However, the industry is expected to produce a constant amount of a hundred tonnes of inert products in a particular month. This is enabled by the availability of the waste from both domestic and manufacturing sites, output per worker, adequate machinery, and proper weather conditions among other industrial factors (McGeorge & Zou, 2013). The management ensures that the rate of production is maintained so that the institution keeps the output sand profits at a regular amount. The production process runs throughout the project period which is pre-determined by the contractors and quantity surveyors. These production days that have been pre-determined may vary from the actual production period and therefore need to be adjusted in the bill of quantities. The completion of a project is based on the management capacity to follow a plan of the production process that is prepared before the start of the project. Plans are made to show the actual activities that will take place, their locations and the length of time which will be incurred for each activity. Therefore, an early and fast completion of the activities at the beginning of the plan and project leads to an early completion of the total project (McGeorge & Zou, 2013). Method statement of production Machi industry is a commercial or industrial site that assents the mixing of wastes products that are not hazardous. The site encompasses 10 paragraphs of `` Waste Management Licensing Exemption’’ which permits the company to store the lethargic waste in preparedness of manufacturing the product for them. The company often has loads that are pre-segregated and are tipped straight for crushing in the storage area but there is a reminder of the production of the materials which forms loads of the segregated mixture. The process of ensuring that the right quantity of materials has entered the sites after the process of sales, there is always a phone call which is made requesting the office to allow a waste service provision or skip the process. The sales staff will make sure they have made the correct arrangements and they will advise the customers on what should be done on the skip (McGeorge & Zou, 2013). The first procedure they will take is that they are supposed to give a transfer note for the waste materials and then it is issued to the driver to take to the site. During the collection of the waste products the driver is supposed to do thorough inspection of the load and he should ensure that the waste is not harmful. After inspection and confirmation that the waste materials are suitable he is required to get signatures. The note for transferring the waste should have the following details; descriptions of the waste, EWC Code, signatures required to transfer the wastes, date of collection, licence number of the waste carriers, name and address of waste carrier, waste producer and the waste disposal point. The skip will be weighed after reaching the transfer station and the driver should issue the transfer note to the weighbridge office. Before tipping process begins the weighbridge operator first he checks whether the details in the transfer note have met the necessary criteria and then he should inspect visually the skip. After meeting the requirements needed by the weighbridge operator, a weighbridge ticket is then issued and then instructions are given to take the skip to the tipping area. The skip after the tipping process is further inspected so that they are assured that the load has complied with the licence. If they find that the waste products are non-hazardous it is then processed through the segregated system for the waste materials. If the waste material does not meet the set requirements a non-compliant load is shadowed according to the work plan document (McGeorge & Zou, 2013). All the transfer notes for the wastes are not supposed to exceed two years since the date of their issuance. The waste products to be segregated and used as a recycled aggregate product include the following types of wastes according to the European waste catalogue code; glass packing, stones and soils in inclusion of gravel, waste glass with fibrous materials, bricks, tiles , ceramic and crushed rocks. Section 5: Factory production control The company’s production control is a process that is placed into place to observe the production. It also ensures that all the necessary characteristics of the materials are achieved and maintained. The recycled collection which is produced by Machi industries is a crushed and run product. The waste materials are crushed down specifications of 100mm. it is then sold as a frost tested or graded product like a material which is used for site compounds, capping layers, temporary haul roads or fill materials. The main reason for selling this recycled aggregated material is because the material is indolent and is free from contamination of the likes of paper, plastic and wood (Chudley & Greeno, 2012). The stockpiled materials have already undergone the process of pre-sorting as defined in the method statement of production and are known to be an inert clean product. The products are loaded by a 360 excavator into a Nordberg 105 crusher. If there is a possibility of having traces of metals in the waste materials are removed by use of magnet and any other objects which might be foreign are handpicked from the pile. The heap is then transferred to a storage area and is spread so that any remaining foreign- materials are hand-picked from the pile. After accomplishing the separation the final materials are ready for sale in accordance to WRAP Protocol as an approved material. The final product is usually inspected during inspection visually twice a day (McGeorge & Zou, 2013). If there any material found during the production process and they seem to be non-conforming then the materials are again spread and picked till they are declared visually clean once again. Though it is too difficult to make the product to be free completely from contaminants, Machi industries always attempt to achieve the best they can. The produced material is graded monthly. All the products which are sold should have met the WRAP Protocol and is always marked on the tickets of delivery. WRAP Protocols The waste protocol project objectives are that they help the company to achieve its outcomes which are; they company is supposed to produce a position statement for regulation which clearly updates the business fraternity the regulation obligations which they are supposed to comply to. The other one is that they should produce a quality protocol which states clearly the steps which should be applied when changing waste material to non-waste material which can be allowed to be recycled or reused by industries or business or be supplied to other markets whether they will be used directly or indirectly so that they may enable recovering of products which have been used without applying waste regulation control measures. The main aim for quality protocol is that it should provide guidance on the processes of recovering waste materials, removing it from the unnecessary regulations and regulatory regime (Chudley & Greeno, 2012). Health and safety in a waste site In the range of waste recycling is comprised of numerous activities; collecting, recycling and waste disposal. Within the process there are some major hazards to health which includes; Musculoskeletal disorder, needle stick injuries, bio aerosols, noise and personal hygiene. Many people fall ill due to the infections they get from been into contact with the waste. The Machi industries need to take the right precautions and safety measures to protect his employees from been exposed to microorganisms and harmful substances (Chudley & Greeno, 2012). One of the measures they need to take considering working with other healthy agencies to decrease the risks at hand providing or promoting some schemes like; hazardous waste return scheme or guiding the households members on how to handle recyclables and wastes. Machi industries will take the measure of informing, training, instructing and supervising its employees to reduce the risks involved when handling the wastes. During recruitment there are measures which should be taken into account like employing youngster who are more vulnerable to accidents (Chudley & Greeno, 2012). Also the trainings should cover; the risks which the employees are more likely to face, measures which are in place to control the risk and there should a reporting arrangement for workers who are potentially exposed to any type of hazardous substance. A good personal hygiene is very important in regards with the health and safety in waste production (McGeorge & Zou, 2013). Necessary facilities should be given to the employees to keep effective hygiene. Protective clothing like safety boots, gloves and cut-resistant trouser should be issued. The collection vehicles should be having some facilities like basins, soaps, water and towels to curb some of the risks associated with waste collection. First aid should be available to all workers injured at the work place so there should be a first aid box which is well stocked and all employees should have basic knowledge regarding giving first aid and there should be a person who is appointed and who is in charge of arranging first aid. Reference list Almeida, Heitor. (2013). Corporate liquidity management a conceptual framework and survey. Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research. Chudley, Roy & Greeno, Roger. (2012). Building Construction Handbook. Hoboken. Taylor and Francis. McGeorge, W & Zou, Patrick. (2013). Construction management new directions. Chichester, West Sussex, U.K. John Wiley & Sons Inc. Towey, Donald. (2012). Construction quantity surveying a practical guide for the contractors QS. Hoboken. John Wiley & Sons. Read More