final-report-of-the-advisory-committee-on-falsework-bragg-report - Flipbook - Page 12
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injury are of as much interest, but at the present time
these need not be reported. Thus, under present
statutes, collapse of a falsework supporting a substantial volume of concrete may well escape recording
and investigation, the concrete being hosed away
and the debris removed without the incident receiving
publicity or being recorded. We recommend that all
failure of falsework should be made reportable under
statute in a manner similar to the procedure for
recording dangerous occurrences under S 81 of the
Factories Act 1961 and that such events shall be
reportable whether injury occurs or not. In this way
a more reliable body of evidence will be available for
analysis and improvement of practice.
Case studies
We examined reports on a wide range of falsework
collapses. Most British reports covered cases where
failure had caused injury or death or where evidence
had been collected by HM Factory Inspectors because
of a breach of statutory regulations. The experience
of HM Inspectors, who provided edited summaries
of reports covering a wide variety of situations, was
most valuable. In addition we drew on our members'
own experience. Through the co-operation of other
bodies we received reports of collapses overseas, often
in the form of official inquiries. Some of the information was given us in confidence because actions or
claims for damage were pending. Several contractors
willingly provided such information on the understanding that our object was not to apportion blame
but to study possible causes of collapse.
We paid special attention to four particular groups of
failures.
(1) The recent collapse of the Loddon Viaduct on
23 October 1972 and of the Birling Road Overbridge on 23 March 1971. In both cases the contractors provided information.
(2) A sample of 25 falsework collapses investigated
by HM Construction Engineering Inspectors of
Factories. The inspectors who gave evidence also
gave us the benefit of their wide practical experience
of falsework problems over the whole of the United
Kingdom.
(3) Failures in countries abroad including Canada,
the United States of America, Australia, Germany
and France. The very thorough reports on the
Heron Road Bridge failure in Ontario, the Second
Narrows Bridge collapse in Vancouver, the Arroyo
Seco collapse in Pasadena, California and the
Welshpool Road Overpass in Western Australia
were of great help lo us.
(4) Failures which have occurred since the committee was set up such as the collapse of the Skyline
Plaza in Fairfax County, Virginia, the Kuwait
multi-storey car park collapse, the falsework failure
at Kempten while bridging the River Leubas in
Bavaria and the silo collapse at South Ferriby,
Lines. There have also been a number of recent
failures during the construction of buildings, large
or small.
The committee considered that it would be of value
to include in its report summaries of some of the
Typical failure of a prop-supported medium sized floor slab
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