You’ve spent the time and resources to develop a project from design through requesting offers. Don’t squander those efforts by shorting yourself during the proposal review process. Contractors have taken the time to carefully read your request for offers (RFO) and to put together a package that details how they are the best fit for your project.

Good communication is often a topic of discussion when it comes to safety and/or quality, as poor or insufficient communication can lead to serious problems. When performing a root cause analysis for a safety incident or non-conformance item discovered during a quality inspection, it’s not unusual to discover poor communication as a root cause or contributing factor.

You just got off the phone with your project superintendent. It wasn’t a good call. He phoned to tell you that a dump truck just tore out an overhead distribution line while backing up with the dump bed raised. The spotter who was assisting the dump truck driver hadn't noticed the overhead hazard.

Unfortunately, a few of the other workers on the site did see the hazard but didn’t say anything. They assumed the operator of the dump truck or the spotter would catch it so they didn’t speak up. Now you have to add these additional costs and delays to your project. What could you have done differently to help prevent this incident? How about instituting a Stop Work Authority policy?

Inspection on your project should consist of a combination of quality control and quality assurance. This process is on-going and the end result is a project completed to specification with an acceptable level of quality.