Warning Issued Regarding the Danger of Building Alterations
The HSE is advising that the law requires that all alteration, demolition and dismantling work should be carefully planned and carried out by competent people to avoid unplanned structural collapse.
The HSE say that there is a legal obligation for commercial clients to provide contractors with relevant information about a buildings structure, including stability and structural form, any significant design assumptions, suggested work methods and sequencing. The contractor must then use that information to plan and carry out the work safely.
Key requirements of alteration and dismantling are:
Survey and assessment of the building or structure and
Preventing structural collapse and
Arrangements for demolition and
Consulting building control departments Hazards of structural alteration include injury to workers and passers-by due to premature and uncontrolled collapse of structures, and by flying debris. The HSE advises that surveys and assessments must be carried out by competent experienced persons, undertaking a thorough structural survey and assessment before any potentially load- bearing parts of a structure are altered.
The structural survey should consider:
The age of the structure and
previous use and
type of construction and
Any nearby buildings or structures.
This information should be used to determine the steps required to prevent any collapse. A competent person should decide the method and design of temporary supports required to prevent structural collapse. Temporary support provided must be designed, installed and maintained to withstand foreseeable loads and structures should never be overloaded. Demolition or dismantling arrangements should be written down before the work begins. A safe system of work may be in the form of a safety method statement identifying the sequence required to prevent accidental collapse of the structure.
In addition to the design and method of temporary supports a safe system of work may include:
Establishing exclusion zones and hard-hat areas, clearly marked and with barriers or hoardings and
covered walkways and
using high-reach machines and
reinforcing machine cabs so that drivers are not injured and
Training and supervising site workers
Consultations with building control departments may also be required or be helpful as well as checking any existing health and safety files. Thomas Consulting have been called upon to prepare expert witness reports regarding building collapses during alteration and demolition as well as preparing pre-demolition reports for commercial clients. As Experienced Chartered Engineers, we can assist the client in undertaking competent assessments and avoiding prosecution.
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