Quality Standards

5.1 The most recognised quality standards are the ISO 9000 family of standards,
the international standard for quality management and quality assurance.

The ISO 9000 standard was developed to move away from the original
prescriptiveness approach of its predecessors and to achieve a more flexible
framework, which allows organisations to develop their own policies and
procedures

5.2 As mention above by Frank Harris (2006), the ISO 9000 quality standards
had taken a new approach in giving responsibility to organisations to assess
their own methods of quality. The flexibility of the new standard also offered its
application in the service industries and IT sector, which have an influence on
the business of construction companies.

Building Act 1984

5.3 The Building Act 1984 is the enabling Act under which the Building
Regulations have been made. The secretary of state, given the power by The
Building Act 1984 is able to make regulations in relation to sections 1(1) and
1(1A). Sustainable and Secure Buildings Act 2004 and Climate Change and
Sustainable Energy Act 2006 are the recent Acts of Parliament that have
amended and extended the Building Regulations. The latter Act has also altered
enforcement powers of the Local Building Control Authorities.

The Building Regulations

5.4 The Building Regulations consist of Procedural Regulations; that point out
what kind of work needs approval and how to obtain that approval, and
Technical Requirements that impose standards that should be achieved by the
building work. They set out the broad objectives which the individual aspects of
the building construction should achieve. There are fourteen parts to the
Approved Documents, and are as follows;
Part A - Structure

Part B - Fire safety

Part C - Site preparation and resistance to Contaminates and moisture
Part D - Toxic substances
Part E - Resistance to the passage of sound
Part F - Ventilation
Part G - Hygiene
Part H - Drainage and waste disposal
Part J - Combustion appliances and fuel storage systems
Part K - Protection from falling, collision and impact
Part L - Conservation of fuel and power
Part M - Access to and use of buildings
Part N - Glazing safety in relation to impact, opening and cleaning
Part P - Electrical safety
In developing products and services, quality assurance is any systematic process of
checking to see whether a product or service being developed is meeting specified
requirements. Many companies have a separate department devoted to quality
assurance. A quality assurance system is said to increase customer confidence and
a company's credibility, to improve work processes and efficiency, and to enable a
company to better compete with others. Quality assurance was initially introduced in
World War II when munitions were inspected and tested for defects after they were
made. Today's quality assurance systems emphasize catching defects before they
get into the final product.

ISO 9000 is an international standard that many companies use to ensure that their
quality assurance system is in place and effective. Conformance to ISO 9000 is said
to guarantee that a company delivers quality products and services. To follow ISO
9000, a company's management team decides quality assurance policies and
objectives. Next, the company or an external consultant formally writes down the
company's policies and requirements and how the staff can implement the quality

assurance system. Once this guideline is in place and the quality assurance
procedures are implemented, an outside assessor examines the company's quality
assurance system to make sure it complies with ISO 9000. A detailed report
describes the parts of the standard the company missed, and the company agrees to
correct any problems within a specific time. Once the problems are corrected, the
company is certified as in conformance with the standard.