The implementation of quality assurance into the quarry industry

There is general agreement in the industry that the application of quality assurance is the right thing and there has been a requirement that contractors have a Quality Assurance System to be eligible to tender for works on State Highways since the mid 1990’s. However, this only applies to main suppliers and does not include the providers of roading materials. A working party was formed to review this issue and it was decided to focus on aggregate quarries and in particular the supply of basecourse aggregate. The working party reviewed the current requirements and the quality control tests in the “Specification for Basecourse Aggregate”, NZTA M/4 and found that the requirements were not appropriate in that single or small samples were used to represent a lot and no consideration was given to natural variability of the material. Test information from over 40 quarries was examined to determine what level of compliance we were currently obtaining. We also looked at the specification requirements to determine if they were appropriate and obtainable. From this information the working group made numerous recommendations for improvement. The changes included: 1. Suggested changes to the sampling regime; 2. Review of the grading envelopes; 3. Development of a QA system and associated “process chart” software; 4. Evaluation system within individual quarries; 5. Accreditation process for quarries. The paper also describes the key steps in the implementation process.

• Record URL:
  http://arrbknowledge.com
• Authors:
  • Donbavand, J
  • Cenek, P
  • Chilton, M
• Conference:
  • ARRB Conference, 27th, 2016, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
• Publication Date: 2016-11

Language

• English

Media Info

• Pagination: 8p
• Monograph Title: Linking people, places and opportunities: 27th ARRB Conference, 16-18 November 2016, Melbourne, Victoria

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Aggregates; Base course (Pavements); Industries; Pavement components; Pavements; Quality assurance; Quarrying
• Uncontrolled Terms: Materials technology (asphalt/bitumen/concrete)
• Geographic Terms: New Zealand
• ATRI Terms: Aggregate; Basecourse; Industry; Pavement materials; Quality assurance; Quarry
• ITRD Terms: 2990: Basecourse; 4555: Material (constr); 5124: Quarry
• Subject Areas: Highways; Pavements; I33: Other Materials used in Pavement Layers;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01622891
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: ARRB
• Files: ITRD, ATRI
• Created Date: Jan 24 2017 12:01PM