1. Risks in Construction Projects

In any  construction project, there are lots of risks involved with it including site accidents, the equipment failure, material lost, site damage… The contractors take responsibility for all the risks.  This further can make the construction contractor liable for all the damages and losses happened. In such situation, the contractor should consider buying the construction contractor insurance that could be of great help. This kind of insurance covers the damages, which affect the people, contractors’ assets and the building structures of the construction projects.

2. How the Construction Contractor Insurance works

The construction contractor insurance alleviates all the losses that may occur during the construction process. These generally include the material damages, where the erection and construction works are being insured, but can be extended to incorporate construction machinery, installation and equipment and also clearance of debris.

Severe injuries or fatalities resulting from site accident, damaging construction works: equipment malfunctions, explosions, quality standards, falls or slips and poor construction control are often covered under the construction contractor insurance.

The introduction of the Internet has made availing the construction consultants insurance easier and simple. The products accessible in this scheme include Public and Employers Liability Insurance, Professional Indemnity Insurance, IR35 Tax Protection Insurance, Business Equipment Insurance, Health and Safety Insurance and Personal Accident and Sickness Insurance.

3. Areas are covered by Construction Contractors Insurance

Numerous skill areas covered within the Construction Contractors Insurance are assistant site managers, building site managers, construction managers, contract managers, document control, fire safety audits and health and safety consultants among the major ones. Several other skill areas covered include:

1. Maintenance managers and operation managers
2. Project managers and site engineers
3. Site managers
4. Structural engineers and technical engineers
5. Estimators and electrical engineers
6. Highways engineers and planning engineers

4. Get your best affordable construction contractor insurance

Kinds of construction contractor insurance can be found from the online insurance service providers. Whether it is discussing renewal terms or coverage options, the online construction contractor insurance will assist you to give your kind of cover. The most recommended way is to gather insurance quotes from various insurance providers prior to select the best affordable construction contractor insurance for your business.

Risk management is an overall term, which is often sub-divided by various organizations and departments to ensure respective suitability. Examples could be a financial risk or say a legal risk. However, the term has a wider perspective and while it is not practical to cover it all here, this article follows a controlled approach and thus highlights upon the nitty-gritty of project risk management.

The Process of Project Risk Management

Risk management and thus project risk management is a comprehensive process aimed at risk identification, planning stages post risk identification, defining the essential activities to be undertaken, and therefore lessening of the recognised risks. While relating particularly to the project risk management perspective, activities begin by planning the risk aspect in relevance to the project under consideration. The plan is comprehensively defined to include even the most basic of tasks, essential for project completion. The idea is to plan risk management for the project. The next stage focuses on project risk identification.

Risk identification is a task responsible for recognising the potential risks and naming them. A risk manager could be appointed at this stage, who would be responsible for identification, input compilation and appropriate documentation for further stages. While identifying the project risks, risks can be divided into two categories: generic risks, which are almost universally applicable; other risks, which are the specific project risks. The other crucial tasks, which ought to be conferred due attention at this stage, relate to narrowing down to the precise cause of identified risks, and working out the possible impact the defined risks would pose.

What follows in the process of project risk management is the requirement to quantify the risks and the associated impact. Tools like probability, sampling and other statistical methodologies can be deployed to get precise results. Risks with these techniques can be classified in various categories, for example: impact, those requiring immediate attention, unavoidable, etc. The course to follow would vary with the categorisation.

Once the risks have been identified and quantified, it is now about working out the response. Project risk management aims at deriving reasonable solutions, which could be reworking the subtasks confronted with risk and thus avoiding the risk or perhaps eliminating the risk cause. Accepting and thus providing scope for the risk is also an option.

Controlling Risk

A proactive approach would be to control the risk element. This is enabled by closely understanding the requirements of the project. If the requirements are well understood, chances of incorrect objective statement and related threats can be suitably controlled. To ensure specific understanding it is essential to make room for the customer’s requirements as well. The requirements of the project ought to be quantifiable and realistically defined. Also they must be in line with the company’s overall purpose of existence. And then of course, the most important aspect is to be ready with an alternate course in case of severe threats.

Conclusion

Risk management and therefore project risk management is a continuous process, which begins with the project and continues throughout. It takes a careful examination of understanding whether there has been enough precaution or if more needs to be done to prevent harm occurring. All companies should have a project risk management program in place to prepare them for all eventualities.

Good quality concrete starts with the quality of materials, cost effective designs is actually a by-product of selecting the best quality material and good construction practices.Technical knowledge is an advantage for concrete producer, even if the concrete mix design is good but uncommon or wrong procedures are practiced it will result to failures.

Normal concrete is the combination of cement, aggregates (coarse and fine), water, admixture. In which, cement is the most importance factor that influence the characterities of concrete. Difference types of portland cement are manufactured to meet various normal physical and chemical requirement for specific purposes. Portland cement are manufactured to meet the specification of ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials) C150, ASTM 1157, AASHTO (American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials) M85

Here after are important things to Remember On the Properties and Use of Cement

1. About 30 kilograms of water are required to fully hydrate 100 kilograms of cement.

2. Hydration starts as soon as water is introduced to cement.

3. Rule of thumb: the higher water/cement ratio the lower the strength so keep water cement ratio as low as possible.

4. It is a good practice to order cement in advance to cool down its temperature, remember that 5 degrees
increase in cement temperature increases concrete temperature by 0.5 degrees.

5. Normal temperature range of cement before batching should be 66 Celsius degrees to 85 Celsius degrees.

6. Specific gravity range is between 3.10 to 3.25 of portland cements and blended cement is 2.90 to 3.15.

About the author: Do Nguyen Hung (hungsika) is a Senior Civil engineer and Expert Author on Civil Engineering and Construction Management. He is the founder of Civil Engineer Link and Dream Home

Painting is the most common way to protect steel structures. Before carrying out painting work, surface preparation must be properly taken. Here after is surface preparation procedure for steel structure painting.

Steel surface treatment:

1. Welded areas shall be checked to verify any defects that may affect the protection quality of coating paint.
2. Sharp edges shall be grinded to be round, smooth. Other imperfect weld or slag shall be treated by grinding machine or sand paper.
3. Noncontinuous welding line shall be filled again by welding.

Surface preparation

1. Thoroughly remove oil and grease out of the surface using solvent or other proper methods.
2. Thoroughly remove all “evidence” of salt and contaminants.
3. Sand blast to achieve standard SA 2.5 (surface is free from oil, grease and other contaminants)
4. Remove all the remaining during blasting by brush, pressed air or vacuum cleaner. Avoid re-contamination caused by clothes or hand touching.
5. Sand blasting shall be taken from one area to another, so that cleaned areas must be rust preventive and painted immediately before getting rust again. Surface ready for painting must be completely clean. No oxidized or contaminated is visible.
6. Surface temperature is at least 3 degrees above the dew point to avoid water condensing. (Dew point is depended on surface temperature and humidity)
7. Areas that cannot reach with blasting nozzle or less important can be mechanically treated with grinding machine

Inspection and evaluation for steel surface preparation

1. Oil and grease check
Oil and grease check shall be carried out a 2-3 locations per square meter and in 40-50% out of prepared area, as following:
Drip some drops of gasoline onto checked area. Wait for 10-15 seconds then adsorb the remaining gasoline with a piece of filter paper. Drip some other drops of gasoline onto another piece of filter paper. Wait and check the two dry stains on paper by naked eyes. If two colors look the same the surface is accepted as free from oil and grease.
2. Dust check
Dust check shall be carried out on whole prepared surface. Use a magnifier with 6 times magnification to survey. No visible dust is okay.
3. Cleanness check
Dust check shall be naked eyes or a magnifier according to cleanness levels. It also can be checked by comparing to standard images in ISO 801-1:1998
Another method of checking: Before surface preparation, take a sample that meets the cleanness of requirements. Cover the sample with transparent coating. Use the sample as standard for control.

Fast check: Cleanness check can be quickly conducted by wiping the surface with a white dry clean cotton. If the cotton becomes dirty, the surface is not clean. If the cotton becomes wet, the surface is either still wet or not free from oil.

About the author: Do Nguyen Hung (hungsika) is a Senior Civil engineer. He is expert author on Civil Engineering and Construction Project Management.

After designing and proportioning, a trial must be made to see how the shotcrete works together with the machine. This is only obtained by using the spraying application equipment on site, not laboratory tools.

1. CONCRETE MIXES FOR SPRAYING

Concrete can be made from a batching plant for wet process. The fresh concrete is transported by mixer trucks and is delivered to spraying machine during shotcreting. Dry mix for dry process can be made using site mixer and delivered to spraying machine using a conveying belt. In some case it is allowed to feed the shotcrete machine manually using shovels.

2. SHOTCRETE EQUIPMENT AND APPLICATION

Shotcrete machines including pump, dosing unit, air compressor must works in same conditions and procedure as it will work on site.
Application process is made by applicator teams that will carry out the job at site in actual work.

3. SAMPLES FOR COMPRESSIVE STRENGTH TESTS

For pre-construction studies, test panels simulating actual job conditions provide a sufficiently reliable indication of the quality to be expected in the structure. A panel is fabricated by gunning onto a back form of heavy plywood or steel plate.

A separate panel should be fabricated for each mixture proportion being considered, and also for each shooting position to be encountered in the structure, down, horizontal, and overhead. The mixture proportions should be overdesigned to produce sample strengths higher than the design strength.

The panel should be large enough to indicate what quality and uniformity may be expected in the structure; generally it should be not less than 30 inches (750 mm) square. The thickness should be the same as in the structure except that it should normally be not less than 3 inches (75 mm).

Cubes or cores should be obtained from the panels for testing. Cores should have a minimum diameter of 3 inches (75mm) and an length/diameter (L/D) of at least 1. The specimens should be tested in compression at the required ages. Core strengths should be corrected for L/D as described in ASTM C 42. Cube strengths may be reported as determined, or converted to cylinder strengths by multiplying by the factor 0.85.

About Author : Do Nguyen Hung (hungsika) is a Senior Civil Engineer. He is expert author on Civil Engineering and Construction Project Management

(c) Copyright reserved by Do Nguyen Hung worldwide.

ASTM International, originally known as the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), was formed over a century ago, when a forward-thinking group of engineers and scientists got together to address frequent rail breaks in the burgeoning railroad industry. Their work led to standardization on the steel used in rail construction, ultimately improving railroad safety for the public. As the century progressed and new industrial, governmental and environmental developments created new standardization requirements, ASTM answered the call with consensus standards that have made products and services safer, better and more cost-effective. The proud tradition and forward vision that started in 1898 is still the hallmark of ASTM International.

Today, ASTM continues to play a leadership role in addressing the standardization needs of the global marketplace. Known for its best in class practices for standards development and delivery, ASTM is at the forefront in the use of innovative technology to help its members do standards development work, while also increasing the accessibility of ASTM International standards to the world.

ASTM continues to be the standards forum of choice of a diverse range of industries that come together under the ASTM umbrella to solve standardization challenges. In recent years, stakeholders involved in issues ranging from safety in recreational aviation, to fiber optic cable installations in underground utilities, to homeland security, have come together under ASTM to set consensus standards for their industries.

Standards developed at ASTM are the work of over 30,000 ASTM members. These technical experts represent producers, users, consumers, government and academia from over 120 countries. Participation in ASTM International is open to all with a material interest, anywhere in the world.

ASTM International is one of the largest voluntary standards development organizations in the world-a trusted source for technical standards for materials, products, systems, and services. Known for their high technical quality and market relevancy, ASTM International standards have an important role in the information infrastructure that guides design, manufacturing and trade in the global economy.

Nowadays there are many PMP exam preparation courses online. They are almost the same as other  PMP preparation methods, just one thing difference – it is made from distance. Furthermore, there are a couple of benefits for PMP exam preparation online.

1. Saving from Cost-Efficient

Because  you stay at home, attend an online PMP exam preparation course is more cost efficient. Since you can cut cost from traveling or buying training materials. Most of the modules and reading materials provided in an online course are soft copies, so no need to spend for hard copies of textbooks. Thus, the trainings for the PMP certification exam online are just as intense and thorough as an actual PMP exam preparation course.

2. Convenience of taking online PMP Exam Preparation

This is an visible benefit. With the comfortable staying at home, turning on your computer, logging online, and accessing the materials and modules you need for your study, it has provided a flexible tools to obtain all the needed training for preparing a PMP exam. This create more opportunities to advance one’s career since it enables even those employed individuals to attend the training for their PMP certification exam without giving up their jobs.

3. Comprehensive of online PMP exam preparation

Because of  the advancements of this method, most online PMP exam preparation courses are quite extensive in scope. Actually, there are a few training programs that are specifically catered for a specific area in project management, in case you want to make a concentrated approach. It works basically as a person-to-person or lecture type of discussion, but with an added benefit of gaining access to online database.

4. Applications For Online PMP Exam Preparation Course

Support your online courses in preparation for your PMP certification exam are application software  that will help your training. These application are available in may types, so you can pick one that is most suitable for your PMP exam preparation schedule.

Hereafter some things need to take notes

Training Manuals is an important tool if you use software in preparation for your PMP exam. It includes a wide scope of project management topics including the nine basic knowledge areas concerned with project management, process inputs and outputs, tools and techniques, among others.

Performance Analysis help you to monitor your progress. It utilizes tools provided within the training manual that assesses how much of it you have learned. It also specifies problem areas in your study, so you can focus on which you need to improve on.

Sample Tests and Questions offers the same benefits as the one above since the main objective is to assess how much you already know and how much you still need to learn. This is also focused on a given area so you are aware what aspect of your project management knowledge needs to be improved.

With many PMP exam ination preparing courses online nowadays, all the knowledge you need is right after a mouse click.