Reports to the Confidential Reporting on Structural Safety (CROSS) have highlighted a number of instances where suspension fork connectors for high-strength steel bars (cables or rods) acting in tension have failed at loads well below the intended design capacity or have been found to be substandard either during construction or in service.

SCOSS said that the failures can be attributed to a number of factors, either in isolation or in combination. These include issues with the material quality and dimensional accuracy of
components, misalignment and a lack of understanding of the behaviour of pinned joints in service.

The report is available from Structural-Safety (which combines the activities of SCOSS and  CROSS) at www.structural-safety.org (link opens in new tab).