Application of total quality management tools in the risk analysis of pathologies in steel-structured buildings.

Structured steel construction is an interesting option to the already established concrete structure at a time when Brazilian civil construction seeks more efficiency. Encouraging the use of this material requires a better understanding of its characteristics and especially its possible pathologies to prevent degradation, costs, and even structural collapse. This study uses Total Quality Management tools are applied to analyze the pathologies present in five medium and large steel-structured buildings. The causative elements are identified with the information about the buildings' pathologies, and the risk analysis of the pathologies is performed using, especially, the Ishikawa Diagram and the GUT Matrix. The most frequent pathologies highlighted in the study are corrosion in the structure, cracks in the closures, and infiltrations in the interface closure/structure. The main causes, according to the Ishikawa diagram and the GUT matrix, are related to construction technique, labor, environmental conditions, and raw material used. The results show that it is possible, through the tools of Quality Management, to establish the risk of each pathology and its origin and determine the degree of risk that each one offers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]