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CROSS Safety Report

Multi-storey car park foundations

Report ID: 630 Published: 1 October 2017 Region: CROSS-UK

This report is over 2 years old

Please be aware that it might contain information that is no longer up to date. We keep all reports available for historic reference and as learning aids.

Overview

Concerns are raised about the integrity of a completed car park structure following poor quality control procedures during construction.

Key Learning Outcomes

For construction professionals:

  • Quality assurance and competent supervision on site can help to ensure that the structure is built in accordance with the design

  • Consider introducing a quality control procedure for the inspection of safety critical elements to ensure they are the correct ones as specified on the construction drawings

For all built environment professionals:

  • If you are aware of a live or urgent safety issue:

    1. Your first step should be to raise this with the organisations concerned if possible
    2. If applicable, you should speak to your line manager
    3. If this does not resolve the issue, or if the response you receive is inadequate, then you should inform the appropriate regulator
  • If you notice a potential safety issue not during the course of your work, consider reporting it to the owner or tenant

  • If the owner is not known, then the appropriate regulator could be informed

Full Report

Find out more about the Full Report

The Full Report below has been submitted to CROSS and describes the reporter’s experience. The text has been edited for clarity and to ensure anonymity and confidentiality by removing any identifiable details. If you would like to know more about our secure reporting process or submit a report yourself, please visit the reporting to CROSS-UK page.

 

There are concerns about the integrity of a completed car park structure according to a reporter. It would appear from the evidence they have that many normal quality control procedures were not being adhered to, and nor were adequate records being kept. The quality assurance forms were not completed and, apparently, inspections were not made of all the excavations.

Furthermore, concrete cubes were not taken for all the concrete that was delivered to site and cubes were collected at much longer intervals than the specified seven days. All of this came to light as a result of holding down bolts in a large concrete base having to be broken out, reinforcement being removed, and the bolts being reset in new holes.

Expert Panel Comments

Find out more about the Expert Panels

Expert Panels comment on the reports we receive. They use their experience to help you understand what can be learned from the reports. If you would like to know more, please visit the CROSS-UK Expert Panels page.

As with earlier reports CROSS has accumulated a great deal of evidence to suggest that the quality of build in the UK is not of an appropriate standard. There are too many reports of this kind to suggest ‘one off’ occurrences.  Mistakes do happen, but they then need properly engineered rectification solutions. In accordance with the usual CROSS procedures the reporter was advised to contact the owner to express his concerns.

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