Quality Control and Quality Assurance - PaintSquare

1 When it comes to Quality , people sometimes Quality Control and Quality Assurance : Defining the Roles and Responsibilities of the Contractor's QC and the Owner's QA. By Alison B. Kaelin, Corporate Quality Assurance Manager, KTA-Tator, Inc., Pittsburgh, PA, USA. E very painting project begins with the expectation that the result will be a painted structure that will be protected for a minimum period of time. Owners rely on tools such as the spec- ifications, contractor certification, Quality Control , and Quality Assurance inspection to verify that the work is per- formed as specified. While many projects require Quality Control and/or Quality Assurance inspections, few specifi- cations, if any, differentiate between the two or provide guidance on the responsibilities of each. After discussing the difference between the functions of Quality Control and Quality Assurance , this article reviews the SSPC certification program requirements, other recognized industry standards, and transportation specifications that establish minimum standards of practice for Quality Control and Quality Assurance .

2 It concludes with recommendations for maximizing the benefits of both Quality Control and Quality Assurance . Evolution of QC and QA in the Coatings Industry When the coatings inspection industry began to evolve in the 1970s, there was little distinction between the roles of QC and QA. Most early coating inspection was performed as a response to the inspection parameters established in the nuclear power industry and ANSI/ASME , Qualification of Inspection, Examination and Testing Personnel for Construction Phase of Nuclear Power Plants, and ANSI , Quality Assurance for Protective Coatings Applied to Nuclear Facilities. These standards defined the qualifications of coatings inspectors and inspec- tion tasks that were required during installation or maintenance of nuclear power facilities. ANSI specifi- cally applied to third-party inspectors retained by the owner to perform hold point inspection of contractor activi- ties.

3 As coating inspection expanded beyond nuclear power into industries like transportation and water storage and supply, most owners continued to rely on third-party inspection to verify that contractor activities were per- 58 JPCL / April 2005 / PCE formed according to the specification. responsible for every aspect of the pro- Control of W ork: In the 1990s and 2000s, with the ject from the equipment and materials, A Critical Difference increased recognition of the International and experience and training of person- Only the contractor's QC person has the Organization for Standardization (ISO), nel, to the Quality of the final product. authority to direct the contractor's American Society of Quality (ASQ), and QC is a full-time requirement and has employees or production operations. other certifying organizations, more own- responsibilities for every aspect of the When a contractor is required to retain a ers, consultants, and contractors started surface preparation and painting third-party QC representative, that per- moving to the concept of a total Quality process.

4 QA can be full- or part-time, or son is not a direct employee of the con- system with a clear division between QC, performed at specific stages ( , follow- tractor and may not have the authority to conducted by the contractor, and QA, ing surface preparation) of the project to direct the contractor's workers or ensure conducted by the owner or a third-party verify the adequacy of the contractor's that they correct their work when need- owner's representatives. Owners began QC. When the owner does not perform ed. Similarly, limitations may be found to recognize that while third-party QA or provides limited QA inspection, when the owner requires the coating inspection was still necessary, it was not half of the total Quality management manufacturer's technical representative to intended to replace the contractor's QC. process is lost. perform QC functions: there is no con- Unfortunately, this awareness has not Both QC and QA are necessary to ver- tractual relationship; observations may always been been transferred to the ify specification compliance and Quality not be free of bias; conflicts between the specifications as particular QC require- work, but an owner (or third-party manufacturer and contractor may result.)

5 Ments. The result is that QA personnel inspector) performing QA on a project and neither QC nor QA is provided. still perform the primary role of inspect- does not relieve the contractor of the But when the owner's staff performs ing and accepting the work. When the responsibility of performing QC. QA (with direct staff), the owner has a roles of QC and QA personnel are not contractual relationship with the contrac- defined, a critical component of a total Quality system is lost, and conflict can TABLE 1 Division of QC and QA Hold Point Inspections arise between QA and contractor per- Hold Point Inspection Quality Quality sonnel. But when the QC and QA per- Control Assurance sonnel perform their respective tasks Ambient conditions (pre-preparation) TD TD. during coating system installation, the Pre-surface preparation conditions (welds, rust, edges, etc.

6 VO VO. end product improves. Pre-surface preparation conditions (grease, dust, etc.) and/or SP 1 V V. Surface preparation equipment operation and abrasive size/type VD/TP RD/VO/TP. QA vs. QC: Abrasive cleanliness TP RP/TP. What's the Difference, Anyway? Compressed air cleanliness TD RD/TP. Quality Control is performing the neces- Soluble salt contamination TO RO/TP. sary observations, testing, and documen- Soluble salt remediation VO VO. tation to verify that the work performed Ambient conditions (pre-mixing and application) TD TD. meets or exceeds the minimum stan- Mixing and materials (batch nos., pot life, thinner, etc.) VO RO/TP. dards established by the project specifi- Application equipment operation (pressures, agitation, type, etc.) VD/TP RD/VD/TP. cations or contract. QC is the contractor's Compressed air cleanliness (spray application) TD RD/TP.

7 Responsibility. Wet film thickness TO RO/TP. Quality Assurance is an audit process Stripe coat, caulking, intercoat cleanliness, etc. VO RO/VO. to verify that the Quality of work per- Dry film thickness TO TO. formed is what was inspected and Visual appearance (runs, drips, sags, etc.) VO VO. reported by the contractor's QC. QA is Repairs VO VO. conducted by the owner or by a third Legend party inspector on the owner's behalf. Frequency of Verification Type of Verification QA may include reviewing QC documen- D = Daily V = Visual tation, observation of QC testing or actu- O = Occurrence-based T = Testing al testing on a spot or periodic basis. P = Periodic R = Review of QC report or testing Basically, then, the contractor is fully JPCL / April 2005 / PCE 59. tor, and therefore can exert Control QA inspector accepts the work and the Qualifications of Contractors Who through the contract (or by withholding contractor proceeds to the next step of Apply Thermal Spray (Metallizing) for payment or stopping work) when opera- the painting process.

8 It is often helpful, if Corrosion Protection to Steel and tions or conditions are non-conforming. not necessary, to have the QC inspector Concrete Surfaces. QP 6 requires QP 1. Third-party QA subcontracted to the and the foreman present during the QA or QP 3 certification, also. owner does not have a contractual rela- observations so that any deficiencies can Each standard above identifies mini- tionship with the contractor; therefore, be identified and confirmed by all par- mum requirements for Quality Control the third-party QA inspector typically ties. This also allows the QC inspector personnel, programs, inspections, and can only document the non-conformance and the foreman to clearly identify areas documentation. The following provides a of the contractor's operations and advise requiring rework to the laborers and brief review by key topic.

9 While the spe- the contractor or the owner. If the con- reduces production delays. cific QC duties are not well defined in tractor fails to correct the non-confor- The QA observations may include a the SSPC-QP standards, the supporting mance, the owner must decide whether review of the contractor's QC tests or documentation required by the respec- to stop work, withhold payment, accept documentation and duplicate inspection tive standards sometimes provides addi- the non-conformance or take other or testing of certain hold points ( , dry tional insight on the requirements for the action. film thickness measurements) to verify contractor's QC. But whoever performs QA must be that the contractor's reported results Minimum QC Qualifications: Under QP. careful not to direct or unduly interrupt reflect the Quality of the work. 1 and QP 3, the QC supervisor is respon- contractor operations due to potential When results of QC and QA inspec- sible for oversight of the QC inspectors.

10 Contract issues regarding Control of the tion differ, the QA observations typically The QC supervisor is required to have work and costs related to work stop- supersede those of the QC. The resolu- three to five years of experience and for- pages. tion of differing QC and QA observa- mal training. The QC inspector is to have tions should be defined in the project a minimum of two years of experience Sequence of QC and QA specification or agreed upon by all stake- and formal training for QP 1; however, The specific duties of QC and the QA holders in the pre-job meeting. QP 3 allows the QC inspector to substi- personnel will vary from project to pro- tute in-house training for formal training. ject. The coating inspection process typi- SSPC's Approach to QC and QA QP 8 requires the QC manager and QC. cally dictates that after certain activities SSPC: The Society for Protective inspectors to have two years of experi- ( , surface preparation), work should be Coatings (SSPC) has established four ence, 8 hours of general QC training, and inspected, rework performed as neces- qualification procedures (QP) for con- 16 hours of concrete training.