The Paint Inspector has a responsibility to organize his time in order to be available when requested by the Shipyard Quality Control or Contractor for the purpose of inspecting work that has been performed.
Many contractors have implemented elaborate QA/QC procedures and consider this to be adequate. But are the procedures being followed? Are the persons in charge of quality responsible and reliable? Do they have sufficient authority? Are they unbiased?
Experience tells us that the answers to the questions above are often “No.”
Although contracts are specific, the lack of documented quality control is sometimes terrifying.
Basically, a coatings inspector is part of a group that includes the customer, coatings manufacturer, and contractor.
All members of the group share the common purpose of preventing corrosion by means of adequate preparation and application of coatings materials to industrial and marine structures.
Implementation of basic coating quality control procedures, could exclude many potential problems that can appear during a painting project and could effect in both direct and indirect benefits.
•Direct benefits relate essentially to savings in effort, time, and paint material costs for rectification of non-compliant work.
•Indirect benefits relate principally to repeat business by reliably reassuring the customer, by external quality control procedures, that their requests are being accomplished.
Following may be used as the basis for improving quality control procedures or for communicating customer requirements for external inspection services.
The subjects to be dealt are:
1) Surface preparation,
2) Environmental conditions,
3) Paint coatings,
4) Paint application,
5) Daily inspection reports, and
6) Inspection Equipment & instruments.
The primary responsibility of a coatings inspector is to ensure that all work is carried out in accordance with the customer’s written specifications and the material manufacturer’s recommendations, and that it is accurately reported.
This primary responsibility, leads to successive responsibilities, which are established through watchful review of the objectives of the specification and the inspection procedures used.
Specifications and standards communicate a customer’s requirements, but different understanding of these requirements or non-compliance with them can lead in failure to succeed the customer’s expectations or, premature failure of the coating system.
To adequately achieve their obligations, inspectors must have documentation applicable to the specific job.
Whether this documentation may comprises of customer or organization’s specification describing,
ISO standards of quality of skill or sequences of informal statements, it should unmistakably communicate the requirements of the customer and the responsibilities of the coating contractor.
Following are topics and guidelines an inspector might consider regarding the specification for a coatings job.
The main responsibility of an inspector is to confirm that all work is carried out in line with
1.the customer’s specification and
2.the paint maker’s technical procedures and recommendations, and
3.that it is precisely recorded in daily inspection reports.
Prior to the start , the inspector should confirm that he has available
1 the customer’s specification;
2 the work scope of the project,
3 manufacturer’s product data sheets and health and safety data sheets;
4 the application contractor assessment report related health hazards from harmful substances being used; and
5 Reference standards.
The specification, which forms part of the legal agreement between the customer and the coating contractor, will be the main document for supervising the works.
In the event of a dispute between the customer and the contractor, the specification delivers the source against which the work actually performed will be judged.
The information recorded by the inspector in the daily inspection reports and other reports that may be required will be of particular value in the case of disputes or potential claims.
All changes in Specification are necessary for the technical department of customer and inspector on site to confirm in writing.
The inspector must take into consideration:
1) the customer’s requirements,
2) prospective critical areas of the project, and
3) the obligation of safeguarding that no unnecessary delays of the project are occurring.
By adopting a rationalized approach to the inspection of the hull structure and a methodology on:
-what to inspect,
-when to inspect,
-where to inspect