ABSTRACT
The application of Standards, testing and quality is not a cost and profit matter except in the most indirect terms. Names such as ‘Quality Assurance’, ‘Quality Control’, ‘Quality Management’ abound in this particular subject and it is not surprising to find that the whole subject of quality tends to lose the reader’s interest quite quickly. Testing is generally used for ascertaining compliance and, in this respect, precast has an advantage over in situ concrete in that the product rather than a cube or cylinder is generally tested. There are ‘supporting documents’ which tend to be more relevant to construction rather than precast concrete manufacture but can still reflect on details in the units manufactured. The government sub-contracted the preparation of some of these documents to consulting organisations and it can take some time to trace these on the web. The philosophy of testing concrete was discussed by the author in 1985.
