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Focus on structural safety

Working in a safety role means that you come across a diverse range and issues and this does include structural safety.  We work with the whole range of construction site specialists and spotting risk is part of engaging in conversations with each stakeholder.

If, like us, you’re of the opinion that every day is a school day then this site is likely to hold information you’ll benefit from knowing; http://www.structural-safety.org

Every report sent in is treated in confidence and it provides a means to share information so that all of us benefit from risks spotted by others across our industry and across the world.

Take a look at the site but also review the latest newsletter here; July 2017 CROSS Newsletter No 47

Structural safety resources

To give a flavour of the information you’ll be able to access see the list below;

  • Polyethylene core cladding panels used on residential high-rise building;
  • Steel canopy collapse during building completion works;
  • Unacceptable quality of construction and lack of supervision on a block of flats;
  • Steel balconies fixed to precast hollowcore floor planks;
  • Near miss – spalled concrete falling from rear face of drilled hole 26 floors up;
  • Failure of fabricated access staging board;
  • Designer competency and missing rebar; and
  • Inability of roller shutter doors to meet the pressure specification for dominant openings.

If you need help and assistance with health and safety from the Principal Designer role under the CDM regulations through to specific help with your own safety management please do get in touch or call us on 01453 800100

Posted by Roger Hart

Temporary works: Deaths of four workers illustrate need for careful planning

Temporary works are an area where greater focus on safety is required.  Some confusion can still exist over who takes responsibility for these areas and risks can sometimes be underestimated.

The case above involved the construction of a foundation for a large steel structure as part of the foundation for a pressure test facility at Claxton Engineering in Great Yarmouth.

An excavation 23 metres long, 3 metres wide and 2 metres deep was filled with a horizontal steel cage estimated to have weighed around 32 tonnes when it was completed.  The picture below show the structure before and after its collapse;

 

 

 

 

A large-scale emergency response was undertaken to rescue the trapped workers. However, Adam Taylor, 28, 41-year-old Peter Johnson and brothers Thomas Hazelton, 26 and Daniel Hazelton, 30, were all pronounced dead at the scene. All of the men were working for Hazegood Construction

If you’d like to find out more about safely managing temporary works then please following this link; https://www.twforum.org.uk/media/70138/tw15.116_rebar_stability_safety_bulletin.pdf  or visit the website for more information on safety with temporary works.

HSE Construction Division Head of Operations Annette Hall said:

“Those sentenced today failed the four workers who died. They didn’t carry out their legal duties, leading to the events which caused their deaths.

This was a long term, large scale and complex civil engineering project which needed to be planned, designed, managed and monitored effectively. The tragedy here is that, in the months leading up to the accident, any one of these parties could and should have asked basic questions about building the structure safely.

Such an intervention could have avoided the tragic outcome of this entirely preventable accident.”

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Posted by Roger Hart