Geotechnical News • March 2012
55
ASFE NEWS
engineers – developed by ASFE’s
redoubtable Construction Materials
Engineering and Testing (CoMET)
Committee. Both messages provide
important information owners and
project professionals can apply to
achieve high-quality QA. As exam-
ples:
Most construction materials engineer-
ing and testing (CoMET) firms –
they’re the firms that provide QA – are
not accredited.
Many CoMET QA personnel are not
certified for what they do or at all.
Properly calibrated equipment is
essential; many firms don’t have it.
CoMET QA field-representatives
require good judgment. They cannot
do an effective job by just filling in
blanks.
Select CoMET consultants carefully.
They’re the last line of defense.
Take advantage of CoMET consul-
tants’ knowledge and experience.
Have them serve as active members of
the project team from project start to
project finish.
Another firm’s field representatives
will not report issues to the geotech-
nical engineer of record; don’t split
responsibilities.
How QA services are contracted for
is important, especially when special
inspections also are involved.
The so-called “low-cost providers”
want owners and design professionals
to believe all CoMET firms are alike,
because – were that actually the case –
lowest fee would mean best value, and
that seldom, if ever, is true.
Both new documents are available free
of charge at the ASFE website. Get
Project Quality Assurance: A Mes-
sage to Owners
at
Project Quality Assurance: A Mes-
sage to Architects, Civil Engineers,
and Structural Engineers
is avail-
able at
ASFE Practice Alert 52: Initial
curing of concrete test speci-
mens in the field: Who is re-
sponsible for what?
ACI Standard 301-10,
Specification
for Structural Concrete
, sets forth
ambiguous requirements for initial
curing of concrete test specimens in
the field, stating that has replaced
the well-established ACI Standard
301-05. The old version requires the
contractor to “Provide and maintain
adequate facilities on the project site
for safe storage and initial curing of
concrete test specimens as required by
ASTM C31/C31M for the sole use of
the testing agency.” This requirement
has generally been interpreted to mean
that, during the initial curing period in
the field, it’s the contractor’s respon-
sibility to provide a curing environ-
ment that satisfies the requirements
of ASTM C31. The new version (at
section 1.6.2.2.d) says the contractor is
responsible for “[providing] space and
source of electrical power on the proj-
ect site for facilities to be used for ini-
tial curing of concrete test specimens
as required by ASTM C31/C31M, for
the sole use of the Owner’s quality
assurance testing agency.” This change
in wording could lead to uncertainty
and confusion. Does “space” mean
that the contractor must set aside an
area at the construction site where the
construction materials engineering and
testing (CoMET) consultant or some
other party will place or construct ini-
tial curing facilities? Or does “space”
mean “an environmentally controlled
space” for initial curing in the field?
Because uncertainty and confusion
are common precursors of delays,
disputes, and claims, and because
CoMET consultants are likely to be
blamed for any that occur, CoMET
consultants need to take appropriate
action NOW to help the project team
avoid related problems. How? The
answers to that are now available in
ASFE Practice Alert 52: Initial Cur-
ing of Concrete Test Specimens in the
Field: Who Is Responsible for What?
developed by ASFE’s Construction
Materials Engineering and Testing
Committee.
Terra offers new risk-manage-
ment videos, free of Charge
Established by the same forward-
thinking geoprofessionals who created
ASFE, Terra Insurance Company is
now America’s second-oldest insurer
specializing in professional-liability
(PL) coverages for design and envi-
ronmental professionals. It may also
be the most successful PL insurer,
given that its owner/insureds – all
ASFE-Member Firms – report an
astoundingly low
one claim per $25
million generated in fees
. How do
they do it? Terra has begun produc-
tion of a series of audio/visual risk-
management presentations explaining
just that. The first –
Critical Success
Factors, Part One
– features Terra
CEO David L. “Dave” Coduto, who
discusses focuses three of the most
important critical success factors that,
according to Terra research, can lead
to fewer and less-severe claims, fewer
deductible payments, less productive
time lost to claims handling, and lower
insurance rates. The three factors are a
nonautocratic, solutions-oriented cor-
porate culture; the ability to respond
quickly to problems; and financial
wherewithal.
The second video –
Contract Nego-
tiation: Engineers Doing the Right
Thing
– focuses on elements of
contract negotiation. Prepared for
engineers and client representatives
alike, and also featuring Dave Coduto,
the video addresses indemnities,
defense requirements, warranties and
guarantees, and certain standard-of-
care provisions that, on the one hand,
greatly expand an engineer’s liabil-
ity exposure and, on the other hand,
afford no insurance protection for the
added risk. As Mr. Coduto explains,
engineers who call these problems to
client representatives’ attention are
smart, honest, conscientious, and fair.
While they risk being regarded as
