Paint failures due to inadequate specifications

Abstract

A SPECIFICATION is essentially a method of ensuring that a purchaser obtains a product made and finished to his requirements. Any individual or group can prepare a specification but it must be technically feasible if it is to be accepted by the contractor. The preparation of a good specification is a skilled undertaking. It must cover all points that may give rise to disputes but it should not insist on a standard well above that actually required, as this will result in an unnecessarily expensive product. A specification may contain both aims and methods to be employed in achieving the aims, e.g. ‘ … remove all rust and scale by blast cleaning’. Clearly, the method specified must be capable of achieving the aim or disputes will inevitably arise. In the above phrase the substitution of ‘wire brushing’ for ‘blast cleaning’ would almost certainly lead to problems because generally all rust and scale cannot be removed by wire‐brushing. If the phrase were altered to ‘ … remove rust and scale by wire brushing’ this would be acceptable in that some rust and scale can be removed by wire brushing, but it is too vague for a specification.

Citation

Chandler, K.A. (1969), "Paint failures due to inadequate specifications", Anti-Corrosion Methods and Materials, Vol. 16 No. 10, pp. 22-24. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb005282