Developments with CROSS – Collaborative Reporting for Safer Structures

Abstract

CROSS (Collaborative Reporting for Safer Structures) was formed in 2005 to capture structural safety concerns and events from confidentially submitted reports, and to share lessons learned from them. The objective is to identify precursors and help prevent future failures and loss of life. Reports are published on-line, and examples of reported concerns and safety events will be given. In 2017, a fire in Grenfell Tower in London resulted in 72 deaths. In response, an independent review of building regulations and fire safety recommended that CROSS should be expanded to include fire safety. Results from CROSS about structural and fire safety are available to all at no cost, thanks to funding support from UK professional institutions. As CROSS became established, there was interest from like-minded groups in other countries, and currently there are schemes in the US and Australasia with interest from others including in German. The ultimate aim is to have a global network of CROSS communities who exchange reports and publish material that will help to keep users of buildings safer. This will be a resource for owners, design practitioners, builders, regulators, academics and of course the public.