Professional guidance CROSS report

CROSS Safety Report

Tower crane base designs

This month’s CROSS report again highlights the importance of a competent person fulfilling the
role of Temporary Works Coordinator on a project and the need for suitable checking of designs.

Overview Example 2: The loads to one of the possibly then copies the loads into
A reporter’s firm has been involved legs of a self-erector tower crane were another document. It appears that
in the design and checking of given as 0 under all three load cases. these transcribed numbers are in some
numerous tower crane bases and This could clearly not be the case. We cases not checked before they are
has come across many examples challenged the supplier and a revised supplied to the base designer.
where the supplier of the tower loading detail was provided showing The reporter would like this
crane has supplied incorrect the actual load. information shared to ensure that
loadings. These incorrect loadings designers ‘sense check’, as far as they
could have led to crane failures had Example 3: A tower crane was can, the loads they are supplied with.
the errors not been spotted. originally proposed to be used with They would also like crane suppliers to
minimal ballast, effectively just the use more care when providing loads,
Report self-weight of the kentledge base. perhaps implementing a checking
A reporter’s firm has been involved The crane was quite short and not regime for all loads provided.
in the design and checking of particularly large. The initial loadings This firm carries out a significant
numerous tower crane bases and supplied indicated a very minimal number of tower crane base designs in
has come across many examples tension load of less than 100kN. The an average year. If they are finding this
where the supplier of the tower reporter’s firm was undertaking the many errors, they believe there must
crane has supplied incorrect Category 3 checks on the base, and be others. They believe the problem of
loadings. It is only through their it became apparent that the designer
experience that the firm is picking had used an incorrect factor in the
up these errors and can challenge design.
the suppliers. The reporter provides As the piles had already been Key learning outcomes
three examples found in a 12-month installed and did not have sufficient For crane and lifting equipment suppliers:
period to illustrate the problems. tensile capacity, the crane supplier | Base loadings should be validated before being
was asked for loadings allowing for provided to others
Example 1: A tower crane an additional 60t of kentledge on the
supplier stated that the in-service base. The revised loadings supplied For civil and structural design engineers:
moment was 500kNm, while the indicated a tensile load of over 200kN, | It is good practice to carry out an independent
out-of-service was approaching over two times greater than the check to verify loads received from a third party
20 000kNm. These two numbers previous loadings supplied. Logically, | Check detailing of crane bases carefully,
are a world apart and were the load should have reduced not particularly tension resistance
challenged. The in-service moment increased. After discussion, the crane
was corrected to 5000kNm (a zero supplier admitted that the original set For contractors:
had been missed out). Admittedly, of loadings was completely wrong. | Appoint a competent Temporary Works Coordinator
the in-service does not generally A design based on this incorrect who can coordinate the design and sequencing of
drive the design; however, suppose information could well have led to the temporary works
the mistake had been in the out- tower crane falling over. | Good planning can ensure independent design
of-service moment, and we had checks are carried out in time and approved prior
designed for 5000kNm in service Data for tower crane loadings to the works commencing on site
and 2000kNm (i.e., the same error of The reporter believes the data for | Be mindful of the required tension capacity of
a missing zero) out-of-service. The tower crane loadings are generally crane bases
base would have had less than a obtained from a large document that
third of the capacity required. shows all variations. The crane supplier

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August 2022 | thestructuralengineer.org

CROSS REPORT_TSE Aug 2022_The Structural Engineer.indd 16 22/07/2022 15:37

 CROSS report Professional guidance

checking processes are in place

for all parts of the temporary works
design, including for any tower crane What is CROSS?
CONTRACTORS and its foundations. The proper
SHOULD BE coordination and control of temporary
works, as would be undertaken by
Collaborative Reporting for Safer Structures

MINDFUL OF THE an experienced TWC, is fundamental

(CROSS) helps professionals to make structures
safer by publishing safety information based on
REQUIRED in avoiding confusion and, with it, the reports it receives and information in the public
TENSION reducing the risk of something going
wrong.
domain.
CROSS operates internationally in the UK,
CAPACITY OF The Construction Plant-hire US, and Australasia. All regions cover structural
CRANE BASES Association confirms in its Technical
Information Note 031, Managing the
safety, while CROSS-UK also covers fire safety.

design, construction and inspection of

incorrect loads being supplied may be tower crane bases, grillages, and ties,
happening quite regularly across the that ‘for a tower crane installation to
industry. be safe, it must be properly managed
at all stages of its procurement and
Expert Panel comments use, from initial planning during the
This is clearly a worrying account, and pre-construction phase to removal
the reporter does well to raise it. Good from site’. Clearly, this requires the
practice in crane foundation design correct design loadings to be provided
will involve sense-checking input data. to the foundation designer and tower
This can be relatively easily done by (a) crane providers may benefit from
reference to crane manufacturers’ data, checking as to how they ensure the
and (b) by basic mechanics to within correct loadings are communicated to
an order of magnitude. Experience foundation designers.
also plays its part; experienced and The design and detailing of crane
competent designers know what order bases is an area where designers
of magnitude and scale of members should be vigilant. Poorly detailed
they should be seeing, as appears bases may see conflicts between
to be displayed by this reporter. This holding-down assemblies, base
applies as much to crane bases as to reinforcement and/or piles that
any other structural element. require amendment on site. In such
Crane bases and their foundations cases, it has been known for the
are ‘temporary works’, which in site amendments to remove tension How reporting to CROSS
accordance with good practice resistance. Tension loads and tension works
(and industry consensus) should be resistance are a fundamental part The secure and confidential
designed to BS 5975 Code of practice of the whole crane installation. In safety reporting system allows
for temporary works procedures many cases, it will be good practice professionals to share their
and the permissible stress design of to integrate the crane base into the experiences to help others.
falsework. One of the key features of permanent foundations. Contractors Professionals can submit
BS 5975 is that it requires checks to should be mindful of the required reports on safety issues
be made on temporary works designs. tension capacity of crane bases. related to buildings and
The value of such checks has been A previous CROSS report, Tower other structures in the built
demonstrated by this report. crane foundation design error (report environment. Reports typically
CIRIA Report C761: Guide to tower ID: 662), described a case where relate to concerns, near
crane foundation and tie design further incorrect foundation pile loadings were misses or incidents. Find
states that the design of all tower provided, albeit the error was made out more, including how to
crane bases should be subject to an by the structural engineer and not the submit a safety report, at
independent design check to at least tower crane provider; nevertheless, https://bit.ly/cross-safety. Your
Category 2 as per BS 5975. Clearly, this error again illustrates the need for report will make a difference.
for this to be effective, it must surely all involved to validate tower crane
be the case that the design loadings foundation loads.
passed by the tower crane supplier to
the foundation designer must also be The full report, including links to
checked to this standard. guidance mentioned, is available on the
The Temporary Works Coordinator CROSS website (report ID: 1093) at
(TWC), as appointed under BS www.cross-safety.org/uk/safety-
5975, may consider it appropriate to information/cross-safety-report/
assure themselves that appropriate tower-crane-base-designs-1093.

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thestructuralengineer.org | August 2022

CROSS REPORT_TSE Aug 2022_The Structural Engineer.indd 17 22/07/2022 15:38