‘worst face of QA’) are cited as strong evidence against its acceptance. Site management is by tradition
autonomous with complete authority over many functions, which in factory situations would report through
separate lines of responsibility. This situation has evolved historically because the penalties for delay either
in the final construction stage of a project, or in an on-stream plant down for repair, can be severe and the
work programme tends to be more sacrosanct than ever. In the preparatory phases of a contract from design
through fabrication, some delays may be tolerable and even necessary, in order to avoid later problems. The
inevitable consequence, however, is to compress the site construction phase, which itself does not have the
luxury of a following phase against which delays may be cushioned. The pressure on site management to
avoid delays from any source is considerable. There is, therefore, a reluctance to introduce any independent
system which could prejudice the authority of site management and have a potential for causing what may
be considered to be uncontrollable delays.