In the building and construction industry, reputation and trust are the cornerstones for continued growth. In order to build customer confidence, the industry must stand behind the quality of its work. Quality Assurance Programs exist for that purpose.
“Quality Assurance” is a term that often is not fully understood. Indeed the concept of quality assurance often gets confused with quality control and quality inspection.
The American Society for Quality™(ASQ) is regarded as one of the world’s leading authorities on quality the ASQ defines assurance and quality as follows:
Assurance: The act of giving confidence, the state of being certain or the act of making certain.
Quality Assurance: The planned and systematic activities implemented in a quality system so that quality requirements for a product or service will be fulfilled.
Control: An evaluation to indicate needed corrective responses; the act of guiding a process in which variability is attributable to a constant system of chance causes.
Quality Control: The observation techniques and activities used to fulfill requirements for quality.
Hence, Quality assurance is the prevention of quality problems through planned and systematic activities or simply put, it ensures that quality is “built in” at the front end rather than at the back end of a project.
Quality Assurance:
- provides a documented process by which quality commitments are
met - establishes a benchmark
- is systematic and reproducible
- provides a mean of continuous improvement
Specifically, an on-site Quality Assurance Program (QAP) can be a variety of initiatives that work together to ensure a specific product is installed correctly, or ensure a specific service is being provided to the building owner to the highest industry standards.
Building Professionals QAP programs are based upon the principles of ISO9002 and incorporate a wide variety of initiatives, that an industry can do to ensure the correct installation of a product or system.