final-report-of-the-advisory-committee-on-falsework-bragg-report - Flipbook - Page 40
detailed site working drawings, and accompanied by
the delivery to the site of the correct quantities of
materials in a sound condition.
Many of the particular procedural difficulties encountered in Britain are associated with the way the
construction industry is organised. We therefore
consider it useful at this stage to comment on this
matter. We must however accept that the situation
cannot easily be changed, and must make it clear that
the recommendations which we make elsewhere are
applicable to the system as we find it.
In the construction industry, as opposed for example
-to some types of manufacturing industry, each job is
different. Each project calls for different resources of
men, materials and equipment. Only the very largest
organisation could maintain all the facilities it needed
for such a wide range of jobs. There has thus developed a variety of individual units, each with its own
special contribution to make. This situation produces
major problems of both organisation and supervision
for the main contractor. These are discussed at length
in the Report of the National Economic Development
Office Working Party on Large Industrial Construction Sites.
structure is found to be inadequate, it is not always
clear whether the fault was in the design and thus the
responsibility of the designer, or in the construction
and thus the responsibility of the contractor. The
history of the industry is full of lawsuits and arbitrations, which the forms of contract used by the different
professional groups have done little to reduce.
Construction Industry Abroad
Having considered some particular technical faults
and inadequacies of procedure, it would be helpful to
review briefly the position in three other countries West Germany, the United States of America, and
Canada before making specific recommendations.
West Germany
Germany is a Federal State, with a central government, and 14 Lande, or states. Whilst the federal
government legislates in general terms, each state
adopts and works out these requirements in its own
way. Technical matters are now dealt with at federal
level, local variation being comparatively small,
The actual work of construction is carried out on a
site which may be anywhere in the country - or indeed
in the world. Not all employees are prepared to
move from area to area so contractors tend to recruit
local labour for a particular job. This lack of continuity of employment makes it difficult to prepare
proper training schemes and career patterns. The
situation is made worse by the fitful investment in
capital projects which is accelerated in boom times
and drastically cut in times of recession. It has also
been worsened by the use of "the lump", which
brings on to site free-lance operatives over whose
qualifications and practice the contractor has little
control. The net result is that the labour force on any
particular project is heterogeneous and the standards
of discipline, co-operation and workmanship which
are essential to safety become difficult to achieve.
Building Law
Compared with the UK, the official control of construction is more thorough. It is carried out by
codifying the requirements and by using sufficient
competent staff to do the necessary work - the variou
control organisations employ relatively more of the
highly qualified people available than in the UK.
The same process of development of specialist groups
with particular expertise has occurred among professionals such as architects and civil and structural
engineers. At the same time there is a continuing
radition that these professional men should be
retained directly by the client both to provide him
.ith designs of permanent works and to advise him
that they are being built to specification.
All construction work comes under the Ministry of
the Interior. One section deals with approvals and
supervision of privately generated work. Another
deals with road design and construction, partly on an
agency basis from the federal government. There are
local offices as necessary.
introduces a confusion of responsibility. If a
Federal government enacts general requirements:
there is a set of 'master building regulations'. These
are adopted into 'state building regulations' and cover
most aspects of construction, with brief references to
construction problems. In Bavaria the regulations
fill a large book, but the requirements for falsework
are brief and general: basically falsework is the
contractor's responsibility.
There are some technical data embodied in standards,
and a type approval system is involved for falsework
equipment.
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