On site
What is temporary works?
Temporary works are the parts of a construction project needed to build the permanent works but not part of them — falsework, formwork, propping, excavation support and hoardings.
They are engineered structures that are designed, checked and loaded like any other, and their failure mode is collapse. Treating them as site arrangements rather than as design is how failures happen.
A temporary works coordinator is the usual arrangement, holding the register, the designs and the permits to load and to strike.
Striking — removing temporary works — is as much a designed operation as installing them, and doing it early is a recurring cause of collapse.
What goes wrong in practice
- Propping and falsework arranged on site without a design.
- No register, so nobody knows what temporary works exist or their status.
- Struck early because the permanent works looked finished.