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CROSS Safety Report

Failure of fabricated access staging board

Report ID: 651 Published: 1 July 2017 Region: CROSS-UK

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Overview

A member of a team working on a major bridge reported a close call after the supporting mesh flooring on a new access staging system gave way under his foot.

Key Learning Outcomes

For construction professionals:

  • Quality assurance and competent supervision on site can help to ensure that the structure is built in accordance with the design

  • Consider introducing a quality control procedure for the inspection of safety critical elements being delivered to ensure they match what is specified on the construction drawings

  • It is good practice to inspect and test any walkway system prior to it being commissioned on site

Full Report

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The Full Report below has been submitted to CROSS and describes the reporter’s experience. The text has been edited for clarity and to ensure anonymity and confidentiality by removing any identifiable details. If you would like to know more about our secure reporting process or submit a report yourself, please visit the reporting to CROSS-UK page.

 

A member of a team working on a major bridge reported a close call after the supporting mesh flooring on a new access staging system gave way under his foot. This failure of the flooring mesh could have resulted in a serious incident.  The access staging was being installed as part of a new system which had recently been fabricated and certified by specialist suppliers for maintenance purposes. 

The primary structural components of the system were globally load tested locally prior to their use and found to pass. However preliminary investigations indicate that the mesh flooring system provided differed significantly from that designed, commissioned and certified as having been supplied and this has had a direct bearing on the load bearing capabilities of the system.

Expert Panel Comments

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Expert Panels comment on the reports we receive. They use their experience to help you understand what can be learned from the reports. If you would like to know more, please visit the CROSS-UK Expert Panels page.

As for report 672 (and many others) a generic issue for designers is to be sure that what is built is what they thought they had designed.  A proper quality assurance (QA) scheme should assure a client that what is being provided matches the design intent.

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