The Structural Engineering Institute (SEI) of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) has announced that it has joined the U.K.’s global program on Confidential Reporting on Structural Safety by creating a U.S. program: Confidential Reporting on Structural Safety United States (CROSS-US).
Through CROSS-US, individuals may now confidentially submit reports of structural failures, near misses, and other similar incidents, according to a release from ASCE. First anonymized and de-identified, these reports are then forwarded to a team of distinguished subject matter experts for review. The reports with analysis commentary are then made available on the website to all free of charge. CROSS also tracks trends, publishes summary or theme reports, and may direct issues of interest, such as code-writing bodies, to organizations that may be in a position to improve the standards of practice. Groups and individuals interested in structural safety are encouraged to submit reports and to avail themselves of the valuable information posted.
CROSS-US reports to the SEI Board of Governors, and will be run through two volunteer groups, an Executive Committee and a panel. The Executive Committee develops the overall strategy for CROSS-US and provides operational management, including budget development and monitoring. The panel consists of industry experts of various desired backgrounds and expertise, of whose objectives are to provide expert commentary on CROSS-US reports that have been collected and processed, and then disseminate information that could enable practical lessons to be learned about structural safety.
Similar to the U.K. model, the long-term vision is to be a robust, sustainable operation, overseen by an industry-steering committee, with a panel of volunteer technical and professional experts and support from industry and government entities.
CROSS originated in the UK in 2005 and was modeled after the U.S. Aviation Safety Reporting System designed by NASA. It is a system designed to improve standards of practice for safety through learning from structural failures and incidents.
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SOURCE: ASCE
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