Exploration of Quality Issues in Pipeline Engineering Construction

—by Pipeline Engineering Construction Project Department of Beijing Pipeline Company of State Grid Corporation of China

According to the inspection and statistical data of the National Pipeline Quality Supervision Station in 2022, among the physical quality problems of the group's construction projects, problems related to civil engineering, welding, testing, corrosion prevention, and process equipment are more prominent, accounting for 76.05%; Among HSE issues, basic management, safety protection, temporary electricity use, and environmental protection are more prominent, accounting for 23.95%. The above-mentioned problems account for 60% due to the construction unit, about 11% due to the design, supervision, and testing units, and 7% due to the owner. This article has conducted research and analysis on this, and proposed relevant improvement measures and suggestions.

1. Project Owner's Aspect

There are mainly several existing problems as follows. Firstly, the quality of the pre project work is not high. If some projects fail to fully communicate, coordinate, and closely connect with the design and various specialized evaluation units, and the evaluation conclusion results are not fully implemented; The on-site survey and measurement work of the project is not meticulous, the monitoring methods are lacking, and the survey and measurement data are incomplete, which does not match the actual situation on site; Insufficient communication with local governments, insufficient understanding of the surrounding environment on site, and inaccurate project input conditions; Delayed project approval, incomplete construction project planning permit processing, incomplete project deployment and management manual approval, resulting in insufficient conditions for project commencement and other violations of "capacity shortage for commencement". The second issue is inadequate project implementation control. For example, some project owners do not follow the standards or rely on experience to manage and accept invalid standards; The project changes are relatively arbitrary, the change execution procedures are not standardized, and there are still problems such as construction changes and drawing upgrades replacing changes. The design change management has not achieved the compliance requirement of "calculate first and then proceed"; The preparation of the comprehensive project plan is flashy but not practical, and the review of the construction plan is not strictly controlled. Thirdly, the professional quality of management personnel is not strong enough. For example, the comprehensive ability in design review, engineering management, QHSE system operation, etc. is relatively weak, and cannot adapt well to the new model of construction management integration; The project management risk prediction, early warning, pre control, and emergency response capabilities need to be improved.

The improvement measures and opinions are as follows. One is to improve the quality of pre project work. The project owner should organize evaluation, design and other units to jointly determine the project quality objectives, develop a quality management plan, and improve measures in quality control, quality assurance, and quality improvement; An effective team communication mechanism should be established to promptly resolve differences of opinion among team members, achieve collaborative efforts from all parties, move forward management checkpoints, share resources and information, and apply results effectively. At the same time, it is necessary to track the work situation of all parties and take timely measures against factors that may affect project quality. The second is to strengthen the organization of project implementation. The project owner regularly evaluates the project progress and quality to ensure that the project is carried out according to the plan and plan, and promptly identifies and corrects problems; We should strengthen engineering organization, plan long-term material procurement in advance, ensure project schedule, and reduce quality and safety issues; We should strengthen engineering organization, plan long-term material procurement in advance, ensure project schedule, and reduce quality and safety issues,should select qualified contractors, promote "model engineering" and "model guidance", and standardize contractor management behavior. The third is to focus on training management personnel. Encourage management personnel to independently learn project management related knowledge, tools, and methods, and improve project management capabilities; Establish a mentorship system, allowing experienced employees to serve as mentors, helping new employees understand the process and skills of project management, and establishing good communication and collaboration relationships; Regularly evaluate the performance of management personnel and provide necessary guidance and support to those who perform poorly.

2.Design aspect

There are mainly several existing problems as follows. One is that the engineering design is not precise enough. For example, some design units may not conduct careful on-site inspections, resulting in inaccurate measurements and survey results. There may be discrepancies between local topographic maps (features) and the site in the construction drawings of the line, deviations between the geological conditions of certain sections and the actual site conditions. In some sections of the line, there may be missing measurements and unclear labeling of buildings (structures) such as graves, forests, nurseries, breeding farms, underground pipelines (optical cables); The lack of consideration for the amount of earthwork during graded excavation in pipeline crossing highways and river sections resulted in a relatively small amount of earthwork. The second issue is that the verification process is not rigorous enough. Due to the tight schedule, compressed design cycles, ineffective communication between various professional designs, lack of sharing of resources and information, and lax review processes, the quality of design results is not high, resulting in various low-level errors in the drawings.

The improvement measures and opinions are as follows. One is to strengthen on-site investigation and research. In addition to mastering the basic knowledge and professional skills of relevant specialties, designers should enhance their sense of responsibility, and go deep into the site according to design specifications to "cultivate and work meticulously" to avoid design quality problems. The second is to strengthen the management of the design process. Design units should strengthen coordination and communication, share resource information, and adjust design plans in a timely manner according to changes in demand; Improve the design review and approval mechanism, leverage the internal review role of various professional departments, and promptly identify and correct problems; Introduce advanced computer-aided design tools and software to improve design efficiency and reduce human errors.

3.Supervision Aspect

There are mainly several existing problems as follows. One is that the supervision unit's management is not standardized. Some supervision units have weak independence and impartiality, weak awareness of performance, arbitrary changes in irreplaceable personnel, insufficient supervision personnel, unqualified or unqualified personnel, resulting in inability to meet on-site requirements. The second is that the professional skills of the supervision personnel are uneven. Some personnel lack sufficient practical experience in quality management on construction sites, resulting in a disconnect between theory and practice, which affects the quality of supervision and creates safety hazards.

The improvement measures and opinions are as follows. One is to urge the supervision unit to improve management. The supervision unit should establish and improve job responsibilities and work processes, select honest and professional supervision personnel, strictly implement an entrance assessment system, and standardize on-site supervision behavior. The second is to strengthen the training and assessment of personnel entering the site. The owner and the supervising unit shall jointly establish a training and disclosure system to ensure comprehensive training and disclosure throughout the entire process; Assess the performance ability of relevant personnel and promptly replace unqualified personnel.

4.Construction Unit

There are mainly several existing problems as follows. One reason is that some units have poor awareness of fulfilling their obligations. In order to save costs, there is insufficient investment in QHSE management, lax construction quality management, and a lack of effective guidance, restraint, and incentive measures for the behavior of participating employees. Irreplaceable personnel are arbitrarily changed. Secondly, the construction quality is not strictly controlled. Some construction plans are unreasonable, leading to quality and safety issues; Some pipelines have poor welding quality, leading to leaks, fractures, etc; Some anti-corrosion treatments are not in place, resulting in corrosion, damage, etc; Some people do not attach importance to environmental protection, such as mud leakage and non-standard disposal of abandoned soil and slag.

The improvement measures and opinions are as follows. One is to strengthen the supervision and assessment of construction units. Require the construction party to achieve personnel and material inspection, material re inspection, and clarify the process of requisition and distribution; Timely identify, analyze and control risks, implement HSE work permit system, standardize work permit management, and ensure quality management is under control. The second is to strengthen on-site construction quality management. Urge the construction party to strictly implement the self inspection and mutual inspection system, allocate sufficient quality supervision personnel, clarify their responsibilities and authorities, and implement the "one case for each key weld" system; Strengthen the management of anti-corrosion work, promote new technologies for anti-corrosion joint repair, implement the joint confirmation system of four parties, and implement the three inspection system for quality control management of other key processes; Strengthen the construction of intelligent construction sites, and use technologies such as project management assistants, welding QR codes, and visual monitoring systems to monitor the entire process of on-site operations; Utilize digital means to collect real-time data on various operational processes, submit the collected data to the on-site supervisor for review on a daily basis, and synchronize it to the full lifecycle database.

5.Conclusion

Only by adhering to goal orientation, problem orientation, and result orientation, improving the quality awareness of all staff, increasing quality management efforts, grasping various process flows, implementing standard certification, involving everyone, and starting from ourselves, can the owner, designer, supervisor, and construction party create 100% high-quality projects with 100% meticulousness.