CIVIL ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT

Civil Engineering Management



Civil Engineering Management

Introduction

Civil engineering is one of the oldest engineering disciplines, as human has been engaged in building over a period of many centuries. Pyramids and roads built by the Egyptians and Romans are the evidences of existence of civil engineering. Management science plays an important role in managing the organizational functions of the construction companies, as planning and organization is needed even for the performing the simplest tasks efficiently. Management theories have been applied in the area of civil engineering since many decades, which help the construction companies in various functions such as human resources, economical marketing and realizing the finance for tunnelling projects (Zlatanovic, 1998). Various large tunnelling projects have been efficiently carried out efficiently only due to the efficient management functions; an example of such construction is the Channel tunnel between UK and France, which is considered as one of the seven wonders of the modern world. This paper discusses the management functions of safety, quality control, finance and commercial, and human resources for civil engineering companies.

Efficient safety management processes decrease the probability of accidents and injuries during the tunnelling project execution. Safety management plans and decisions are made during the planning phase of tunnelling project; for successful execution of safety management plan, mutual cooperation and safety education of the construction team members are essential. Safety in any organization or workplace controls the individual and group values and behaviours. Health and safety management policies of an organization determine its perspective about the safety of its employees. Underwater tunnelling being a tough job puts great concern in the health and safety of the personnel. Thus, the organizations with positive health and safety culture are highly respected and appreciated by the employees, as efficient safety policies develop the mutual trust between the employees and the organization. Civil engineering firms along with the underwater tunnelling projects need to maintain the health and safety standards for due to social and ethical obligations, legal duties and associated financial incentives. The paper discusses safety management systems that can be implemented in underwater tunnelling. Furthermore, many financial aspects are also to be catered while undergoing underwater tunnelling projects. It is extremely important to store the records related to the tunnelling project efficiently. All such documents determine the financial transactions carried out on and off during the tunnelling project execution and help in determining the total cost of the tunnelling project. In addition, the effective storage of documents also assist the tunnelling project manager in deriving the conclusions about the completed, in process and current problems or activities relevant to the tunnelling project. Thus, the tunnelling project manager becomes able to conclude about the financial status of the tunnelling project, such as whether the tunnelling project is going well within the predetermined cost or has exceeded above it. In order to monitor the tunnelling projects and maintain the safety standard at the different construction companies, the inspectors from occupational safety and Health Administration (OSHA) visit the construction sites ...