What is technical disclosure? How to conduct it?
A technical briefing is a crucial technical management task for construction companies. Its purpose is to ensure that technical personnel and workers involved in installation projects are familiar with and understand the project’s characteristics, design intent, technical requirements, construction techniques, and key considerations. Given the inherent complexity, continuity, and variability of installation projects, installation companies at all levels must strictly implement the technical briefing responsibility system and strengthen construction quality inspection, supervision, and management to improve overall construction quality.
I. Tasks and Objectives of Technical Briefing
Installation projects transform blueprints into physical structures. For every worker involved in the construction operation, technical briefings are crucial for understanding the specific work content, operating methods, construction techniques, quality standards, and safety precautions for their assigned tasks. This ensures that construction workers have a clear understanding of their responsibilities and are well-prepared for the tasks. Technical briefings also facilitate smooth Cooperation and handover between different trades, leading to orderly construction, reducing common quality defects, and improving overall construction quality.
Therefore, for any construction project, technical briefings with varying levels of focus and depth must be conducted among personnel at different levels involved in the construction. This is especially important for key projects, critical parts of projects, special projects, and projects that promote and apply new technologies, processes, materials, and structures. In these cases, comprehensive, focused, and detailed technical briefings are essential.
II. Classification of Technical Briefings
Technical briefings are generally conducted among different levels of construction personnel based on the difficulty of the construction, the scale of the installation project, and the complexity of the structure. The content and depth of the technical briefings also vary.
1. Design Briefing 1. The design unit conducts engineering design in accordance with national basic construction policies and design specifications. After approval by the local construction committee and relevant departments, the designers provide technical briefings to the construction unit regarding the design intent, drawing requirements, technical performance, construction precautions, and special requirements for key components.
2. The chief engineer or the chief engineer of the construction unit provides technical briefings on the implementation of the construction plan to the construction team or work area supervisor.
3. The construction team or work area supervisor (project manager) provides technical briefings to the unit’s project manager, quality inspector, safety officer, and relevant functional personnel.
4. The unit project manager or technical supervisor provides technical briefings to the work team leaders and workers of each trade.
III. Requirements and Contents of Technical Briefings for Installation Engineering Construction
1. Requirements for Construction Technical Briefings
(a) Construction technical briefings must comply with the relevant provisions of the installation engineering, construction, and acceptance specifications, technical operating procedures (sub-item engineering process standards), and quality inspection and evaluation standards. They should also comply with relevant regulations and guidelines formulated by various industries, as well as the specific local policies and regulations of the province (region) or municipality where the project is located.
(2) Technical briefings for construction projects must adhere to all national technical standards, including units of measurement and names. Some construction companies also develop internal standards, such as construction process standards for installation sub-projects and construction management standards. These company standards should be diligently implemented during technical briefings.
(3) Technical briefings should also meet and fulfill all technical requirements in the design and construction drawings. Especially when the technical requirements and standards in the design drawings exceed the corresponding requirements of national construction and acceptance specifications, more detailed briefings and explanations should be provided.
(4) Technical briefings should conform to and reflect the intentions and specific requirements of the technical briefings given by the higher-level technical leadership.
(5) Technical briefings should meet and fulfill all requirements of the construction organization design or construction plan, including technical measures and construction schedule requirements.
(6) The depth and detail of technical briefings should vary depending on the level of construction personnel; that is, the content and explanation methods of the briefings should be tailored to different personnel.
(7) Technical briefings should be comprehensive, clear, and highlight key points. They should detail how to perform the work, which standards to follow, the technical requirements, and provide specific explanations of construction techniques, quality standards, and safety precautions. Vague statements are unacceptable.
(8) Detailed briefings should be provided for any new technologies, processes, or materials used in construction, including instructions on how to create a model room.
2. Contents of Construction Technical Briefing
2.1 The technical briefing given by the chief engineer or the chief engineer of the construction unit to the construction team or work area manager should include the following main aspects:
① Project overview and various technical and economic indicators and requirements;
② Main construction methods, key construction technologies, and problems encountered during implementation;
③ Technical handling details and precautions for special engineering parts;
④ Construction technology requirements, implementation plans, and precautions for new technologies, new processes, and new materials;
⑤ Construction organization design network plan, schedule requirements, construction deployment, construction machinery, and labor arrangement and organization;
⑥ Cooperation and coordination between the general contractor and subcontractors, and between civil engineering and installation, and the handling of related issues;
⑦ Construction quality standards and safety technologies, with a focus on adopting standardized operating procedures such as those promoted by the unit.
2.2 The technical briefing given by the construction team’s technical supervisor to the unit project manager, quality inspector, and safety officer shall include the following aspects:
① Project overview and local topography, landforms, engineering geology, and various technical and economic indicators;
② Specific requirements, construction methods, and their construction difficulty as outlined in the design drawings;
③ Specific requirements of the construction organization design or construction plan, and its implementation steps and methods;
④ Specific construction practices, including the adopted process standards and the company’s specific construction methods; key components and potential problems encountered during implementation, along with solutions;
⑤ Construction schedule requirements, work sequence overlaps, construction deployment, and task assignments for construction teams;
⑥ The models, quantities, arrival times, and operational procedures of the main construction machinery used;
⑦ Relevant operating procedures, technical regulations, and precautions for new processes, structures, and materials;
⑧ Construction quality standards and specific safety measures and precautions.
2.3 The technical briefing given by the unit project manager or chief technical engineer to each work team leader and worker should include the following aspects:
① Emphasis should be placed on clearly explaining the specific technical requirements and construction process standards or internal construction methods adopted for each work team’s assigned sub-item of work.
② Construction quality standards for each sub-item of work;
③ Prevention methods for common quality defects and related precautions;
④ Construction safety briefing and introduction of lessons learned from safety accidents in similar past projects and specific safety countermeasures to be taken.
This book is mainly written for the third type of construction technical briefing.
IV. Implementation Methods for Installation Engineering Construction Technical Briefing
The implementation methods for construction technical briefing generally include the following:
1. Meeting Briefing
The chief engineer of the construction unit conducts technical briefings to the construction team or work area manager, generally in the form of a technical meeting. The meeting is chaired by the company’s chief engineer and attended by relevant company departments, such as technology, safety, and quality inspection, the construction team leader, the deputy technical team leader, and various professional engineers. 1. **Prepare thorough technical briefing materials beforehand. During the meeting, conduct a technical presentation and briefing, specifically introducing the project’s construction organization design or construction plan, and outlining implementation methods and requirements. The technical department should then provide detailed explanations of key details in the construction plan, outlining specific requirements (including construction schedule requirements). The quality control and safety departments should provide detailed briefings on construction quality and technical safety measures. The construction team’s deputy technical leader and various professional engineers should raise specific requirements for any unclear points in the technical briefing or issues that present significant difficulties in implementation, including issues related to the construction site, construction machinery, construction schedule, construction deployment, division of construction flow sections, labor allocation, and construction techniques. Technical issues should be resolved one by one at the meeting, and arrangements should be made accordingly.
2. Written Briefing
The unit’s technical (person in charge) should conduct technical briefings with each work team leader and worker, emphasizing the use of written briefings. This is not only because written technical briefings are essential to the project’s construction technical documentation and should be archived after construction, but also because they are an important indicator for clarifying technical responsibility, especially in the event of a major quality accident, serving as a primary indicator for identifying the technically responsible party.
The person in charge of the unit project, based on the construction organization design or construction plan for the project and the technical instructions from superiors, and in accordance with the relevant technical provisions, quality standards, and safety requirements in the construction and acceptance specifications and regulations, the company’s construction methods and operating procedures, and considering the specific circumstances of the project, shall prepare detailed written technical instructions in several copies (generally five copies) according to the content of different sub-items and referring to the process standards of each sub-item, and distribute them to the worker teams. After receiving the instructions, the team leader should sign the instructions record. Two copies are given to the worker teams for implementation; one is filed in the site technical archive, and one is kept by the technical personnel.
After receiving the technical instructions, the team leader should organize all team members to carefully study and discuss them, clarifying the process flow and key points of construction operations, handover requirements for procedures, quality standards, technical measures, finished product protection methods, methods for preventing common quality defects, and safety precautions. Then, based on the construction schedule requirements and the labor force and technical level of the work team, the team will divide the work, clarify each member’s responsibilities and cooperative relationships, and formulate a plan to ensure comprehensive completion of the task.
Without technical instructions and with unclear construction intentions, providing only design drawings and construction process cards, the team leader or workers can refuse to start work, as this does not conform to normal construction procedures.
3. Construction Sample Instruction
When using new technologies, processes, or materials for the first time, to be on the safe side, sample instructions can be used for some sub-projects in the installation project. Sample instruction involves, based on the technical requirements and specific methods of the design drawings, referring to similar construction processes and experience learned from site visits, and under the premise of meeting construction and acceptance specifications, a highly skilled senior worker from the company first creates a sample of excellent quality for a specific physical project, process, or sample piece in the installation project. This serves as a physical model for other workers to learn from, allowing them to understand the characteristics, performance, and differences of the new technologies, processes, and materials used in the entire construction process, master the operating essentials, and become familiar with the construction process steps and quality standards. Because this type of instruction is relatively intuitive and easy to understand, the effect is good.
4. Job-Specific Technical Briefing
The construction operation of a sub-project involves various trades, procedures, and positions. Only by ensuring the operational quality of these different positions can the quality of the installation project be guaranteed. Some construction companies establish a job responsibility system for workers and create operation process cards. Based on the specific conditions of the construction site, they provide written briefings to workers at any time, outlining specific operational requirements, including safety requirements.
V. Issues to Note Regarding Technical Briefings for Installation Projects
1. Technical briefings must strictly adhere to construction and acceptance specifications and procedures. Requirements in these specifications and procedures, especially quality standards, must not be arbitrarily modified or deleted. Technical briefings should also meet the relevant requirements of the construction organization’s design. The technical requirements outlined in higher-level technical briefing documents must be understood and complied with, and the relevant provisions in these documents must not be arbitrarily violated. Detailed meeting minutes should be kept for company-organized briefings, including the names of attendees, the date, the meeting content, and the technical decisions made. Meeting minutes should be complete and not lost or torn up arbitrarily. They should be archived as meeting technical documents for long-term preservation. 1. All written technical briefings must be reviewed, and a copy kept. The handwriting must be neat and legible, and the data cited must be accurate. The issuer, reviewer, and recipient of the written briefing must all sign and affix their seals.
2. An installation project consists of multiple sub-projects, each equally important to the entire project. Technical briefings for each sub-project should be comprehensive, meticulous, and thorough. Sub-projects with large areas, numerous items, and high technical requirements must receive detailed technical briefings; similarly, technical briefings should be carefully conducted for less complex, specialized, concealed, or technically less demanding sub-projects.
3. During technical briefings, special attention should be paid to the company’s current common construction quality problems and work-related accidents, striving for prevention and eliminating potential quality and injury accidents at their inception. Technical briefings should prevent possible quality and injury accidents, ensuring comprehensiveness, thoroughness, and completeness. Furthermore, technical briefings should be conducted as early as possible to allow grassroots technicians and workers sufficient time to digest and understand the technical issues outlined in the briefing, enabling them to prepare in advance and ensuring that construction personnel are well-informed to facilitate the completion of construction tasks.
4. Supervision and Inspection of Technical Briefings. Technical management personnel at all levels should not assume that everything is settled after conducting oral or written technical briefings. Generally speaking, this is only the beginning of the briefing process. A significant portion of the briefing work involves supervising and inspecting its effectiveness. During construction, grassroots technicians or supervisors should be repeatedly reminded of the relevant requirements in the technical briefing, tailored to specific construction operations. The “three-inspection system” should be strengthened, and the inspection efforts during construction should be intensified. Strict mid-term acceptance inspections should be implemented, and any problems discovered should be resolved promptly to prevent quality accidents or rework waste.
5. Technical briefings can be implemented in various forms to ensure that every worker is familiar with and understands the specific details and requirements outlined in the technical briefing. For example, before the commencement of a sub-project, the relevant content of the technical briefing can be displayed on the wall using methods such as blackboards. Re-instruction should be conducted before and after work, during work assignments, and during task distribution. For new technologies and processes, invite experienced workers from other units or within the company to demonstrate their operation, or conduct demonstrations in model workshops, to ensure workers clearly understand the operating steps and are well-prepared, thereby preventing various quality or safety accidents.
6. Technical briefing is a crucial part of construction management and an indispensable step in the construction technology management process. It is extremely wrong to consider technical briefings as outdated and merely a formality, without proper follow-up and inspection. Some believe that since these are not new processes or technologies and the construction workers are all experienced, they simplify the briefing content or even omit it altogether without inspection. For some less common trades, such as embedded parts and galvanized metal work, briefings are not conducted, and there is no follow-up or inspection. All of these are common, extremely wrong practices that are the root cause of quality accidents.
Thoroughly conducting technical briefings for construction projects is a prerequisite for ensuring project quality and timely completion, and is a fundamental responsibility of every construction technician.
VI. Key Points of Technical Briefings for Installation Sub-projects
A project, especially a large and complex installation project, has many sub-projects, it must be completed in stages by different work teams and trades. The content of the technical briefing should be based on the specific requirements of each sub-project, the technical requirements of the design drawings, and the provisions of the construction and acceptance specifications. It should also address the specific characteristics of different trades, providing different content and focuses for each sub-project. Installation projects can be divided into nine sub-projects by specialty: pipeline installation, electrical installation, ventilation installation, elevator installation, general mechanical equipment installation, industrial furnace masonry, automated instrumentation installation, steel structure engineering, and container engineering. Each sub-project can be further divided into several sub-items according to trade type and equipment group, resulting in over 130 sub-items in total. The key points of the technical briefing for each sub-project are listed below.
1. Piping Installation Engineering
Coordinate with civil engineering to determine the location and dimensions of embedded parts; prefabrication and requirements for pipes, supports, fasteners, etc.; pipe installation sequence, methods, and precautions; pipe connection methods, measures, and quality requirements; welding processes and technical standards and measures; weld type, location, and quality standards; pipe pressure testing pressure, medium, temperature, and procedures; pipe purging methods, procedures, and quality requirements; pipe corrosion protection requirements and operating procedures; prevention and control methods for common quality defects; and safety precautions.
2. Electrical Installation Engineering
Closely coordinate with civil engineering construction to determine the type, location, and methods of embedded parts; installation methods, procedures, measures, requirements, and key points for electrical busbars, cables, wires, cable trays, conduits, cabinets, switches, and appliances; quality standards, especially the appearance and dimensions of exposed pipelines and appliances; installation quality; complete and reliable protection, shielding, and grounding; finished product protection, especially for valuable electrical appliances; prevention and control methods for common quality defects; and safety precautions.
3. Ventilation Installation Engineering
Verification of duct fabrication dimensions; duct joint type and processing procedures, quality requirements; duct support and hanger fabrication and installation requirements; duct installation methods, operational points, and quality requirements; cleanroom duct fabrication and installation quality measures; duct anti-corrosion coating requirements; insulation material selection, thickness, insulation methods, and operational points; common quality defect prevention methods; safety precautions, etc.
4. Elevator Installation Engineering
The location and measurement methods for elevator guide rail supports; guide rail hoisting and adjustment methods and quality requirements; wire rope end treatment; car installation steps; landing door installation location control; load-bearing beam installation requirements; traction machine hoisting process; quality standards for control cabinets and electrical systems; safety protection measures for escalator transportation and hoisting; layout and measurement of installation location; common quality defect prevention methods; finished product protection; high-altitude operation safety measures.
5. General Mechanical Equipment Installation Engineering
Foundation appearance and dimensional inspection and acceptance; on-site conditions, especially those requiring constant temperature, humidity, vibration prevention, dust prevention, or radiation protection during installation; the entire work procedure from layout, transportation and placement, equipment installation to single-machine commissioning; dimensional standards, precision specifications, and commissioning requirements involved in the installation process; quality standards, prevention methods for common quality defects, safety precautions, and product protection measures for precision equipment.
6. Industrial Furnace Masonry Engineering
Furnace construction material acceptance, inspection, selection, and storage; moisture-proofing measures during construction; masonry methods and operational points; precautions for masonry in various parts; control and corresponding technical measures for refractory castable pouring process or refractory concrete mix proportions; regulations and requirements related to refractory concrete mixing, transportation, and vibration; refractory concrete pouring methods and sequence, and curing methods; the number, width, distribution, and structure of expansion joints; quality standards and prevention methods for common quality defects.
7. Automated Instrumentation Installation Engineering
Instrumentation equipment, valves, and other materials must be stored, selected, and installed in accordance with requirements. This includes the coordination procedures and requirements between instrumentation installation and other professional construction work; installation methods, measures, quality requirements, and operational points for instrument piping and equipment; individual instrument commissioning and calibration procedures and requirements; comprehensive protection measures for raw materials, equipment, and finished products; quality standards for instrumentation installation and commissioning; and preventative measures for common quality defects.
8. Steel Structure Engineering
The model, weight, quantity, geometric dimensions, planar location, and elevation of steel structures; the types, specifications, connection methods, and technical measures for various steel materials; welding equipment specifications and operating precautions; welding processes and their technical standards; the workflow from component cutting to assembly; steel structure quality standards and preventative measures for common quality defects; and construction safety technical measures (especially safety measures for high-altitude operations).
9. Container Engineering
Prefabrication of semi-finished components; foundation acceptance inspection; selection of construction machinery and equipment; site layout; operational precautions; complete installation process methods, work procedures and quality requirements; selection of product materials, specifications, welding methods, welding materials, and welding sequence; welding process and its technical standards, technical measures, weld type, location and quality standards; strength and sealing test parameters, environmental requirements, steps; product corrosion protection, insulation and its requirements; prevention of common quality defects; safety measures (especially protection during operation: prevention of electric shock, poisoning, fall, etc.).