Project Management in the Oil and Gas Industry

particular goal that is needed for a plan of action for quality in order to 
reach what was requested by the client. The quality plan should include 
the resources he will use, different types of personnel, and equipment to 
achieve quality. It should also identify the responsibilities, methods, proce-
dures, and work instructions in detail, illustrated with a program of testing 
and examination.
It is worth mentioning that the quality plan must be inflexible and can-
not be edited, making it stable with time until the end of the project.
Some contracts require that the buyer, client, or owner projects have 
special requirements that are needed to achieve the final product, which 
must be clarified in the quality plan, detailing what steps should be taken 
to achieve what the client requires. This plan should be presented to the 
client to trust in the ability of the plant to achieve the quality of the desired 
product. The plan should include the following:
• All controls, processes, inspection equipment, manpower 
sources, and skills that a company must have to achieve the 
required quality
• Q.C. inspection and testing techniques that have been 
updated
• Any new measurement technique required to inspect the 
product
• No conflict between inspection and operation
• Standards of acceptability for all features and requirements 
that have been clearly recorded
• Compatibility of the design, manufacturing process, instal-
lation, inspection procedures, and applicable documenta-
tion have been assured well before production begins.
7.4.3 Quality 
Control
The quality control definition in ISO is a group of operations, activities, or 
tests that should be done in a definite way to achieve the required quality 
for the final products.

---

220 
Project Management in the Oil and Gas Industry
In construction projects, the final product is the building or structures, 
which should function properly. Therefore, in this case, the first step in 
quality control for getting the final product is to define the level of super-
vision in all the project phases to be sure that every part of the project is 
performed properly according to the required specifications. Try to ensure 
that the design, execution and the use of the buildings and structures are 
compatible with the project specifications.
Note that the quality control is responsible from any level from the man-
ager to lower levels in the organization. In a practical case, the construction 
managers and the department head are responsible for quality control, but 
it should be clear that everyone is responsible for quality control, except 
the sponsor.
7.4.3.1 Why is Quality Control Important?
The improvement of quality provides many benefits. The use of quality 
control will lead to fewer mistakes by ensuring that work is being per-
formed correctly. By eliminating the need for corrective rework, there will 
be a reduced waste from the project resources. Lower costs, higher produc-
tivity, and increased worker morale will then lead to a better competitive 
position for the company.
For example, consider two crews. Assume that each of the crews has 
the same crew size, skill level, and work activity. However, the first crew 
takes the benefit of having another person perform quality control duties. 
Therefore, if any defective work is built, it can be corrected before work 
proceeds any further. Any defect in the work made by the second crew will 
probably be discovered after the work is completed. This defect in the work 
will be torn down and corrected or ignored and left in place. Then, the lat-
ter choice will cause problems as construction progresses and will provide 
the owner with a degree of dissatisfaction. Customer dissatisfaction can 
cause the company to be removed from consideration for future construc-
tion projects or could require a costly correction due to the amount of 
work affected by the correction.
Additionally, defects are not free. The person who makes the mistake has 
taken money and the person who corrects the defective work will obtain 
money, too. Additional material and equipment costs will also apply to this 
correction process.
One example showing the effect of defective work is seen in the partial 
collapse of a parking garage in New York City. The absence of reinforcing 
steel in three out of six of the cast-in-place column haunches, which sup-
ported the main precast girders, was the cause of this accident. The project 

---

The History of Graphene 221
plans and the rebar shop drawings showed that reinforcing steel was to be 
installed at these locations but was accidentally left out. As a result, extra 
work had to be performed at the contractor’s expense to correct the work 
and repair the damaged post.
Another major quality blunder occurred when constructing a shopping 
mall in Qatar. After pouring the concrete for the columns and the slab, 
they found around 40 percent of the columns had a strength lower than the 
allowable strength. So, due to the lack of concrete quality control on site 
and experience of the staff, this cost a lot of money to repair and delayed 
the whole project.
Quality is often “sacrificed” to save time and cut costs. However, quality 
does indeed save time and money. Nothing saves time and money more 
than doing the work the right way from the first time and eliminating the 
rework.