ITC (inspection and test checklist)

An inspection and test checklist is the bottom layer of the quality record. It exists to answer one question about one piece of work: was this check done, by whom, on what date, and did it pass.

A usable ITC carries a consistent set of fields.

Identification. The project, the lot or location, the element being checked, the drawing and revision it was built to, and the ITP it comes from.

The checks themselves. Each inspection or test on its own line, phrased so it can only be answered one way, with the acceptance criterion stated beside it.

A result on every line. Conformed, not conformed or not applicable, rather than a single tick at the bottom of the page.

Evidence. Test certificate numbers, survey reports, delivery dockets, photographs, and any calibration record needed to make a measurement meaningful.

Signatures and dates. The person who did the check, the supervisor who verified it, and anyone who attended a hold or witness point.

Non conformances raised. Where a line fails, the NCR number, so the checklist and the non conformance point at each other.

The reason for that structure is retrieval. A quality record is only worth keeping if, two years later, someone can find the checklist for a particular slab and read what actually happened.

For a deeper look, read What is an ITP and ITC in Construction? A Complete Quality Control Guide. Try the free ITP Builder.

The two are routinely confused, including in specifications, and the difference is just plan against record.

The inspection and test plan is written before the work. It sets out the sequence of activities for a trade or element, the inspection or test at each step, the acceptance criteria, the hold and witness points, who is responsible and what record is required. One ITP covers a type of work, such as in situ concrete or waterproofing.

The inspection and test checklist is completed during the work. It is one instance of the plan being applied, to one lot or location, on one date. One ITP generates many checklists.

Some specifications use ITP to mean both, and some quality systems print the checklist as the last page of the ITP, which is where the confusion starts. When a specification asks for completed ITPs at handover, what it almost always wants is the completed checklists, because a blank plan proves nothing by itself.

A practical test: if the document carries a signature and a date against work that has been built, it is functioning as a checklist.

The checklist has to be completed at the point of inspection rather than reconstructed afterwards. A record signed a fortnight after the pour is evidence of paperwork, not evidence of quality, and reviewers can usually tell from the dates.

Lot based control is the normal approach on civil and structural work. The works are divided into lots, each lot gets its own checklist, and the lot is not closed until every line is resolved and any non conformances are shut out. On building work the equivalent is by level, zone or room, depending on the trade.

Hold points need coordination more than paperwork. Where a checklist line is a hold point, work stops until the nominated party releases it, so the notice period in the ITP has to be respected or the programme suffers. Witness points work differently: the party is invited, and if they do not attend inside the notice period the work can usually proceed with the inspection recorded as having been offered.

Storage is where most of the value gets lost. Checklists completed on paper and photographed into a phone, or filed by date instead of by location, are technically complete and practically unusable at handover. Keeping them against the lot or location with their evidence attached is what turns the handover into a collation job rather than an investigation.

Signing them in a batch at the end of the job. It defeats the purpose, and the dates usually give it away.

One tick for the whole page. If a checklist has fifteen lines and one signature, nobody can tell which checks were actually made.

No acceptance criteria. A line saying the blockwork is satisfactory records an opinion. A line stating the tolerance records a measurement.

Not linking a failure to an NCR. A failed line with a handwritten note and no non conformance number disappears from the system the moment the page is filed.

Not recording the revision. The checklist should capture the drawing revision the work was built to, which is often the only place that ever gets written down.

Scoping them to everything. A checklist for every trivial activity guarantees none are completed properly. Scope them to work where a missed check has real consequences, and then complete those without exception.