Temporary Works in Construction of Bridges Near Third Party Assets

Abstract

This paper gives a summary of the temporary works and methods applied to enable the construction of bridges near third party assets. The temporary structures have a significant impact on the cost, construction method and construction safety of the supported permanent structures. In the literature, there are many examples of how the temporary works could fail catastrophically and could endanger public life if hazard identification, risk assessment and quality checks are not carried out by competent people or organisations. A brief literature survey of the construction techniques is outlined here. This paper looks at more recent failures and draws some more lessons with a re-emphasis on the use of industry established processes, guidelines for preventing catastrophic events. The paper also describes case histories, where mitigation measures are implemented in order to ensure safety by means of independent checks, monitoring and back analysis.