WORKSHOP ON MANAGING STRUCTURAL SAFETY
Joint Workshop of the JCSS and CROSS
Date and Place:
The workshop will be held at IStructE London, United Kingdom, on May 20-21 2025
Introduction
Society expects buildings, bridges, and other civil engineering structures to possess an adequate level of safety for their intended service life. Structural safety is managed through codes of practice and quality assurance regimes.
Structural safety is affected by numerous uncertainties related to material and geometrical properties, system behavior, load and degradation effects, among others. The need to systematically quantify and correctly consider such uncertainties in reliability assessments of structures was one of the primary reasons for establishing the Joint Committee on Structural Safety (JCSS). Since its formation, the JCSS has been instrumental in bringing quantitative reliability-based approaches to ensuring safety through the provisions in structural design codes of practice.
On the other hand, the actual performance of structures during construction and service is strongly influenced by human factors and inadequate understanding. In 1976 the Standing Committee on Structural Safety was formed in the UK, expanding in 2005 to create a system of confidential reporting of structural safety concerns (CROSS). This now extensive database of failures and near-misses forms an invaluable basis for assessing the influence of human and other factors on actual structural safety
The Scope
Experts will present invited contributions focused on the following topics:
- The role of human error in structural failures
- The different roles of design standards and quality control processes
- Case studies of failures caused by design, construction, and maintenance errors
- Methods for identifying and mitigating human errors in structural engineering
- Decision-making under uncertainty in structural safety
- Improving quality control measures and resilience against human-induced failures
- Closing the gap between quantitative and qualitative approaches
Workshop format
The workshop will consist exclusively of invited contributions from experts in structural safety, human error analysis, and quality control. Both in-person and online participation will be supported. The number of in-person participants is limited to 50.
Technical and Organization Committee:
Colin Caprani, Monash University, Australia
Maria Pina Limongelli, Politecnico Milano, Italy
Michael H. Faber, Aalborg University, Denmark
Jochen Kohler, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
Venue
The Institution of Structural Engineers
47-58 Bastwick Street
London EC1V 3PS
Tel: +44 (0)207 235 4535
Web: www.istructe.org/bastwick-street/
Registration
We kindly request all participants to register. Please indicate your participation preferences (in person, online, or unable to attend)
Registration Deadline: Please submit your response by 31.03.2025.
Workshop Flyer
The workshop flyer can be found below. Please feel free to distribute the information among your colleagues.