Quality and Safety Management: Duties and Powers of the CDM Coordinator and Proposed Changes - Coursework Example

Quality and Safety Management Part A: Duties and powers of the CDM Coordinator and proposed changes Working in the construction industry has always been risky, owing to potential areas of accidents, safety and health issues involved. More than in any other field, there are very high risks of the workers being injured during the course of their duty, since they interact with machineries directly. Additionally, there are many safety issues involved in the construction industry, which are not completely predictable (Summerhayes, 2008 p95). Thus, the construction industry is an industry where health and safety measures are essential, to protect the welfare of the workers. Nevertheless, it is apparent that the health and safety of all workers in this industry, or in their respective construction sites cannot be taken as a responsibility of any single individual. Therefore, all the people involved in construction work have the responsibility of taking precautionary measures, which will enhance heir health and safety (Hope, 2013 p2). The CDM coordinator has several duties and responsibilities, among them that of ensuring that the safety measures of the construction site are adhered to, to ensure that the place of work is safe for all workers. The other duties and powers that the Construction Design and Management Coordinator have include advisory, informative, coordination and liaison. Thus, this discussion seeks to elaborate the duties and the powers of the CDM coordinator, with a view to realizing the necessary changes to these duties and powers, which can be made to improve their effectiveness (Griffiths & Alun, 2011 p41). First, the CDM coordinator is charged with the responsibility of offering advice to the clients; regarding the construction project in question (Construction Confederation, 2007 p15). A CDM coordinator is only involved in notifiable projects, which refers to those projects which take longer than 30 days to complete, or those that take more than 500 person days (Hope, 2013 p7). It is the responsibility of the client to appoint the CDM coordinator, who in turn offers the necessary advice regarding the project to be undertaken, with regards to health and safety issues in the project construction site. The CDM coordinator offers the client advice on the necessary and sufficient health and safety risk management issues, which ensures that the project being undertaken and the design at hand complies to the provisions of the design and the designers, as provided under CDM 2007 (Hope, 2013 p10). The CDM coordinator is vested with responsibility of ensuring that all those involved in a construction site are safe, whether the workers or the contractors, while also ensuring that the end user of the structure constructed are safe (Griffiths & Alun, 2011 p46). In line with these responsibilities, the CDM coordinator has to ensure that all the safety and health measures and standards are adhered to during the construction process, as they are provided for in the CDM regulations under CDM 2007. It is in line with this responsibility that the CDM coordinator is required to notify the Health & Safety Executive regarding the project, as soon as it is practically possible to do so (Hope, 2013 p25). The other duty of the CDM coordinator is that of advising the client. Therefore, the CDM coordinator is vested with the powers to advise the client on all issues surrounding the construction project, including the prevailing safety and health issues, as well as assisting the client in the appointment of a competent principal contractor, to undertake the project (Summerhayes, 2008 p123). Therefore, the responsibility of ensuring that a project is placed in the hands of a capable and qualified contractor is not solely that of the client, but requires the input of the CDM coordinator. Additionally, the CDM coordinator is required to advise the client on the appointment of adequately resourced organizations, which are capable of providing the necessary material for the execution of the project, without posing any risk of interrupted material supply or unfulfilled contracts (Hope, 2013 p17). With this powers, the CDM coordinator ensures that he/she works only with a principal contractor or construction organizations that are qualified, competent and convenient to finish the construction project as desired by the client, pertaining to the quality and safety standards of the constructed structure. This means that any failure or any mistake that might occur in the course of the construction, or any problem that might arise in the completed structure, places the CDM coordinator under liability (Speaight, 2002 p164). Further, the CDM coordinator is vested with the powers of assisting the client to make the necessary management arrangements for the project, since the CDM coordinator is involved directly in the inception and execution of the project to the end (Summerhayes, 2008 p97). It is therefore necessary for the CDM coordinator to be involved in making the management arrangements for the projects, since he/she will interacting with the management until the project is completed, while only dealing with the client whenever necessary. It therefore follows that the CDM coordinator has to ensure that the management selected for the project is competent and capable of executing its mandates, until the project is successfully completed. In so doing, the CDM coordinator assists the client to make the necessary arrangements for design audits as well as construction site audits and inspections (Hope, 2013 p33). The CDM coordinator is also vested with the responsibility of collecting the pre-construction and site inspection information, which is then passed on to the designers, the principal contractor, and the project management team, for necessary preparations and actions, before the project commences (Summerhayes, 2008 p99). Thus, it is the responsibility of the CDM coordinator to undertake initial site audits, to determine whether the site and the location is suitable for the proposed project, while also determining all the necessary arrangements and pre-construction activities that will be required to prepare the site and make it ready for the commencement of the proposed project. After carrying out a pre-construction audit, the CDM coordinator is also required to advise the client on the suitability of the time allocation for the project, depending on all the activities that he/she deems necessary and the time intervals recommended in the construction phases (Hope, 2013 p44). This helps the client to adjust the scheduled project duration, to suit the requirements of the construction project, as proposed by the CDM coordinator. It is also the responsibility of the CDM coordinator to ensure that the whole construction process complies with the legal requirements for construction projects, while also ensuring that the designers and principal contractor co-operate and co-ordinate with each other throughout the project life (Hope, 2013 p53). Based on the duties and powers of the CDM coordinator, there are some recommended changes which are necessary to enhance the effectiveness of their operations. First, it is recommended that the duty for collecting pre-construction information be shared with the principal contractor. While it is necessary for the CDM coordinators to be involved in the collection of the pre-construction information due to their prime role in the inception, executing and finalizing the project, it is not suitable to solely allocate this duty to them. This is because, the CDM coordinator can take the site audit to determine the appropriateness of the site for the project, but it would be vital for the principal contractor to be involved, so that the decision made, regarding the commencement of the projecte, can be arrived at through the consultation of the two parties. This would ensure higher credibility and precision of the information offered, since shared and combined efforts can enhance the thoroughness of the pre-construction evaluation (Hope, 2013 p51). The second recommendation is that since the CDM coordinator is involved in almost all aspects of the projection inception, execution and completion, he/she should be relieved of some duties, to ensure that he/she can effectively address the few areas of specialization, instead of presenting him as the overall supervisor and advisor of the project, who might be overwhelmed by the responsibilities. In the light of this, the CDM coordinator should be relieved off the management assistance and advisory duties, to allow him concentrate on the issues in the field. Part B: ISO 9001: 2008 can be a driver for the UK construction industry to ensure maximum client satisfaction Customer focus is the key success factor for any business or investment project, since products or services are developed with the sole aim of providing customer with satisfaction (International Standard, 2008 p4). Therefore, while it emerges that the customers are not satisfied with the product or service offering of a certain business, investment field or industry, the chances of success for such business or an industry are narrow. Customer satisfaction is not an option for any business seeking to succeed, but the main objective. Thus, while it occurs that the UK construction industry has failed to satisfy its customers through failing to meet their needs, a measure to correct this has to be established, rest the industry becomes redundant and less meaningful to the customers. With the introduction of the ISO 9001: 2008, there is an assumption that the reputation of the UK construction industry can be revived, since the total quality management of ISO 9001: 2008 emphasizes on customer focus as one of the key elements towards enhancing customer satisfaction. Therefore, this discussion seeks to confirm the possibility of ISO 9001: 2008 reviving the performance of the UK construction industry and improving its ability to meet the needs of the customers’, and thus enhancing customer satisfaction. In support of the assumption that ISO 9001: 2008 can act as a driver for the UK construction industry to ensure maximum client satisfaction, the provisions of ISO 9001: 2008 under process approach, customer focus, quality management requirements and management commitment requirements are put into focus. The ISO 9001: 2008 can be a driver for the UK construction industry to ensure maximum client satisfaction. This is because, it provides for a different approach to meeting the needs of the customers, which is the process approach (International Standard, 2008 p12). Under process approach to quality management system, an investment is required to develop linked activities, while implementing and improving the effectiveness of management, to ensure that the customers are fully satisfied (International Standard, 2008 p15). Under the process approach, the activities of the business or industry are fully linked with customer needs, where the customer remains the focus point of the business, thus every aspect of the business is tailored to ensuring that the needs of the customer are given priority. Therefore, according to the provisions of ISO 9001: 2008, the set of activities that are involved in converting the inputs into a finished product should be customer driven, where the interests and preferences of the customer are put into consideration, to generate a product that matches their requirements (International Standard, 2008 p7). The whole process should entail interactions with the customer, so that the customer can recommend the necessary changes during the production process, to ensure that the finished product completely meets the needs of the customer, as opposed to producing a product based on the perceived needs of the customer by the business, only to find that the finished product is not up to the standards desired by the customer (Joyce, 2001 p183). The main components of the process approach, as provided for by the ISO 9001: 2008 include understanding and meeting the requirements of the customer (International Standard, 2008 p13). This component emphasizes on the importance of the customer needs, as the focus point during the productio0n of goods and services. While the business commits itself to meet the needs of the customers, there are no chances of the business failing, since it will provide to the customer what they actually need, and thus the market for such products will always be ready. The second component of the process approach according to the provisions of ISO 9001: 2008 is added value (International Standard, 2008 p18). This component requires that the process of providing goods and services to the customer should entail the addition of value, to make the product more valuable and superior to the customer (Cooke & Williams, 2013 p185). However, value addition can only be attained through taking the product and adding the features that are preferred by the customer, so that the product can achieve the desired functionality. This calls for a continuous interaction between the business and the customers, to ensure that the products provided are enriched with functional features that are desired by the customers, and thus giving such products high value in customers’ assessment. ISO 9001: 2008 also emphasizes on results and performance effectiveness, as a major component for the process approach to management systems (International Standard, 2008 p20). This implies that the objective of any business in providing a product or service is to enhance the performance effectives of such a product, and thus achieve the desired product performance results. Finally, ISO 9001: 2008 provides the continual improvement of processes based on objective measurement, as a main component of the process approach to management. This implies that the provider of products and services should always strive towards ensuring that the needs of the customers are constantly reviewed and the products matched with the changing customer needs (International Standard, 2008 p19). This serves to ensure that he changes in customer needs are met with an equal improvement in products and product features, thus ensuring that the customer is always satisfied. Under the quality management systems requirements of the ISO 9001: 2008, it is required that any organization should demonstrate the ability to consistently meet the needs of the customers, while also meeting the statutory and regulatory requirements (International Standard, 2008 p24). This requirement serves to enhance the commitment of organizations to providing products that are matched with the needs of the customers, and thus fulfill the requirement of the set standards for products, as per the regulations in place. This is a major step towards enhancing customer needs satisfaction, since the customers will always have high quality goods that meet the required standards, which will translate to customer satisfaction. Therefore, this requirement can acts as a driver for the UK construction industry, to ensure maximum client satisfaction. Another requirement as set by ISO 9001: 2008 is business conformity to customers’ requirement (International Standard, 2008 p18). This requirements means that businesses focus on conforming to the needs of the customers, as opposed to producing products and services that are convenient and profitable to the business. While a business stops focusing on its profitability, but rather focuses on conforming with the requirements of the customers, a twin advantage is obtainable, since the business will meet customer needs and thus satisfy them, while it benefits from the creation of loyal customer base (International Standard, 2008 p14). ISO 9001: 2008 also provides for availing the necessary information to the customer for evaluation and consequent decision making (International Standard, 2008 p20). This provision is vital for the attainment of customer satisfaction, since customers always want to interrogate a product, with respect to its production process, features, pricing and functionality. Therefore, the provision of such information is essential for the customers to satisfy their information needs, and thus make an informed decision regarding the product or service they will purchase (Mincks & Johnston, 2011 p188). This requirement can help drive the UK construction industry and thus ensure maximum customer satisfaction, since the information needs of the customers will be taken care of, enabling them to make fully informed decisions, regarding the nature of the construction projects that is suitable for them. Under the management requirements provisions of the ISO 9001: 2008, it is required that an organization makes a quality policy for its products, establishes quality objectives and avails the required resources to fulfill the quality requirements (International Standard, 2008 p16). This serves to ensure that any production process of an organization is driven by the quality policy and the quality objectives, and thus meets the quality standards that are desirable by the customers and the regulatory requirements. This requirement can serve to ensure that the UK construction industry always provide quality products and service to its customers, and thus meet their needs and leaves them satisfied (Hughes & Ferrett, 2007 p56). In the light of the above, it is apparent that ISO 9001: 2008 can act as a driver for the UK construction industry, to ensure maximum client satisfaction. References Construction Confederation. (2007). Guidance for principal contractor: Construction Design and Management (CDM) regulations 2007. Birmingham: Construction Industry Publications Ltd. Cooke, B., & Williams, P. (2013). Construction Planning, Programming and Control. Chicester: Wiley. Griffiths, O. & Alun, G. (2011). Understanding the CDM 2007 Regulations. Taylor & Francis Group. Hope, M. (2013). Construction design and management regulations: CDM 2007. FCIWEM. Hughes, P. & Ferrett, E. (2007). Introduction to Health and Safety in Construction. Routeledge. International Standard. (2008). ISO 9001: 2008: Quality management systems-Requirements. Swiso India pvt ltd. Joyce, R. (2001). The construction (design and management) regulations, 1994: Explained. London: Thomas Telford Publications. Mincks, W. R., & Johnston, H. (2011). Construction jobsite management. Australia: Delmar Cengage Learning. Speaight, A. (2002).Architects Legal Handbook: The Law for Architects. Routeledge. Summerhayes, S. (2008). CDM regulations 2007 procedures manual. Oxford, UK. Read More