The Confidential Reporting on Structural Safety scheme was established in 2005 by the Standing Committee on Structural Safety to collect, analyse and publish personal reports about failures and the safety of structures. The objective is to learn from the experiences of engineers and help to prevent future failures. Names of authors are confidential and identifying features from event descriptions are removed. A panel of experts provides commentary on the lessons that can be learned, and the reports and comments are published online in quarterly newsletters and added to the searchable database. When a trend is detected, action is taken to influence changes in culture and practice and, when possible, in standards or legislation. There are plans to expand the scheme internationally.
Cross (confidential reporting on structural safety) is a UK scheme that collects, analyses and publishes personal reports about failures and the safety of structures so that engineers can learn from the experiences of others. Names of authors are confidential and identifying features from event descriptions are removed. When a trend is detected, action is taken to influence changes in culture and, when possible, in standards or legislation. Reported subjects have covered design, construction, use, demolition and regulation issues associated with buildings, specialist structures and bridges. Examples are given on fixings, temporary stage structures, snow load collapses, tall asymmetric structures, and false and misleading documentation. Data from identified trends have been passed to code committees, government departments, institutions or others who have influence on best practice. The information is also on a database on the site www.structural-safety.org .
The UK CROSS system collects information on the concerns of civil and structural engineers which have led to near misses, or failures including collapses. Reports to CROSS are stripped of identifying features and reviewed by a panel of experts who give comments and advice as to how similar situations may be avoided in the future. Reports and comments are published quarterly in on-line Newsletters and are added to a web site data base. This free resource is used by practitioners, educators, regulators and others. Trends have included problems with; structural fixings, tension systems, anomalous documentation and imported products, building control, equipment failure, competency, items falling from buildings, contractors changing designs on site, and more. The aims are to encourage change in the way that engineers approach issues that are safety critical.
<p>CROSS - Confidential Reporting on Structural Safety – has been operated since 2005 by the UK Structural-Safety group to help engineers learn from the experiences of others to avoid structural failures. Reports are submitted confidentially by practitioners and comments are added from a panel of industry experts. Anonymised reports with comments are added to a data base and published in Newsletters which are widely circulated and read by designers and contractors. Whilst the system is primarily for the UK there have been expressions of interest in expanding it to other countries from organisations in Europe, Australia, the USA and South Africa. The aim is to set up an International arrangement whereby countries with equivalent confidential reporting schemes would add reports to a central data base. Experience on preventing failures and structural collapses, some with catastrophic consequences, would be freely shared amongst both developed and developing countries in a confidential, independent, and expert way. The paper will present proposals for how this can be achieved and the benefits that would be obtained.</p>
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