Confidential reporting on structural safety

Abstract

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.

Editorial

“…A second potential source is the Confidential Reporting Scheme on Structural Safety (Cross) (see http://www.crossstructural-safety.org) which is the subject of the third paper in this issue (Soane, 2011). This paper provides a comprehensive review of the scheme, its outputs to date, and the international interest shown.…”