Effective risk management in infra

A constructively safe structure without faults

A levee reinforcement project, a new highway, the renovation of an existing structure ... everyone benefits from it being done in a safe manner. An extra pair of 'eyes and ears' is often desirable to detect design or construction errors at an early stage. As an accredited institution and completely independent party, BouwQ has been subjecting such structures to technical inspections for almost twenty years to ensure their quality, particularly in the area of structural safety.

Mistakes can easily creep into a design or construction project, mistakes with potentially major consequences. "We are focused on finding those mistakes in order to eliminate potential risks, prevent waste in materials and time, and above all guarantee structural safety," says Jos Rooijakkers, general director of BouwQ. The inspection body operates completely independently and is the only body in the Netherlands accredited for this purpose according to NEN-EN ISO/IEC 17050:2012. "We meet the highest quality requirements in terms of competence and independence and never contribute to the primary construction process, which is very important for our clients. We are only a verification and validation agency that can impartially ensure the quality and safety of construction works through risk-based methods and service packages. And we do that in the infrastructure sector for clients such as the Department of Public Works, ProRail, infrastructure contractors and insurers."

Spider in the web

BouwQ's services focus on two facets: guaranteeing safety during the construction phase (Risk Control) on the one hand, and checking safety upon completion, or in other words, the quality of the final product, on the other. "For example, we are currently involved on behalf of a number of large insurers such as SwissRe and Allianz in the Gorinchem-Waardenburg dike reinforcement project and the strengthening of the Lekdijk between Amerongen and Schoonhoven, among others," says Benno Bruinsma, project manager at BouwQ. "In both cases, like a spider in the web, we carry out random, risk-driven checks on the biggest safety risks to prevent accidents, damage and environmental nuisance, for example. 

Technical Inspection Service

Through so-called Technical Inspection Service (TIS), BouwQ checks the quality of the final product. "It is a method in which we check both the design (calculations and drawings) and the construction phase through a risk-based approach. In case of any misses, we obviously argue why something is demonstrably wrong, for example by preparing our own shadow calculations," Bruinsma explains. "We are currently doing these checks for Rijkswaterstaat, among others, for the southern ring road around Groningen and for the contractor Groene Boog for a complex bridge in the A16 near Rotterdam. We were also involved in the insertion of the A2/N2 underpass last summer vacation. Partly because of the short timeline and strict deadline, the Municipality of Eindhoven hired us as a control agency to "look along" with the design and construction phase to prevent delays or errors from occurring. A project with which we have been very busy over the past few weeks. For the same reason we are called in by the contractor to perform major maintenance (renovation) on the John Frost Bridge in the municipality of Arnhem. Some things just have to go right the first time."

BouwQ's strength lies not only in its highly trained staff, but especially in its market-wide vision. "We receive many designs every year and therefore know exactly where things often 'chafe' and where any lapses may occur," Rooijakkers emphasizes. "Because we never prepare designs or perform construction work ourselves, we have our hands free for every project to check everything and make impartial judgments. And so we guarantee for our clients in the Netherlands and also increasingly in Belgium a constructively safe work of art without errors."