【Haichuan Chemical Industry Discussion】Is the system of waiving review for construction drawings implemented by Class A design firms, with designers and draftspers bearing lifelong responsibility, a good approach?
Thread Content
The system of exemption from review for construction drawings implemented by the Class A institutes mentioned in the question, along with a lifetime responsibility system for designers and draftspersons, does not seem to exist, as far as I know. We are a Class A institute, and many Class A institutes that cooperate with us have a drawing review process; generally, you’re not allowed to produce drawings directly. However, the concept of lifelong responsibility for design remains valid. Putting it another way, setting aside the stage of construction drawing review, it is somewhat unfair for a Class A design firm to promise exemption from such review and to leave it to the designer to handle it. Since designers, due to limitations in their professional skills, carelessness, or various other reasons, may introduce errors into the construction drawings, it is necessary to have an inspection mechanism to correct these mistakes. This is indeed very important.
A recent old news story has once again sparked discussion. The incident went as follows: on October 7, 2014, an explosion occurred on the second floor of the wastewater recycling plant being built by Inner Mongolia Dongyuan Technology Co., Ltd. in the Wuda Industrial Park of Wuhai City. The explosion resulted in 3 deaths, 2 serious injuries, and 4 minor injuries. The wastewater recycling plant and some of the equipment inside it were damaged, causing direct economic losses of around 7.436 million yuan. According to the investigation conducted by the accident investigation team, the accident occurred because combustible gases such as methane and hydrogen in the underground sewage main circulated back into the wastewater reuse plant that was under construction through 6 overflow pipes. These gases accumulated over time and reached their explosive limit; when an operator turned on the light switch, it triggered an explosion in that gas-filled space. In February 2017, the Wuda District People’s Court of Wuhai City issued a first-instance criminal judgment regarding Zhang Ziwu’s crime of causing a major safety accident in a construction project. Zhang Ziwu, the designer for the BDO project at China Chengda Engineering Co., Ltd., violated the relevant provisions of the \"Code for Fire Protection Design of Petrochemical Enterprises\" during the design process. Without identifying the hazardous factors involved, he changed six overflow pipes that were intended to lead to the rainwater system to pipes that led to the sewage system. Moreover, he failed to install any blocking devices such as water seals on those six overflow pipes or on the main pipe through which they converged; he is therefore directly responsible for the occurrence of the accident. Therefore, the defendant Zhang Ziwu is found guilty of the crime of serious safety accidents in construction projects and is sentenced to three years in prison, with a three-year suspension of execution, as well as a fine of 100,000 yuan. This judgment sparked extensive discussion among netizens, with endless remarks about \"taking the blame\".
If something that should be reviewed isn’t reviewed, who can guarantee that no mistakes will occur?
Quality control measures! Meeting the standards is the principle!
It is only fair that designers must consider everything thoroughly; they should not make changes to the pipelines arbitrarily, as they bear primary responsibility for this. If one is not responsible for the drawings they signed off on, then who should be responsible? Those who reviewed the drawings are also at fault and bear joint liability.
The problem is that your boss wants to sacrifice a few people to save the whole situation; no matter how skilled you are, in the end you’ll either end up in prison or have to leave.
As a designer, it is essential to understand the site conditions, but things get difficult when the client has excessive demands
Certain arbitrary reasons and demands put forward by Party A must be resisted
But sometimes this happens: the property owners look for those who cause fewer problems or are more easy to deal with. Whether it’s designers or design firms. And so, it becomes a process of bad money driving out good money. Look for ways to save money and effort. In the end, the irregular forces suppressed the regular ones. Find someone with the necessary qualifications to use as a cover, and then the signature isn’t even the person’s own name. Some design institutes make money by selling their qualifications. As long as they are paid, they dare to stamp it.
This will make the design institutes that dare to sign contracts more valuable