At construction sites in Wangqing county, Jilin province, people often see a woman in a safety helmet. She isn't a builder, but she closely follows the workers and records detailed information about each step they take. Over the past two decades, her attention to detail has helped ensure the safety of many buildings.

The woman's name is Yu Mingji, and she's a deputy to the 14th National People's Congress, as well as being a documenter with a construction company in Wangqing. Over the past two decades, the former housewife has become a technical authority, earning herself a National May 1 Labor Medal for her hard work and a strong sense of responsibility.

The 50-year-old says she has an inherent love for building, and that's why she studied industrial and civil architecture at Jilin Jianzhu University in Changchun, in 1993.

"I really enjoy the feeling of watching a design on paper or computer become a real building," says Yu.

In 2004, after giving birth to a son and spending many years as a housewife, Yu was recruited by a construction company to be their documenter, a job that requires her to record detailed statistics of each procedure to make sure they meet construction standards.

"We record the size of each wall, beam and pillar, and label them in project materials," she says.

She observes each step of the work. "In summer, when they start work at 4 or 5 am, I start as well. In the daytime, I follow them, recording their work. At night, I organize the data and fill in the forms.

"In some way, each project is like a child of mine, whose growth I see stepby-step. If a project takes two years to complete, I follow it for two years and know each part well," she adds.

Xu Shoulong, Yu's first teacher at the company, adds: "She's really hardworking. Wherever she goes, she takes a notebook with her and notes down everything she sees and asks questions wherever she goes."

After all these years, Yu has become so familiar with construction and statistics that she is able to complete much of her work without having to visit the site every day, but she goes anyway.

"That's what I learned from my teacher, verifying each detail on site. It complies with my sense of professionalism."

As a result, it often takes her longer to complete a project and so she earns less than her counterparts, but Yu says she would rather have fewer projects than deal with many at the same time with less care.

She mentions a project in 2010, the construction of a hospital in Wangqing. As public buildings come with higher standards, workers made use of long, spiral drilling rigs in place of pile drivers to consolidate the foundations, a method that is more advanced but requires round-the-clock work. Yu worked for more than 18 hours a day, measuring each of the more than 300 piles, making sure they were all safe.

"Building safety should be prioritized. I have to check every detail, to ensure they all meet design and related standards, so that I can rest assured on each project. After submitting the materials, I don't worry about safety," she says.

Over the years, Yu has been involved in the construction of nearly 100 buildings, none of which were deemed unsafe in later checks. Instead, many have won her prizes.

Her decades-long work has not worn down her passion, but has endowed her with confidence. "I'm already 50, but I feel like I'm still young, with endless strength for work. I even feel better than when I was young, because at that time, I was burdened with family affairs," she says.

"Now I have more time to spend on my work. I would like to devote the rest of my life to my beloved work," she adds.

wangru1@chinadaily.com.cn