Let’s start with a brief overview, shall we!

In large industrialized projects there is

typically a standard in which the project was designed. Specific criteria
painstakingly put together by a team of professional engineers to ensure the
objectives of the finished project are met. These practitioners of the profession of
engineering are formatter's of precision rather than poetic conductors of “throwing
it together”.  Engineers devise, design and utilize specialized devices, machinery,
structures, systems and processes to promote, (meaning improve, sustain, protect or
defend) a projects operational and safety standards of humans. Their relevance and
value to a project cannot be underestimated. 

Engineers on a project represent a huge body of structured knowledge. Through the

course of design, this wealth of information needs to be refined into a simplified
understanding of exactly what is expected from a contractor (who is not an
engineer) and how they are to prove they did exactly what the engineers designed.  

I remember sitting in a meeting with 24 senior management people and the VP of

operations. The discussion was over the explosion of a 600 volt motor control center
that crippled a section of the plant. As the lead quality control manager, I had done
my investigation to the cause of the incident. I showed photos of what was left of the
metal cladded MCC, and the vaporized metal spray could have killed anyone
standing with 5 meters of it when it blew.

 I located the original documentation (ITR's) for the substation, which was being
preserved in an environmentally controlled building due to its importance. I took
copies of the quality control reports and presented them at the meeting along with
the photos. The documents clearly showed that they were not completed correctly
and that they may even have been falsified.

One senior manager spoke up and stated “I do not see what relevance this has”.

I addressed the group by saying this. “When we have an incident such as this, we, as
quality control professionals, investigate its cause. We do this in an effort to discover
if the cause was due to an engineering design error, or if the cause was due to a
human error. If it is proven that we have a design error, then we certainly want to fix
that so it does not happen again. If we discover the cause was a human error, we
want to learn form that and ensure it is part of any future inspection and testing
protocols.”

ITP’s or Inspection Test Plans provide a detailed step by step summary of what to
test and inspect during critical construction processes to ensure the operation and
safety parameters are met as designed. Not following the ITP can represent a human
error and it also can be used to hold the contractor who did the work responsible for
the costs and delays in the project. When a contractor is issued the ITP’s they are a
binding part of the contract to which they committed to. If no ITP was issued, then
the contractor is left to use their own installation processes, and often there is no
quality control processes as well little accountability to the project’s completion.

 ITP – Inspection Test Plan

By ignoring the provision of ITP’s or Inspection test plans projects open themselves
can up to delays as it most certainly invites re-work. Most contractors follow
historical patterns of construction and if gone unchecked, these become
increasingly sloppier and tend not to follow the supplied design. So materials are
consumed and time is lost and arguments start over clarity of expectation.

ITR's are the proof that design was followed

The ITR or Inspection Test Report is nothing more than the proof that the design
details were followed correctly and the a professional third party inspection
witnessed the construction in either its required staged process as well as witnessed
all testing to validate the integrity.

These ITR’s are often found on projects. However they are quiet often just “Cut and
Pastes” from previous projects. There is no training or understanding of the
importance of these documents provided to the contractor, and in most cases the
contractor is expected to complete them on their own and give them back to the
Client with absolutely no discussion on how. Little or no third party inspection
witnessing is employed and certainly the process, being so misunderstood, gain’s
little support by construction managers that “hate paper work” as I have so often
heard.

ITR – Inspection &Test Report

I was called into a project that had already been started due to many delays and the
requirement to meet first oil production. Many of the quality control processes were
ignored and hardly any documentation had been completed. I was employed to
complete the entire projects documentation, redlines and compile the turn-over
binders and get the client to sign them off. A monuments task as there were over
12,000 un-completed ITR’s in boxes sitting in a trailer, let alone drawings.

I also faced a very un-cooperative construction team who saw no value in the turn-
over documents. Their basic knowledge of the entire completions requirements is
very common. The Client paid for a project, they wanted insurance that they got
what they paid for. 

You can build the most beautiful motorbike, but

you are not legally allowed to drive it without
the licence and registration. 
I was involved on another project where the contractor felt they could have people
sit in an office and fill in all the ITR’s without going into the field and actually inspect
or test. I received four “completed” ITR’s and told the contractor’s representative I
wanted to go look at these. They were H2S detectors, critical safety devices that were
to monitor a section of the plant for hazardous H2S gas. The contractor’s
representative gave me several reasons why they could not go look at them with me.
I called his employer and told him I need this man to come with me. As we went to
all four of the H2S detector locations I saw nothing but a coil of instrument cable
laying on the ground. Yet I held a signed document in my hand that said not only
were they installed, but tested.

This lead to me seizing that contractors entire

file of documents and after a review that took
weeks, we found 80% were falsified.
So what is this QCP?, now that is a rarity on any site! It is the detailed procedures in
which to conduct the testing and or inspections. It outlines specifically how to
conduct the tests, what criteria you need to see to ensure a pass and what
inspections you need to look at to ensure the installation meets the required design
details.

I can hear some of you now, “Wow, I’ve never seen one of those!” …….much of these
are in basic form when we review IEC, IEEE or UL standards. There are other
resources available for this but most do not have access to this. The last project I
worked on the entire design for electrical specifications referred to IEC
standardization. Yet as part of the design team, we did not have access to IEC.
Certainly a low bid contractor would not either, and they didn’t.
 QCP – Quality Control Plan 

The great thing about having these procedures, is they, like the ITP’s and ITR’s can
be transposed easily form one project to another with very little modification. Once
created, one does not have to re-invent the wheel, only improve upon it.

I have worked 25 years in the oil and gas industry as an electrical specialist. In all the
projects I have been on, little has changed in the design and installations of
electrical and instrumentation systems. Knowing which ones apply so not to make a
mountain out of a mole hill is important, and takes people that understand well the
criteria.

I have spent over 10 years reviewing and streamlining this process, writing
appropriate ITP’s and detailed Procedure manuals. I am often asked if I would “give
them” to people. Most of these people requesting this have been hired specifically to
create them. I certainly assist them by providing some examples, but I am not about
to just hand over the thousands of hours of work I have put in for free. Some may
see that as selfish, I see it as business!
I am working with a software company to assist me in computerizing these
documents to streamline the process even more. If you are interested in what I
have, please contact me and we can talk. In the meantime, I hope this article was
informative and enlightening.