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How to Report

Who can report

Anyone involved in the building and civil engineering professions including Structural Engineers and Civil Engineers who are, or who work for, promoters, consulting firms, contractors, statutory authorities, government, local authorities and further education establishments. Reports will also be welcome from others who are not engineers but have an interest in structural safety.

Confidentiality

Complete confidentiality will be maintained.

Anonymous reports

Anonymous reports will not be accepted because the contents cannot be verified.

Urgent matters 

CROSS cannot provide advice on urgent matters which should be raised within the reporter's organisation.

Reports can be made offline or online

Offline reporting

For offline reporting download the pdf form below. The form cannot be completed online nor can it be emailed as these are not considered to be secure methods and may leave an audit trail. Fill out the form by hand and give a description of an event or of your concern, and tick the requested boxes. The description can be typed on a separate sheet and attached if this is preferred. The form asks for the reporter's name and contact details but these will not be copied or kept. Photographs will be welcome but will only be used with features that clearly identify the structure having been removed.

When the form is complete it should be posted to: CROSS, PO Box 174, Wirral CH29 9AJ, UK, where it will be opened and seen only by the director.

Online reporting

If the reporter is not concerned that that an online form will leave an electronic trail there is an online version of the form that can be accessed on the submit report page. The material will be processed in the same way as for offline reports. CROSS will maintain the confidentiality of the reporter and will not disclose personal details including email addresses.

Example Report

A report should give;

• a description of the event or concern
• if there was a failure than the cause of the failure if known
• lessons that could be learnt.

Here is an example showing how an important message can be conveyed in a few paragraphs.

School fascia collapse

A section of pressed steel gutter and plywood fascia board at a school collapsed during or after a heavy rainstorm. The reporter believes that it had been in service for 15 to 20 years. He understands that staff and pupils had walked beneath the failed gutter just minutes before its collapse, narrowly avoiding a serious accident.

The gutter was about 200 mm wide x 250 mm deep and it is believed that the down pipe may have become blocked, allowing the gutter to fill during heavy rain. The method of fixing the gutter and plywood fascia board was simply by nailing into the end grain of the rafters, which are at 600 mm centres. Inspection by the reporter revealed that there was no other support. BS 5268 clause 6.4.4.3 states that ‘no withdrawal load should be carried by a nail driven into the end grain of timber’.

He therefore regards this fixing detail as inadequate and potentially dangerous and is concerned that the detail might have been used on other institutional buildings.