I switch on my mobile phone at 6.15am, when I wake up to prepare for work, and it rings almost immediately. It is a call from a client requesting a booking for this morning.

I know I will receive several other similar calls in the next few hours, while some clients may directly call the technicians they have already met. Since the work we do is related to construction sites, appointments tend to be at very short-notice, often within the hour. Only a few are booked the previous day.

Throughout the day, until 4pm when construction workers knock off for the day, I will receive up to thirty calls for bookings, or inquiries regarding the type of services offered by the laboratory I work with. We offer services in physical and mechanical testing, rather than chemical or properties testing, of concrete; limestone; rock; soils like clays, granulars and sub-base; fine and coarse aggregates for different concrete; and asphalt. These present the main problems in Malta due to the lack of quality supplies.

In Malta it is necessary to build more awareness about the importance of quality construction materials. To the investors and the inhabitants of a building, construction materials testing is very important with regards to safety, durability and value for money. Considering the investment being undertaken, the cost of testing is certainly worthwhile.

Fortunately we see that awareness is increasing. I make the appointment and the necessary arrangements. I take two more calls while performing the morning ritual of cleaning and changing my two-year old son Matthias while my wife prepares our clothes. She also works, so I take Matthias to his grandmother’s on my way to work through a country road to avoid the traffic.

I arrive at the office but will be out again on an appointment quite shortly. I have just enough time to walk around the laboratory to make sure that everything is proceeding smoothly and to check my emails for anything that may require my urgent attention.

I have already assigned work to the laboratory technicians according to early bookings from the previous evening and I will continue to allocate jobs throughout the day according to the booking calls received. While some of the technicians are assigned work in the laboratory, others are going directly to a construction site from home, with their work-van and tools, either for on-site testing or to collect samples to bring to the laboratory.

The normal working day starts at 7.30am but sometimes we may be required to be on-site even at midnight according to necessity. For example, for laying of concrete over large areas, like at the airport, it is necessary to work at night to avoid heat build up which has a negative effect on the concrete characteristics.

On large construction sites, on-site controls of raw materials make it unlikely that anything can go wrong. However on smaller sites, a single truck-load of aggregate or sand may be ordered, and whatever quality is delivered is what they will use. That is when problems arise.

Furthermore, at present more attention is given to prestressed slabs than normal concrete laid on-site because the former cracks while the latter is more stiff. But concrete mixture should be compared to cake mixture: if one ingredient is of inferior quality, the whole mixture must be discarded!

For example, water from boreholes, which is high in sulphate and chloride-content, can affect the concrete such that instead of a life-span of sixty years it could last just five years! Especially near the sea, sulphate-resistant cement should be used – there is no great difference in price; only it takes longer to build up its strength but eventually it does reach the same grade.

The greatest enemy of concrete is the amount of water in the mixture and the amount of time it takes to set it on location. For fresh concrete on-site testing, a label noting the place and sample number is placed on a sample to be collected the next day.

It is of utmost importance to take all possible security measures to safeguard from switching of samples because we must take responsibility for the results issued at a particular point in time. Especially on those sites where there are disputes, or in hot or sensitive cases, I attend personally as I need to be 100% certain of what is being done.

I take note of who will be present for my appointment. Since there is a court case at stake in this particular case, the contractor, the architect, the owner of the building and the supplier of the product are present while we are taking the sample. The sample of the disputed material is retrieved according to standard procedures and all the members present sign it.

The laboratory I work for is an independent commercial entity and undertakes to remain impartial at all times. Depending on the test to be undertaken, we may also send samples abroad to associate laboratories, for example, when we need to know how deeply a fire has affected a building.

I return to the laboratory holding the precious sample. It is registered and henceforth it will only be referred to by its reference number in order to protect the identity of the persons or companies involved. This is standard procedure, and is also particularly useful when different applicants for the same tender being issued are visiting the laboratory.

The sample is prepared, cured in water or processed in a dessicator, depending on the material to be tested. Each technician specialises in particular testing processes, not in all areas. Different materials are tested in different ways: absorption; dimensions; density; compressive strength; flexural strength; slip or skid resistance; and abrasion.

All testing is done in accordance with the MSA-EN (European Standards), whereas completed buildings must adhere to the Euro-codes of Construction. Sometimes we may be required to follow ASTM standards, for example in the case of American clients, according to their request.

One of the technicians approaches me with a sample he collected from a site earlier this morning. The client requires a kind of test he is not familiar with. Examining the situation I note that, although I have thirteen years’ experience, it is a relatively new test even for me. So I take over the task.

It is hard in Malta to find people that are already qualified; you need to teach them and follow them through. I trained in an English company that was operating in Malta in the early 90s, and obtained a diploma by correspondence. I also worked in England for two months, where the quality control and quality assurance was very tight so it was a great learning experience.

I really like my work because of all the new things that I am constantly learning. It is impossible to know everything in such a vast field, so it is necessary to always revise, research and learn new methods and techniques. All cases are individual and different; it is very challenging and rewarding.

My job includes constant supervision, training and answering questions of technicians regarding various aspects of testing; liaising with the sales and marketing office; reporting to the directors and dealing with clients’ phone-calls. Mine is a very full and busy day!

I grab a bite on the go. My cooler usually contains fruit and soya milk. I like light health food although I sometimes fall for the pizzas or pastizzi the technicians may bring in! We have a fridge/freezer and cooking facilities on the premises since we often work late. On average we stay at the laboratory till about 7pm, and on Saturday I work about six hours supervising the laboratory work.

I answer a phone call whereby I fix an appointment for some clients to visit the laboratory within the hour. An architect and an engineer want to verify the test results of their samples.

They make their way around the sample build-up stacked around the laboratory. In regular pre-testing of concrete, for example, it takes seven days to observe the first signs of failure. It is further tested in twenty-eight days. Such long procedures force us to hold on to the numerous samples for as long as necessary.

All the test results are processed, checked, filed electronically and then sent to the clients with an invoice. Sometimes, when something is found to be of poor grade, so much money may be at stake that it is understandable that our clients may wish to see for themselves. That way, when meeting their clients, they can be confident in their statements.

In most cases a failed member can be reinforced. Many solutions are available to provide additional robustness which are also aesthetically pleasing. However, sometimes it needs to be demolished, which involves the cost of the original, its breakage, its disposal and the replacement. Amazing things can be done; even a floor between two stories or part of it can be demolished and then rebuilt.

The problem is that contractors often work for a pre-defined price. That is often why conflicts arise, since the architect is concerned with the best quality while the contractor is concerned with the least costs. We do not normally offer advice; they are the decision makers on the results. However, we have sufficient tools and experience should a client request our opinion.

After a long day, I look forward to going home to spend time with my family. I also take the time to try different hobbies. At the moment I am designing a roof garden and enjoy some fishing, while in the weekend I fly my remote-controlled plane. In the late evenings, between 10pm and midnight, I take to the Internet.

Sometimes I also need to perform maintenance jobs in my own home. I know only too well that proper maintenance is a key factor to increasing the life-span of both the fixed and moveable objects in my house!

This is the 16th in Melanie Drury’s, “A Day in the Life of...” series. The next one is due on 8 December.

www.melaniedrury.com

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