I often get up on my soapbox and rant about the importance of drawing/document management in construction, and it often falls on deaf ears with my clients. They just don't realize the importance that those documents carry on their project.
A very tragic story out of Florida brings the gravity of the importance of construction information to the forefront. Here' s the headline from the story:
"A second inspector testified Tuesday he didn’t see complete plans for the Berkman Plaza 2 parking garage in Jacksonville until after it collapsed in December 2007."
"The inspector was paid to examine temporary supports used during construction. He also said building crews changed materials used in some supports, but he didn’t get new plans taking that change into account."
It seems that the major problem here is that the Inspector, whose job it is to ensure that a structure is safe for inhabitants, did not have updated construction information regarding changes in support materials which he may have deemed unsafe or insufficient. Because he was unaware that new plans existed, he was not able to inspect the work that may have led to the structure's collapse.
Here's another troubling quote:
"Dickey said he thought the inspectors were doing their jobs and catching problems. But some details weren’t being caught. For example Mullins said the plans he used were shrunken versions, not the big blueprints commonly used by engineers."
"OSHA lawyer Dane Steffenson had him study a full-sized set of plans, which showed an engineer had specified exact heights to which screw jacks that raise and lower the shoring should have been set. Mullins hadn’t seen that before on the half-sized version and didn’t know to check for that."
The lack of communication, accuracy and quality led to the death of one man and to 20 others being injured, not to mention the financial impact of lawsuits, reconstruction and disability that the City of Jacksonville will now incur because of poor construction information management.
For those developers and GCs who read this blog (if there are any), please understand the impact that information and how it's handled has on your project.
Jared Willis
He didn't see plans until after it collapsed? Wow..time for some better communication indeed. That's just negligent.
Posted by: Bucket Trucks | October 26, 2010 at 08:12 AM