Safety information search results

Apparently simple home improvement work, consisting of reroofing and a loft conversion, resulted in a 'near miss' with potentially dangerous conditions for neighbours.

An existing large shopping centre built circa 1975 had a number of external storerooms and loading bays with roofs constructed using reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) planks. The planks had deflected to the extent that they needed replacing.

A reporter is concerned that some organisations that they would normally expect to be appointed as principal designer or principal contractor under the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 are avoiding such appointments.

Poor, high-water content excavated material, slipped into a 15-20m deep borrow pit. The material had slipped to the bottom of the pit partially burying excavation, crushing and screening equipment. If this slip had occurred during working hours, the impact could have been very serious.

On the site for an extension to a domestic property, a building inspector instructed a contractor to excavate a deep trench. The trench was in front of the neighbour's adjacent boundary retaining wall, and left a deep vertical face under the house being extended.

A reporter's firm believes that steel structures associated with plant are being erected without a design being carried out by a structural engineer and are therefore potentially dangerous.

SCOSS has been concerned for some time (2003) at the potential for deterioration of buildings and other facilities during their working lives such that there results an inadequate reserve of strength against collapse of the whole or part of the structure.

This notice, seen by a reporter, was posted on a DIY website, and whilst it may be apocryphal, it illustrates the type of queries received by local authorities and building regulations officers.