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What to Report

BASICS

CROSS is interested in events where there have been failures or collapses and in concerns felt about any part of the construction process. The concerns or lessons may arise from any specific design or construction experiences, or from a series of experiences indicating a trend. CROSS is also interested in reports relating to near misses, or observations relating to collapses where these have not been uncovered through formal investigation.

 Small scale events are important as they can be the pre-cursors to more major failures. No concern is too small to be reported and conversely nothing is too large.

Reports should draw attention to:

  • description of incident or near miss
  • lessons learned (or identified) which will help others to contribute to a safer industry
  • concerns which may require industry or regulatory action

Safety-related concerns may involve:

  • themselves
  • other people
  • their organisation
  • other organisations that they deal with

Reports should not be submitted on:

  • criminal activities (which should be reported to the police or the Health & Safety Executive)
  • issues involving personality conflicts
  • industrial relations and/or terms and conditions of employment problems
  • occupational health or safety issues

Urgent safety concerns

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

WHAT TO REPORT

Appointment of consultants or contractors

  • inappropriate appointment eg not enough experience or relevant experience
  • inadequate brief
  • insufficient fees to do the job properly
  • insufficient resources to do the job
  • complexity of project not sufficiently appreciated

Design process

  • investigations not thorough enough
  • analysis or design not sufficiently rigorous
  • inappropriate use of software
  • computer results that are ambiguous or unusual
  • use of unproven materials or techniques
  • conflicts with regulations or codes of practice
  • inadequate checking, reviewing, or QA
  • taking disproportionate risks
  • designs not sufficiently robust
  • design responsibilities passed too far down the line

Construction process


  • design intent not clear from documentation
  • inadequate or insufficient drawings
  • inadequate method statements
  • inadequate training and experience levels of staff
  • lack of involvement and authority for resident engineers
  • divided responsibilities leading to confusion
  • unsafe temporary works and falsework
  • workmanship that could lead to premature failure
  • use of materials that are unsuitable
  • not using products in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions
  • supervision levels inadequate
  • dangerous construction conditions
  • budget inadequate for the job
  • near misses and near hits

Operation and maintenance


  • lack of guidance from original designers
  • no information available on design or construction
  • refurbishments and alterations made without proper consideration
  • frequency and scope of inspections
  • insufficient budget to address structural concerns
  • dangerous techniques employed
  • unusual dynamic behaviour
  • severe climate change effects
  • premature deterioration or undue corrosion
  • indications of instability
  • unexpected deflections or deformations
  • component failures
  • components that cannot be inspected
  • near misses and near hits

 WHEN TO REPORT

Reports do have to be about current activities so long as they are relevant. CROSS needs information all the time and whenever an incident occurs, or a concern is felt, then it can be reported. CROSS is not a substitute for internal reporting processes but is in addition and is the only independent organisation for collecting and publishing safety related reports.

PROCEDURES

Reports can be sent by post or by email. Reports sent by post to the PO Box are opened only by the scheme director. The description within the report is copied but without the reporter's name, and information that might be used to identify the name of an employer, the location of a project, or the names of any individuals or products mentioned by the reporter is removed to create a de-identified report. These are also known as anonymised reports. The director may telephone the reporter (at the reporter's contact number) to ask for more data on technical aspects. Only de-identified reports are used for the Newsletters and database, and original reports are returned to the reporters. Reports sent by email will leave a trace and are not therefore so secure but the contents are de-identified and treated in the same way as for reports sent by post.

PUBLICATION

De-identified reports are categorised and kept on a database for review by a CROSS panel of experts to detect trends, and to provide commentary for the Newsletters. These are published quarterly and links are sent to subscribers on the date that each one is released. To become a subscriber go to the Registration section. The information in the Newsletters can be used by individuals, firms and organisations, to avoid future problems of the same kind and improve the quality of their engineering. SCOSS will, as a result of analysing the data received, use its influence with Industry, Institutions, and Government to effect changes where this is seen to bring sustainable benefit by improving structural safety. SCOSS publishes biennial reports with overviews of concerns and recommendations for mitigating these.

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How to Report

Reports can be submitted through our online form

or

by posting back a completed offline form