Structures Maintenance Plan

6.1  A basic premise of this Structures Maintenance Plan is that highways structures management is carried out by suitably qualified and experienced engineers and that on site work is carried out by appropriately qualified, trained and experienced personnel.

6.2  The capture of condition information generated from inspections and the consistency and quality of the collected data from individual inspection personnel is of prime importance in developing effective maintenance regimes.

6.3  In order to ensure the consistency and quality of data, Council personnel involved in the general and principal inspection of structures stock should undergo workplace based training to a locally developed competency framework.

6.4  The competency framework for Stockton is currently under development and will be based around educational qualifications, knowledge of structural elements (and their associated deterioration) and practical experience.

6.5  The benefits to this type of framework include;

• An increase in the quality of bridge inspections resulting from improved levels of consistency both in the training and experience provided to bridge inspectors and the reported results from inspections leading to greater levels of confidence.
•  A reduction on the risk for bridge owners due to evidence of competence and best practice
•  Cost savings as a consequence of better prioritisation of limited resources through improved quality of information.

6.6  Training and experience detailed above should also be supplemented through Continuing Professional Development opportunities such as seminars (sharing best practice), professional trade press articles etc.