SiC BLAST – Report Requirements

report requirements

According to the IBC Code.

Does your Statewide Code and the IBC Building Code influence – and even stipulate – portions of the data and verbiage that comprises your inspection and test reports? You bet they do!

IBC, chapter 17, section 1704.2.4 addresses “special inspection reports” on a number of levels but the most significant code requirement is the fact that the report shall indicate that the work inspected or tested complies (or does not comply) with the approved contract documents. In other words, after the client reviews a concrete test report which is comprised of numerous data points, he should know whether the reported data complies with the code and the contract documents or not. (The client should not have to contact the firm who developed the report in order to determine if there are code or contract document compliance issues.

On a separate, but related, issue most of the inspections, field and laboratory tests that we provide day to day are inspection and test methods that must be done in accordance with various ACI, ASTM, TMS, AISC and other reference standards and reference codes found in chapter 35 of the IBC code book. Most of these reference standards (especially ASTM) cite specific information that should be included on the test report or inspection report. As we have discussed previously (in other BLASTS), once a standard or code is incorporated into the IBC code, it becomes an enforceable part of IBC code (and Statewide code). The most salient point, here, is that all of those numerous data points required on the test report or inspection report by reference standards are a part of the general building code and should be included in the report narrative. Addressing all of the many pass/fail pieces of criteria in a test report that allows the report reader to know what data complies with the code and contract documents versus any applicable non-conformance’s can be difficult for the project engineer or project manager.

One of the best and meaningful statements that I often see (on reports) is to simply state, “All data listed on this test report or inspection report complies with the contract documents unless otherwise noted.”