Resumen de Managing Health & Safety Risks (No. 55): Attributes of structural safety

The Institution of Structural Engineers' Health and Safety Panel

• In recent news in the UK, the bodies of three workers killed when Didcot power station collapsed in February have finally been recovered, and the major central section on a new moveable bridge being built on the M60 ring road around Manchester collapsed under test. Major failures continue, so “structural safety” remains topical.

  What is it that makes a structure safe and how can “safety” be tested? It is not just “compliance with codes” in the sense of keeping stresses low, for codes of practice also define (or implicitly try to promote) other useful attributes and it is incumbent on professional engineers to achieve those objectives within their designs.