Gulf Construction Online - Steel certifier marks silver milestone

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Steel certifier marks silver milestone

Cares has become a hallmark of quality in the steel industry over the past 25 years, providing, through its certification schemes, an assurance to users that the steel going into their concrete structures is among the best available worldwide

01 July 2009

CARES this year marks a major milestone in its history, entering its 25th year of operation as a product certification body. The organisation has over this time established itself as a well-respected, independent and trusted third-party certifier whilst maintaining a relatively narrow scope of activity centred around steel for concrete construction. Its most recent development in certification is the scheme for sustainable reinforcing steel.
Cares began operations in the UK in 1984 with the dual objectives of ensuring compliance of reinforcing steels with product standards and the promotion of its scheme to major users of reinforcing steel.
Elaborating on Cares’ role and its scheme, executive director Ben Bowsher says: “It was in effect designed to be the clients’ representative in this respect and at the same time aimed at reducing cost to the supply chain for reinforced concrete by removing the need to independently test reinforcing steels on each construction project – to reduce the administrative task of receiving and managing steel mill test data and to introduce a system of manufacturer and product traceability from steel melting through to installation on site.
“The Cares scheme for steel for the reinforcement of concrete had the effect of greatly increasing the efficiency of steel usage by enabling a reinforcement fabricator to produce an order of cut-and-bent reinforcement to be delivered to site by using a mix of steel from any Cares-approved source, whilst maintaining test data for each cut-and-bent job. In this way, steel utilisation is improved without compromising confidence in compliance. Contractors would then be able to receive steel on to site and use it immediately without incurring further testing costs or expensive delays. It put the responsibility for quality on to each key player in the supply chain and independently verified compliance with its requirements via an initial assessment and ongoing audits.”
The scheme then expanded to include many other products used within concrete. This began with reinforcing mesh and welded prefabrications through to the approval of proprietary items such as carpet reinforcement, pile cage attachments, mechanical couplers, continuity systems and shear reinforcement systems. Certification of stainless reinforcing steel was included in this expanded scope.
“Soon after it began operations, Cares began to certify the manufacturers of pre-stressing wire, bar and strand. When a moratorium was placed on post-tensioned bridges by the UK Highways Agency due to failures experienced in post-tensioned bridges within and outside the UK, Cares was approached to create and operate a certification scheme for post-tensioning,” says Bowsher.
This moved on to encompass post-tensioning in flat slab construction within buildings, which was becoming increasingly widely used but which was lacking in the controls present in the highways and transportation sector. This scheme, again based on internationally-accepted codes and best practices, covers the steel, as well as post-tensioning systems, including ducts and grout, and the installation of these systems on site, including the training, competence and qualification of installation staff, he points out.

Sustainable reinforcing steel
Requirements for sustainable products are increasingly being adopted by construction industry clients who now have a duty to know what has been done in their name. Cares has, therefore, developed a certification scheme for sustainable reinforcing steel. This begins with the manufacture of the steel via its processing through to delivery to site and includes assessment to the relevant product standards and to the environmental management system standard, ISO 14001, accounting for environmental issues such as global warming emissions and raw material use.
Recognising that different markets adopt different standards and, therefore, have different requirements, the Cares scheme is designed to cover key evaluation tools such as Breeam (BRE environmental assessment method) in the UK, Leed (Leadership in Environmental Design) in the Gulf and Estidama in Abu Dhabi. “Most importantly, it builds on the requirements of the Product Certification Scheme. It is no use having an environment-friendly product if it doesn’t perform both in processing and within the structure as required,” adds Bowsher.
In addition, the Cares sustainability scheme offers:
• Environmental management system to ISO14001;
• Compliance with regulatory requirements;
• Energy efficiency and lower carbon emissions;
• Independently-validated carbon footprint data;
• Recyclability of steel products; and
• Product traceability to production source and manufacturing process.
As with all Cares certification schemes, a key point is that its sustainable reinforcing steel certification offers the user of the product independently-verified auditing from an independent, well-respected, impartial and trusted certification authority, he points out.

Benefits
The Cares schemes have been remarkably successful in the UK. In the area of reinforcing steel, the specification of Cares via a system of standards, specifications and quality systems operating within the supply chain for concrete construction has ensured that all of the reinforcing steel used is covered by Cares product certification.
“This provides a series of associated benefits including what is perhaps the most important, which is an environment in which change can be handled with confidence and that the supply chain can progress and modernise accordingly,” Bowsher states.
Cares is working to replicate that situation in the Gulf region. Here the supply chain for reinforcing steel from its manufacture, through processing and delivery to the construction site mirrors that of the UK. In both areas, the majority of reinforcement fabrication is conducted in specially equipped factories. This is a desirable situation, he says, as it enables factory-controlled conditions to be applied with the attendant benefits to quality and reliability of product and process.
Currently, there are four Cares-approved reinforcement fabricators in the Gulf – Alam Steel Industries, Arminox Gulf, Emirates Rebar and Star Steel International. Others are showing serious interest and more will follow.
“There will come a point in time, when a critical mass of locally situated steel mills and reinforcement fabricators is reached such that a locally-based auditing team is required,” Bowsher says. “Furthermore, as local conditions and requirements may differ slightly from those in the UK, in order that all key parties such as designers, contractors, structure owners and manufacturers may gain maximum advantage from Cares certification, it may be advisable and attractive to these parties to instigate a ‘local’ Cares committee to deal with ongoing important issues.”
The outsourcing of risk reduction mechanisms will continue, along with globalisation of steel manufacture and supply and also the construction process. “Cares certification will continue to be attractive to those parties that make up the supply chain for concrete construction. In giving recognition to this fact and that a ‘market’ auditing system is beneficial, this certification must be done properly and by an organisation experienced, professional, independent, impartial and trusted, such as Cares,” he concludes.