Alarm has been raised about the lack of technical expertise in local authorities after severe bearing deterioration was discovered on a strategic road bridge, as findings – linked to a report to the confidential safety reporting site Cross Safety – suggest a potentially critical infrastructure failure that has gone unnoticed for over 15 years.
Cross Safety writes:
Welcome to Collaborative Reporting for Safer Structures UK (CROSS-UK). CROSS is a confidential reporting system which allows professionals working in the built environment to report on fire and structural safety issues. These are then published anonymously to share lessons learned, create positive change, and improve safety.
If you know of or have experienced a fire or structural safety concern or incident submit a report to CROSS using the secure reporting system so we can share the lessons learned.
Geomechanics.io writes:
Severe bearing deterioration on a major strategic road bridge has been found after going unnoticed for more than 15 years, raising concerns that local authorities lack sufficient in?house bridge engineering expertise.
Inspectors identified advanced damage to key support bearings […] prompting calls for more specialist bridge inspectors, better asset management systems, and clearer responsibilities for monitoring ageing structures…
Our Take:
A 15-year undetected deterioration window suggests that bridge inspections were either largely visual or poorly audited…
See more at cross-safety.org where Cross Safety writes: ‘Visit the Cross Safety Safety Information page to find reports or information on fire safety or structural safety issues and concerns. If you are looking for a specific topic, use the filters to find the most relevant information to you. We have reports on concrete, steel, masonry, timber and many more categories.’
