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.

A reporter was called upon to review a design for the removal of a loadbearing wall during the refurbishment of a residence. A builder was already on site but had stopped work since they considered the engineering design to be unsatisfactory and the structural designer was not responding to their queries. The reporter found that the structural design being followed was far from competent.

This report concerns external insulation on buildings being inadequately applied and fixed, with poor control of the workmanship standards, leading to potential safety concerns and damage to the property.

A reporter designing a single storey portal frame used a standard roof service loading of 0.25kN/m2. After the project was completed, a tenant for the unit took over fit out and added a considerable amount of sprinkler pipework into the roof. This created local overloading.

As part of their final design submission, a cladding subcontractor changed the connection strategy for their cladding system. The project structural engineer did not identify the design change and the cladding loading resulted in excessive deflection and some twisting of the primary perimeter steel.

A reporter worked for a small consultancy as a graduate structural engineer where their calculations were never checked.

This report concerns designs for simple steel beams submitted to building control bodies under Part A of the Building Regulations. The reporter, a checking engineer for a building control body, was not able to accept the effective length and restraints assumed in a number of submitted designs. Most originated from individuals who used proprietary structural design computer packages without, i...

A reporter describes a problem that arose during the construction stage of a project when a steel frame supporting pipe and cable racks was loaded before the frame baseplates were grouted.

This report relates to the design of a low rise modular building and the requirement, or otherwise, for positive fixings between the superstructure and the substructure.