By Lumbiwe Mwanza
AS construction companies are investing in construction equipment and tools, it is important that they get the necessary training on how to properly use them to ensure that projects are well aligned and are of good quality,National Council for Construction (NCC) Public Relations Officer Chama Mwansa has said.
Speaking to The Scoop, Ms. Mwansa said that it was an important part of any development project for those in construction to be more knowledgeable on how to use tools and ensure quality works.
She said that construction projects were completed faster and more efficiently when the right equipment and tools were on-site compared to when all the work was done manually or when the tools were there but with poor knowledge of how to effectively use them.
She explained that NCC would continue to provide the training for all sector playersto empower them with the needed knowledge of how to operate all construction tools and equipment for quality construction projects.
“Having the right skills and sufficient manpower is only one-half of what players in the construction sector need to carry out projects effectively. As construction companies, invest in cutting-edge technologies and tools. It is important that they engage the NCC on how to effectively use their tools to ensure that all their projects are completed within the given deadline and are of good quality.
“We are encouraging the players in the sector to come and get the necessary requisite skills for them to perform better because as we are doing our inspections, we discover that some of the small scale contractors are failing to use some construction tools properly.Failure to use the building tools properly would result in the building not properly aligned and that becomes an environmental hazard,” Ms. Mwansa said.
She explained that building using the right tools and equipment to carry out a project allowed contractors to deliver optimally and complete projects with as few defects as possible and that was why it was important to invest in equipment or tools for construction projects while getting the required skills on how to use them.
She said that the value of the construction company was often tied to how mechanized operations were and how effective those machines were utilized.
She insisted that potential clients judged the ability of the constructor to deliver quality work within the required deadline based on the tools and equipment they use and the Knowledge they had over the tools.
She emphasized that construction equipment was powerful and could do a lot of damage if not properly managed and that learning how to use them was critical for an operator to work safely and deliver quality projects.