Construction Supervision Manual
Chapter Two
CHAPTER TWO : STAFFING ARRANGEMENTS
CONTENTS
2.01 "The Engineer" and
Resident Engineer
2.02 Composition of.Site
Teams
2.03 Single-Contract RE's
2.04 Multi-Contract RE's
2.05 Technician Staff
2.06 Job Allocations
2.07 Sectionalisation
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2.01 "The Engineer" and Resident
Engineer.
All road contract supervision organisations in
the Department are formally headed by a senior
officer appointed as "The Engineer" or
Superintending Officer (S.O.) under the
Contract*. Such officers rarely have a full time
on-site presence and much of their responsibili-
ty is delegated to subordinates in Resident
Engineer** positions supported by staff primari-
ly engaged on site duties.
The relationship between "The Engineer" and
the site team is dealt with in the discussion of
legalities in Chapter 3; this chapter is concerned
more specifically with the practicalities of
staffing structures established for on-site super-
vision.
*Either of these alternative designations may be
encountered depending on which Conditions of
Contract form is used. In order to avoid constant
repetition of the alternatives the term "The
Engineer" is generally used throughout this
Manual to refer to the person holding the con-
tractual appointment - it is to be regarded as
synonymous with "superintending Officer"
(S.O.) in contracts where that term appears in
the definition clauses of the Conditions of
Contract. Exceptions to the preference for the
term "The Engineer" are cases of exclusive ref-
Cawangan Jalan, Ibu Pejabat JKR, K.L
For Contract Roadworks
erence to Form 203A Conditions of Contract
clauses.
** Variants will also be found in practice for the
designation "Resident Engineer" which is
intended here to apply to the officer immedi-
ately subordinate in contract terms to the
Engineer or S.O. and who carries direct respon-
sibility for the site staff organisation. He will
normally be the delegated "Engineer's
Representative" or S.O's Representative under
the Contract. The term "Resident Engineer"
("R.E.") is used throughout this Manual for such
officers regardless of their actual titles or
designations.
However, before turning to the details of the on-
site organisation, the matter of its departmental
links should be mentioned. To a major extent
these operate between the Resident Engineer
and the officer occupying the position of the
Engineer, but the RE may, in addition, have
responsibilities for reporting and other aspects of
his job towards other senior officers in District
or State JKR establishments, or in the JKR
Headquarters in Kuala Lumpur; in particular the
Coordinator for the project. As a general rule this
Manual uses the terms " JKR regional office or
JKR HQ" for such cases. It is a matter for each
individual RE, in consultation with his immedi-
ate superior, to establish which office or officers
he should deal with in connection with any par-
ticular subject where this terminology is used.
2.02 Composition of Site Teams
The make-up of the team depends very much on
the magnitude of the contract. On contracts of
larger value there is usually some scope for a
degree of specialisation on the part of most
members of the team. Figures 2A and 2B show
examples of staffing set-ups that might apply to
contracts in the $15 - 20 million range and over.
Assistant R.E. duties are sectionalised and there
are separate professional positions covering test-
ing and Q.S. activities. A draftsman and a secre-
tary/typist may also be provided.
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Chapter Two
Smaller contracts have inadequate staffing lev-
els to permit such specialisation, so that
Resident Engineers themselves, possibly aided
by one assistant engineer or technical assistant,
undertake all duties, except most works inspec-
tion and field and laboratory testing work. The
minimum staffing requirement for contracts up
to a value of $5 million may be regarded as a
Resident Engineer with either one or two techni-
cians. In any event a technician capable of car-
rying out the essential site testing must be pro-
vided. For contracts in the range $5 - 15 million
additional assistant engineer and technician
positions should be provided.
2.03 Single-Contract R.E.'s
The preferred arrangement regardless of size is
to have a separate R.E. organisation for each
individual contract with a staff fully and unique-
ly engaged on the supervision of that contract.
The base should be an office established for the
purpose either on site or close to it. In remote
areas, living accommodation may be provided
in site compounds under the contract.
Where this is not the case, staff should find
housing as close as possible to the site office or
nearest appropriate part of the project site.
2.04 Multi - Contract RE's.
The ideal of self-contained site organisations
cannot always be achieved, particularly where
contracts are of low value and considerations of
staffing economy and availability rule. In such
cases, Resident Engineers are often appointed
with responsibility for several JKR contracts
(not necessarily all roadworks). They have their
base in the regional offices of their superior offi-
cers - usually State Directors JKR, or District
Engineers JKR - and travel out regularly to
their various contracts. It is very important that
Resident Engineers who operate in this way
should regard themselves essentially as site peo-
ple and consciously maximise the time spent
in on-site administration and the inspection of
work in progress. As a general rule, gaps
between visits to any individual contract in their
care should not exceed two or three working
days. Furthermore, all subordinate staff, both
engineers and technicians, must be site based
Cawangan Jalan, Ibu Pejabat JKR, K.L
Construction Supervision Manual
For Contract Roadworks
and find housing as close as possible to the proj-
ect
2.05 Technician Staff.
Technician staff allocated to site inspection
duties should, in particular, have a full time site
presence. If necessary, they must be prepared to
work in excess of normal hours if the contractor
is so permitted to operate, either during week
days or at week ends. In such cases Resident
Engineers should specifically instruct and autho-
rise their staff's overtime and arrange for addi-
tional remuneration or "time off in lieu" in
accordance with central or regional JKR regula-
tions. They should record the overtime hours
involved and ensure that the arrangement is not
abused by staff simply sitting on site watching
operations which could equally well be checked
out later during normal working hours.
In organisations run by Resident Engineers from
regional offices, site inspectors and other subor-
dinate staff should not be required to travel to
these offices for early morning job briefings or
day to day duty allocations. The RE's should
attend to such instructions during their regular
and frequent visits to site and give such discre-
tion to their staff as is necessary for distributing
the workload during intervening periods.
2.06 Job Allocations.
Whatever organisational arrangement is adopted
for any particular contract, staffing constraints
are likely to exist and effective supervision can
only result if staff are carefully allocated to the
various duties and deployed efficiently. The
detailed arrangement will, of course, depend to a
large extent on the size of job and staffing estab-
lishment, the constructional content and the
competence and experience of the individuals
involved.
The allocation of staff to the various duties will
normally fall upon the Resident Engineer and
before undertaking this task he should determine
what activities individuals are best suited to.
Having decided upon staff/duty allocations, it is
important for the R.E. to ensure that individuals
are clear as to what their specific responsibilities
are. The best way to do this is to set down in the
form of brief Duty Lists the functions each indi-
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Chapter Two
vidual will perform. In order to assist Resident
Engineers in the preparation of such instructions
a schedule of activities which need to be coverd-
ed by one Duty List or another is given in Table
2/1. Where staff carry responsibility for work
items delegated to subordinates, details of the
delegated duties should be included in the supe-
rior's list so that, for example, an Assistant RE's
Duty List will show what Inspectors he is
responsible for and the duties they in turn under-
take.
In allocating duties to staff, Resident Engineers
should bear in mind the limitations of contractu-
al authorisation or delegation. Whilst it may be
quite acceptable for junior staff to prepare
instructions, orders and drawings and draft cor-
respondence to the contractor, all of these may
prove ineffectual unless authenticated by the sig-
nature of an officer who has been formally
authorised or delegated to act in this way (see
Chapter 3.06 - 3.07).
Table 2/1 - Duty Check-list
Site Inspection :
a) Earthworks
b) Drainage
c) Major Structures
d) Minor Structures
e) Culvert
f) Pavement Courses, Kerbing
g) Road Furniture, etc
Chainage limits, (or section areas) if appropriate
Approvals :
Receiving Contractor's request for approval
Checks by:
a) Technical Inspection
b) Survey
c) Dimension
d) Testing
Assess results of checks; Sign and issue
approval or rejection chits.
Testing :
Decide on day to day test programme and allo-
cate testing staff to duties.
Decide auxiliary test programme.
Record results.
Cawangan Jalan, Ibu Pejabat JKR, K.L
Construction Supervision Manual
For Contract Roadworks
Undertake any statistical analysis.
Check provision of listed equipment.
Care, maintenance, replacement of equipment.
Instruction :
Prepare, issue and/or sign each of following:
Duplicate Book Memos
Site Instruction Forms
APP's
Certificates of Variation
and related sketches/drawings. Circulate to
Draftsman, Q.S.
Measurement :
Site measure for prescribed items.
Measure from drawings for prescribed items
Receive Site Instructions & APP's
and action for measure.
Keep measurement/payment records.
Prepare interim certificates.
Check Daywork Sheets.
Prepare Materials-on-Site Valuation.
VOP Valuations.
Make regular Contract Sum predictions
Progress :
Check contractor's initial and subsequent pro-
grammes.
Check S curve and progress chart.
Update progress chart monthly.
Organise Monthly Site Meeting.
Minutes of Monthly Site Meeting.
Organise Progress Photographs.
Reports :
Prepare Two Monthly Report.
Contribute specified items to T.M.R.
Drawings :
Keep original drawings, prints, negatives.
Receive Site Instructions, APP's, etc. and amend
contract drawings.
Prepare supplementary drawings.
Keep drawings register.
Issue revised and supplementary
drawings to appropriate staff & contractor.
Services :
Liaise with Service Authorities.
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 Construction Supervision Manual
Chapter Two For Contract Roadworks

Locate underground services. neers.

* Site technicians will usually assist with actual
Land : on-site measurement.
Obtain Land Plans.
Liaise with land officers.
Accommodation Works.

Traffic:
Check and approve traffic diversion proposals.
Traffic safety - patrol traffic routes, check diver-
sion signs, barriers, warnings, etc.

Administration :
Office Accommodation & Equipment.
Despatch, receipt and filing of correspondence.
Vehicles - allocation, maintenance, logkeeping.
Staff attendance, leave, etc.

2.07 Sectionalisation
If the staffing levels of sub-professional staff
permit such division, it is appropriate to earmark
a number of technicians almost exclusively to
site inspection duties, the remainder being allo-
cated to survey, testing and office work such as
measurement preparation*, the keeping of
records and drawings, etc., and progress/pro-
gramming work.
The individual site inspectors are normally
made responsible for particular construction
operations, for example, earthworks, pavement
or structures, although on larger sites they may
still work within chainage limits and be respon-
sible to a particular Section Engineer. The previ-
ous experience and aptitude of staff will usually
be a guide as to who does what in the field of site
inspection, but Resident Engineers should bear
in mind the need to widen the experience of all
subordinate staff to cover as much of the super-
vision activity spectrum as possible.
Engineer staff may be deployed on the basis of
function, e.g. roadworks, structures, testing or
Q.S. work, or given overall responsibility for all
aspects of supervision for part of the site within
certain chainage limits. Only the largest sites
will normally have sufficient engineers to permit
such sectionalisation, but if it is possible, deci-
sions as to which system to adopt will depend
upon constructional content and the field of
competence and experience of particular engi-

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