CROSS-UK Newsletter 74 features expert comment on the latest fire safety and structural safety reports. The full PDF version, accessed via the button below, also includes a range of building safety updates.
Newsletter highlights
Critically under designed moment splice connections
A reporter found critically under designed moment splice connections located at the midspan of the stringers of three staircases.
Unsuitable retaining wall for fuel pellets could lead to collapse and fire risk
An inspection of a biomass boiler house revealed a wall separating a fuel pellet store from the boilers was in poor condition and showed signs of failure.
Collapsed trench foundation near miss
A trench foundation between 1.2 metres and 1.4 metres deep in clay soil collapsed trapping a worker.
Fire resistance for multi-tier storage system
A reporter tells of a disagreement over fire protection requirements for a multi-tiered storage system.
Corrosion on the exterior of a building in a marine environment
Reinforcing mesh within a rendered façade in a marine environment corroded away causing a section to fall off the building and severely injure a person on the street below.
Does the creation of an internal climbing wall require Building Regulations approval?
A building control surveyor believes a climbing wall should meet the internal fire spread requirements of Approved Document B, Volume 2.
Tension piles and tower crane base design
Two tower cranes supported on piles were constructed near the edge of an excavation. Piles could be in tension in some circumstances and the resulting uplift force was assumed to be resisted by the weight of the soil column and the rock cone. However, an adjacent excavation removed some of this counterbalancing.
External wall assessment competence
Concerns over fire risk assessor competence when appraising the construction of external walls.
Unauthorised slot cut into crucial reinforced concrete beam onsite
This CROSS Safety Report concerns a staircase that serves all floors of an eight storey building supported on an 800mm deep beam. The reporter visited site one day and saw that the beam had been core drilled to create a 1.0m long slot opening for services.
Fire test data for sound reduction products
This Safety Report focuses on concerns that a sound reduction product's proposed use was significantly different from the fire test data supplied.
Editorial - CROSS-UK Newsletter 74
"Competence is non-negotiable". Read the editorial for CROSS-UK Newsletter 74 from Hayley Burgess, IFE International President and CROSS-UK Expert Panel member.
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