Traditionally, there has been a rather ad hoc attitude to­wards technical supervision of mining engineering ground control programs, to the extent that the preparation and enforcement of specifications has not been a major issue. In certain locations, however, the dominant use of con­tracting companies to provide mining-related services has meant that structured specifications are needed to ensure the high quality of the end-product. This is perhaps par­ticularly the case with shotcrete (1) now that more and more mines are using the process and product to enhance the ground control regime within the mine.