Training Programme on

Good Engineering Practices

Presented By

Mr. Anjan Chattapadhyay

JMC Projects (I) Ltd.
Eastern India Operation

Date: July 30, 2011

Place: Odisha.
What is Good Engineering Practice?

•It is a systematic & methodical way of doing

any activity best suited for the requirement,
duly considering the –

• Organizational norms
• Cost effectiveness
• Proper documentation of the same.

•It is the pioneer for all innovations.

Objective of this training –

•It is only to make aware of the people that

one should adopt Good Engineering Practice,
which in turn pays us back on a positive
direction.

•Learn the good engineering practices -

theory & practices

•Learn how to implement the good

engineering practices in day-to-day activities.

• Understanding of the challenges involved

through relevant case studies
Where Good Engineering Practice can be adopted –

•It can be adopted at every step of our daily

life. In Construction Industry it can be adopted
for any work that is to be executed.

•It could be construction activity or purchase of

any material/item or recruitment of people or
deploying of plant etc.
Why Good Engineering Practice:

Good Engineering Practices (GEPs) consist of proven and

accepted engineering methods, procedures, and practices
that provide appropriate, cost-effective, and well-
documented solutions to meet user-requirements and
compliance with applicable regulations.

GEP underpins activities in the day-to-day operations and

forward planning of a construction business. The adoption
of this methodology leads to a balance of expenditure and
activity for a successful project.
Example of Good Engineering Practice –

•For Construction – Planning & scheduling, Survey,

safety, quality, accounting, evolution & reward.
•Procurement / Purchase – Market survey, vendor
development, ordering, coordinating, delivery & release
of payment.
• Deployment of proper people, proper materials &
proper housekeeping.
•Proper knowledge and Quality control at site by all
related people.
Examples of few Good Engineering
Practices are detailed below :-

•Planning & record Control

•Site Activities:

•Brickwork
•Plastering
•Formwork
•Reinforcement
•Concreting
•Safety & Housekeeping
Planning & Record Control
Planning & Record Control – Good Engineering Practices

 There should be a Three level construction

schedule for every projects:-
 Overall planning of the project
 Structure wise planning of the project
 Activity wise planning of each structure

 To avoid hassle in the midway of the projects, we

should have a clear conception of material &
resource planning at hand which can be our
reference in conjunction with the construction
schedule.
Planning & Record Control – Good Engineering Practices

 We should keep the records of labour, material and

any other resource utilized on day-to-day basis for
the purpose of easy reconciliation of labour,
material and resources, also for tracking the
wastage of the same and minimizing it.

 Preparing documents related with concrete

pouring, bar bending schedules, inspection reports,
joint measurement records of items which is not
clear from drawing – are some of the good
practices doing which in right time can easily
turned in to a habit and to avoid problems in
future, also can be helpful for preparation of the
bills for the project.
Brick Work
Brick work–Good Engineering Practices

 Bricks should be inspected on delivery. They should be

unloaded & stacked neatly.

 Bricks should be regular in shape, free from defects like

cavity, lumps or stains, should be well burnt and creating
metallic sound while 2 samples stuck against each other.

 Graded sand is recommended for use in mortar. Nothing but

clean water should be used. Cement should be of any
standard grade and brand and be quality tested at the site
before using it.

 Appropriate gauging of the components are essential for

maintaining the grade of the mortar mix. The mortar should
be used within a reasonable time after preparing it.
Brick work–Good Engineering Practices

 Bricks should be absorbed in water for 24

hours before starting brickwork. This is to
avoid suction of water from the mortar by
dry bricks while placing mortar on it,
thereby decreasing the mortar grade, thus
strength.

 The layout of the brick should be done

with utmost care with line thread to
maintain the straightness.

 Plumb checking should be done on regular

basis for maintaining the verticality.

 The diagonal checking of any square or

rectangular area closed by brickwork is
very important.

 Curing should be done after 24 hours of

completion of brickwork, up to at least 7
days.

 Maximum verticality of 1 m work should

be done in a day.
Brick work–Good Engineering Practices

 Different types of brick bonding are used at

practice to provide sufficient strength to the
brickwork, like:

 EnglishBond
 Flemish Bond

 Stretcher Bond
Brick work–Good Engineering Practices
 English Bond:
Brick work–Good Engineering Practices
 Flemlish Bond:
Brick work–Good Engineering Practices
 Stretcher Bond:
Plastering
Plastering – Good Engineering Practices

 Before plastering
concrete surface should
be hacked properly
(Minimum 50 numbers
of hacks per sq.ft.)

 It is advisable to apply
a base coat of cement
paste on concrete
surface, and cure it
properly before actual
plastering.

 A brick wall should be

made wet a day before
plastering.
Plastering – Good Engineering Practices

 Background surfaces should

ideally be at least as rough as
coarse sandpaper or rough-sawn
timber.

 Ensure that no form-release oil

is left on the surface to be
plastered. Clean down by water
jetting.

 Surface roughness can be

achieved in one of the
following ways:
Using formwork with a rough
surface,

 Stripping formwork early and

wire brushing concrete
 Hacking
 Abrasive blasting (e.g. sand
blasting)
Plastering – Good Engineering Practices

Spatter dashing

 Applying a spatter dash layer which is a

mixture of one part of cement to one and
a half parts of coarse sand with enough
water for sluggishly pourable
consistence.

 The mixture is thrown forcibly on to the

wall, using a scoop or a brush with long,
stiff bristles. (The impact drives out the
water film at the interface between
spatter dash and substrate and hence
improves adhesion.)

 The Spatterdash should cover the

substrate surface completely and form a
rough texture with nodules about 5 mm
high.

 Spatterdash must not be allowed to dry

out for at least three days.
Plastering – Good Engineering Practices

Absorption of water is the criterion to select the treatment

required for any surface to be plastered:
 Assess absorptiveness by throwing about a cupful of water
against the surface. The surface will fall into one of the three
categories:
 No water is absorbed.
 Some water is absorbed but most runs off.
 Most of the water is absorbed.

 First type of surfaces, include hard-burnt clay face

bricks,glazed bricks and very dense high-strength concrete,
should be prepared by applying a spatter dash
 Second type of surfaces should not require any treatment to
control suction.
 Third type of surfaces should be wetted thoroughly and then
allowed to become surface dry before the plaster is applied.
Form Work
Formwork – Good Engineering Practices

 Properly leveled and well supported

centering will minimize the cost of
finishing. Level should be checked by
level machine or water-levels and can
be cross-checked by line threads and
measuring tape.

 The shuttering boards should be coated

with shuttering oil properly and to be
dried before placing.

 Formwork should be watertight so that

there is no loss of cement paste
through it.
 Foam with grease can be used in case
of lifts of columns or between two
shuttering boards to avoid leakage.
Formwork – Good Engineering Practices

 The staging / scaffolding should be

strong enough to sustain the impact
of concrete load. It is a good
practice to have designed
scaffolding / shuttering for better
quality of concrete and safety.

 Film faced 12 mm / 9 mm plywood

can be used which gives a smooth
surface to the concrete. If the
quality of surface of the ply is not
good, polythene sheets can be used
over the ply to get good finish at the
bottom / sides of the RCC members.

 Old plywood should not be used

repetitively to avoid bad surface and
quality.

 Through tie rods with welding or

bolting can prevent the bulging of
the shuttering.
Reinforcement
Reinforcement – Good Engineering Practices

 At the site steel yard, reinforcement

bundles should be kept in diameter
wise lots, and to be separated from the
ground by means of preferably wooden
sleepers. A tag should be kept
mentioning the grade and diameter of
the steel bars.

 Before fabrication, the Bar Bending

Schedule must be ready and checked.

 There should be a dedicated person

for supervising and ensuring that the
fabrication of reinforcement steel bars
is getting done as per the BBS.

 The fabrication should not be done

much before the fixing date, to avoid
rusting, missing or mishandlings.
Reinforcement – Good Engineering Practices

 The reinforcement steel bars should

be free from any loose concrete,
oils or grease, rust etc.

 The fixing work should be as per

the “Good For construction” or
approved reinforcement drawing
and the steel bars should be
separated from shuttering boards
by cover blocks.

 Proper standard gauge binding

wires to be used for binding of the
reinforcement.

 Chairs and spacer bars are to be

provided where required to
maintain the spacing in between
any two rebar or rebar nets.
Reinforcement – Good Engineering Practices

 In case of the columns having vertical steel bars projected

above the concrete level, the spacing is to be maintained by
means of wooden battens tied to them.

 Steel bars preferably should not be re-bent at the same place

after it is bent once there to avoid breakage and loss of
strength of the bar.

 Proper development length and while lapping bars, proper

lap length as per IS 456 should be given to provide the
required strength to the structure.
Ld = Φσ / 4Гbd
Φ= Dia. of the bar,
σ= 0.87 fy,
Гbd= Design bond strength of the concrete
Concreting
Concreting – Good Engineering Practices
Mixing

 Avoid Manual concrete mixing and as far as

it is practicable concrete should be
procured from RMC plants. Proper design
mix is to be used for this.

 The quality of water should be observed

and it should be as per IS.

 Use Admixtures only if required.

Admixture dosage should be optimum / as
per design. Do not add more/less quantity.

 Admixture should be first added in water

and then can be mixed with other
ingredients.

 Use good quality Water proofing chemical

which should be chloride free.
Concreting – Good Engineering Practices
Pouring
 The old concrete surface should be clean from any
impurity and should be wet to prevent loss of
water from the concrete. Cement slurry can be
poured at the joint of old and fresh concrete.
 Concrete should not be poured from more than 1
m height to avoid segregation.
 While pouring by a concrete pump / boom placer,
a net should be present to avoid mixing of large
size stones or any other impurity with the concrete
 If pouring is done manually, care is to be taken to
avoid mixing of grass, earth with the concrete
while loading from a heap on ground to the heads.
A platform made of GI sheet or concrete should be
used for unloading of concrete near the site /
pouring point.
 The lead of head load should be as minimum as
possible to avoid wastage of labour.
 Concrete placing in a large quantity at one point
can cause harm to formwork. It should be
immediately spread after pouring.
Concreting – Good Engineering Practices
Compaction

 Compaction means removing air from

concrete. Electric or diesel operated
Needle-Vibrators of more than 3000 RPM
can be used for the purpose.
 Dia of the needle can be 25mm, 40mm,
60mm depending upon the size of the
area of pouring and the density of
reinforcement.

 Surface vibrators can be used if required.

 It will reduce the voids and will make the
concrete stronger.
 Proper compaction will ensure Water
tightness.
 For manual Compaction of slab use
Wooden float and 16 mm dia steel bar.
Concreting – Good Engineering Practices
Using Cover Blocks

 Use Proper Cover Blocks and

adequate in numbers and size.
As per IS, cover should be
 40mm for columns
 25 mm for columns of minimum
dimension of 200 mm or
under
 50 mm for Footing
 30mm for moderate exposure
 20mm for mild exposure
(15mm if bars of 12mm dia are
used)

 However, the actual size of the

cover block should be as per the
clear cover or nominal cover as
mentioned in the drawing as given
by the client.
Concreting – Good Engineering Practices
Using Cover Blocks

•Binding wires should be

inserted while making cover
block at site to fix it with the
reinforcement in vertical form
faces to avoid removal at the
time of concreting

•The cover block should be rich

in cement
(cement : sand = 1:1 to 1:3) to
have good strength.

•Curing of the cover blocks for

at least 7 days is essential after
making and before use.
Concreting – Good Engineering Practices
Problems if proper cover
blocks not used

Reinforcement may get

exposed and may be
subjected to chemical
attack or corrosion at a
later stage and the
durability of the structure
can get hampered, and the
structure may have a
damage before the actual
life span of the same.
Concreting – Good Engineering Practices

General good practices

 Construction joints (shear key) should be

provided in case of column lifts, footing-column
or rafts-wall joints.

 While transporting the concrete by transit

mixers, the drum should be wrapped with
Hessian cloth to avoid moisture loss in case of
too much dry or hot weather.
Concreting – Good Engineering Practices

 Curing is a very important practice which should be continued up to at

least 7 days after the concreting works.

 Membrane curing, Ponding over slabs, footings, water sprinkling, Hessian

cloths etc can be used for gaining the concrete the design strength. Curing
water reacts with the oxides present in cement and thereby increasing the
strength of cement. Small 1 HP pumps can be used for curing of RCC
structures. If not available, the work can be done manually.
Safety & Housekeeping
Safety – Good Engineering Practices

 It is to be apprehended that safety is not a duty

of just the Safety Officers / stewards, this is the
responsibility of everybody working in the
project.

 Wearing of Personal Protection Equipments

(PPE) like helmet, full body harness, safety
shoes, gloves, goggles, welding shields etc. as
and when required, is most important at a
construction site and must be practiced to
maintain safety in the project site.
Safety – Good Engineering Practices

 Good housekeeping is a very important practice as it

helps people to avoid accidents in a large extent. All the
materials used at the site should be periodically stacked as
per type and size to have a clean workplace.

 Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) with proper care

to be taken should be displaced at a common notice board
for being seen by everybody.

 Pep talk at the beginning of the day’s work and periodical

tool box talks should be arranged by the site safety team
to make the workers aware of the hazards that can come
on their way in a project site.
Safety – Good Engineering Practices

 Proper barricading should be provided at places

where deep excavation is done or any harmful
material is stored. A sign post should be put by
informing the same.

 Clear access road for the vehicles should be

there at the site.

 The walk way for the workers or employees are

to be demarcated to avoid stumbling or
accidents.

 Any fire related activity like smoking or cooking

at the work place should be strictly prohibited.
Safety – Good Engineering Practices

 Enough numbers of fire extinguishers should

be available at site as per size of the project.

 Sand / Earth can act as a fire fighting material.

 There should be adequate number of safety

staffs and ambulance/vehicle present at the
site.

 The project site should have one or more

demarcated assembly area and it should be
well informed to the workers along with the
access ways.
Safety – Good Engineering Practices

 While working at height, use of full body

harness with double ropes and hooks is a must.
There should be enough wide walkways for
access to the particular place of work.

 Lifeline should be used where fastening of the

safety belt is not possible.

 For reinforcement workers (fitters), use of

cotton gloves is essential to protect their hand.

 Welders / Fabricators should be well protected

with leather gloves, safety goggles, welding
shield and apron.
Safety – Good Engineering Practices

 Any kind of discrepancy in the system of safety

should be brought in to the notice of safety in
charge / site in charge at the earliest possibility.

 No compromise should be done with safety at

any cost. It should be the practice for everyone
working at site, irrespective of the designations
or levels.
Procurement
Procurement – Good Engineering Practices

 Identification of vendors & create a vendor pool.

 Material sample should be collected from the
vendors before procurement and it should be
tested in laboratory to get it approved.
 Proper documentation of the testing is to be
done and to be kept for future reference.
 Market survey about the availability and price of
the material should be done. Competitive
quotations to be taken from the market and
subsequent order is to be placed.
Human Resources
Human Resources – Good Engineering Practices

 Talent hunt is an important & continuous process.

 The requirement of the human resource needs to be
understood and should be fulfilled in accordance with the
company norms.
 Our focus should be on developing new staffs / workers /
vendors / contractors and retaining the old ones.
 A database is to be prepared about the their details of
work, past history for reference.
 Identifying the effective and highly productive people and
distinguishing them from others should be a practice in
every site. Good performers should be encouraged.
Queries?
Thank you for your time