Improving structural safety by sharing lessons learned

CROSS-AUS (Collaborative Reporting for Safer Structures Australasia) is the confidential reporting system established in Australasia in 2018 to capture and share lessons learned from structural safety issues which might not otherwise get public recognition. As Eleanor Roosevelt succinctly put it:

“Learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t live long enough to make them all yourself”.

However, all too often, when something goes wrong one’s instinct is to try to conceal it, or when there is a significant failure, legal proceedings will prevent disclosure of the event. As then President of The Institution of Structural Engineers, Faith Wainwright, stated when launching CROSS-AUS during the Australasian Structural Engineering Conference, in Adelaide, in September 2018:

Thus, the objective of CROSS is to help the construction profession to learn from its experiences and it is recognised for making improvements in public safety. CROSS-AUS builds on the success of CROSS-UK, the unique UK-based system which has been operating successfully since 2005 and is now part of a growing network of CROSS programmes internationally, including CROSS-US.

Importantly, all CROSS websites are interconnected so that all reports from all regions are freely available to everyone no matter their location.

Who we are

A non-profit company limited by guarantee, CROSS-AUS Ltd, was formed in 2018 to run, manage, and promote CROSS in Australasia. This company is wholly owned by the Institution of Structural Engineers (IStructE) and is managed by a Board of Directors appointed by IStructE. This allows CROSS-AUS to remain completely independent and publish all relevant material to aid professionals in the built environment without commercial concerns. In addition, there is an Expert Panel of volunteers who provide commentary on reports that are submitted. They use their experience to identify the underlying causes of safety issues and the lessons to be learned.

How does it work

Safety reports can be submitted to CROSS by anyone who works in the industry. The reports are processed as shown in the following diagram. Confidentiality is a critical aspect of the process and neither personal details nor information that could be used to identify a project or product are seen by anyone other than by one of the Designated Persons who de-identifies them to remove details of the reporter and any other identifying features.

Fig.1 Reporting to CROSS

How you can use the information

CROSS-AUS provides a vehicle whereby everyone can contribute towards improving quality and safety by sharing safety issues and disseminating advice on good practice and we are pleased to welcome Consult Australia as a Supporter of CROSS-AUS. We want you to use the information on our website to make structures safer and ultimately to save lives and reduce injuries. Here are some practical ways that you can use the information:

• As part of your continuous learning and development

• Improve your knowledge of safety for your area of work

• Keep up to date with emerging safety issues

• Find out more about best practice

• Share it with your team and others

For further information, visit the CROSS-AUS website and while there be sure to sign-up for CROSS-AUS email updates. And we encourage you to share your experience by submitting a report on any structural safety matter or concern that you have or by providing feedback on any of our published reports. If you have any questions, you can email us at team.aus@cross-safety.org.